brabo wrote on 04/03/12 at 07:56:31:

At least you don't follow Pachman here. He called only 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e6 the Scheveningen.

brabo wrote on 04/03/12 at 07:56:31:


That's strange, most of the sources I've read show the starting position to occur after 5...e6. For what it's worth Wikipedia considers the starting position of the Scheveningen to be the position after 5...e6 (from chessgames.com).

I think most of the Sicilian repertoire books for White in the past few years usually have recommended the English Attack or 6. Bg5 against the Najdorf, so I do not know of any repertoire book previous to this that has 6. Be2 for White. If you have the old book The Complete Najdorf, it should cover 6. Be2, but it is not a repertoire book.

TN wrote on 04/02/12 at 12:58:57:


You can't play Be7 with the pawn still on e7 as it is after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2
I assume you mean the Neo-Scheveningen which can be reached via several move-orders:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 e5 or
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 e5 or
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Be3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 e5 or
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Be3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 e5 or
...
I agree that for this position white can't find an advantage as was explained in my blog (in Dutch unfortunately) see: http://schaken-brabo.blogspot.com/2012/03/de-neo-scheveningen.html

It's hard to say. Taylor's books vary a lot in quality, from very good to seriously flawed, but Yearbook surveys/ChessPublishing subscription might be your best bet.

As an aside, in the 6.Be2 Najdorf the critical lines from White's perspective are probably 6...e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg5 Be6 9.Bf6 Bf6 10.Qd3 (very hard for Black to get real winning chances without taking large risks) and 6...e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.f4 Qc7 9.Be3 Nc6 10.Kh1 0-0 11.Qe1 Bd7 12.Qg3. In the Scheveningen 6...Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 e5 is a clean equaliser, though I'd be very happy if you proved me wrong since this is the main reason I don't play Be2 more often as White. Against the Dragon you should have something in mind against the Dragadorf setup as well as the ...Nc6 lines (I'm not sure what line you're intending but I'd be inclined to recommend the 0-0/Re1/Bf1/Nb3 setup), and against the Classical 6.Be2 e5 is basically a good version of the Najdorf for Black, though White isn't worse of course.

Be2 works quite well against the Four Knights since 6...Bb4 7.0-0 is actually quite a dangerous gambit, and you don't have to worry about 6...d6! since that's in your repertoire and probably not in your opponent's. Against the Taimanov both the main line of Be2/Be3/0-0/Na4 and Be2/Be3/a3 are good options. I recall reading a post on this forum recently claiming equality for Black but I'm sure that's not the last word, and the latter line was covered well in Dangerous Weapons: The Sicilian. I'm not convinced by the Be2 setup against the Kan though it's very much playable. Against the Sveshnikov, the old 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bf6 Bf6 11.c3 variation (e.g. with 11...0-0 12.Nc2 Bg5 13.Be2) is probably most in the spirit of the other Be2 Sicilians.

Hope this helps.