Speelman's Agony #85

Four decades of agony

Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen

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.

This week's pair of games are by Jan Przewoznik from Poland, who turned 61 last month. A psychologist by profession, he was a very strong chess player in his prime, competing seven times in the Polish championship between 1976 and 1992, winning the title itself in 1979 and becoming an IM in 1985. [He also recently authored two articles for ChessBase on decision making: "Nine Indicators" (part 1 and part 2) -Ed.]

The two games he sent me are both very interesting both in their technical and emotional content. He sent the bare bones of notes with the critical positions and I've marked all these as JP. I've fleshed them out just a little adding JS (when I remember).

As he wrote: “Chess is an emotional game. Sometimes emotions excite people for years.” We start with a sophisticated Agony — a game in which he missed a beautiful win. Nevertheless, it comes from 1979, the year when he became national champion a few days later.

Click or tap a game in the game list below the board to switch

Sicilian Najdorf 6.Bg5

There are few opening systems which have been undergoing such a fast and furious renaissance as the 6.Bg5 Variation of the Najdorf System. Inspired by Radjabov’s victories over Anand and Karjakin in 2006, a great number of games have been played since then, meaning that the theory has developed enormously. But even before then it stretched to such distant horizons that makes it all the more important to have someone who can explain the ideas which underlie the variations. That is exactly what Alexei Shirov does on his DVD.

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Did you enjoy the column and instructive analysis by GM Jonathan Speelman? Do you wish you could have a world-renowned grandmaster analyzing your play? You can!

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See also:

• Previous column: Speelman's Agony #84
• All Speelman's Agony columns