Breaking the wall

by Karsten Müller
7/13/2021 – Pawn endings must be calculated precisely and the activity of the king is very important. In the diagram position White has a protected passed pawn on b6 but it is not immediately apparent whether this is enough to win. Do you have an idea how White can overcome Black's defensive set-up?
Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.
 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,193,24854%2421---
1.d4964,72255%2433---
1.Nf3288,46456%2440---
1.c4186,16756%2442---
1.g319,94856%2427---
1.b314,68954%2428---
1.f45,99648%2376---
1.Nc33,95550%2383---
1.b41,79948%2378---
1.a31,26454%2406---
1.e31,09249%2409---
1.d397150%2378---
1.g467346%2360---
1.h446954%2381---
1.c344552%2425---
1.h329456%2418---
1.a412060%2461---
1.f310147%2431---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34861%2472---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Qd2 Qa5 12.0-0-0 Rfc8 13.Kb1 Bxb3 14.cxb3 b5 15.Rhe1 b4 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.Bxg7 Nc3+ 18.bxc3 bxc3 19.Bxc3 Rxc3 20.Re3 Rac8 21.Rxc3 Qxc3 22.Qxc3 Rxc3 23.Rc1 Rxc1+ 24.Kxc1 Kf8 25.Kd2 Ke8 26.Kc3 Kd7 27.Kc4 Kc6 28.b4 Kb6 29.a4 a6 30.b5 a5 Pawn endings must be calculated precisely and the activity of the king is very important:
Black to move and win
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Shomoev,A2563Gochelashvili,D24031–02021B77RUS-chT Higher League 20211.1

Karsten Mueller in ChessBase Magazine

Do you like these lessons? There are plenty more by internationally renowned endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller in ChessBase Magazine, where you will also find openings articles and surveys, tactics, and of course annotations by the world's top grandmasters.

ChessBase Magazine #201

 

ChessBase Magazine Extra #201

 

Apart from his regular columns and video lectures in ChessBase Magazine there is a whole series of training DVDs by Karsten Mueller, which are bestsellers in the ChessBase Shop.

Karsten Mueller

Karsten Mueller regularly presents endgame lessons in the ChessBase Video Portal

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Karsten Müller is considered to be one of the greatest endgame experts in the world. His books on the endgame - among them "Fundamentals of Chess Endings", co-authored with Frank Lamprecht, that helped to improve Magnus Carlsen's endgame knowledge - and his endgame columns for the ChessCafe website and the ChessBase Magazine helped to establish and to confirm this reputation. Karsten's Fritztrainer DVDs on the endgame are bestsellers. The mathematician with a PhD lives in Hamburg, and for more than 25 years he has been scoring points for the Hamburger Schachklub (HSK) in the Bundesliga.

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Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 7/15/2021 07:31
qiqiangzhu: Yes. You are right. It should be "White to move and win".
qiqiangzhu qiqiangzhu 7/15/2021 06:00
should be "white move and win"?
oxygenes oxygenes 7/14/2021 02:46
It is funny thing to see, how IM goes directly into lost pawn ending. Eduard Gufeld in his book about dragon (1982) just noticed, that such position is simply lost and recommended defend vorse position after 23.- Re3. Still, black has possibility play 17.- Ne3 and all play is ahead.
Gerald C Gerald C 7/14/2021 12:51
Beautiful pawn ending with instructive comments.
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