Gilchrist is a legend wrote on 04/29/12 at 19:01:51:
What is this system when White plays some sort of mixed setup with a Bc4 and Be3 against the Najdorf?
Perhaps your opponents read this forum, because I advocated it a few times. It's no great shakes, but it is an easy to learn system that's not entirely without venom. Black for instance should better avoid 5...a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.f3 Be7 9.Be3 Nbd7/Bb7 10.Bxe6!
In the pure English Attack Black quite often relies on the central counterstroke ...d6-d5. With playing Bf1-c4-b3 White wants to hinder or prevent that. If Black plays too slow he/she can get trampled underfoot, see eg Langer-Balcerak, Bonn 1995. In this game White manages to make use of Bb3 as early as move 15.
You probably will find more inspiration in Chakurira-Fickadu, Abuja 2003. There are some move order issues though; White might play 10.g4 and 11.g5 first.
Similar is Soares-Andrade, Rio de Janeiro 2000. Again White must play an early g2-g4-g5 to stay in the game. The game score in my database looks wrong btw.
I'd say that this system is useful for those who begin with the Open Sicilian (White can use it in the pure Sozin, against the Scheveningen and against the Najdorf); above ELO 1800 any prepared player should get a reasonable til good game against it.
Not that the plans mentioned by you should lose by force.
5...a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.Be3 Bb7 9.f3 Nbd7 10.Qd2 (10.g4 first to meet ...Nb6 with Qe2) Ne5 (Rybka wants to meet Nb6 with 11.O-O-O Nfd7 12.Bxe6, but I guess Black has other move orders) 11.g4 Rc8 12.h4 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.O-O-O b4 15.Na4 d5 16.g5 is a sample line.