8/12/2014 – Beating Magnus Carlsen is difficult. Especially in the endgame. However, Arkadij Naiditsch managed to do just that, even if he needed a bit of luck to reach a good endgame against the World Champion. But could Carlsen have saved himself at the very end? Or was he lost anyway? Karsten Müller took a closer look and discovered hidden possibilities.
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Naiditsch's nasty sting
White's to move. But over the board and without tablebases it's hardly possible to hold this position. "Exchanging pawns when defending" is a good endgame rule. But should Carlsen follow this rule or should he try something else?
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.
Apart from his regular columns and video lectures in ChessBase Magazine there is a whole series of training DVDs by Karsten Müller, which are bestsellers in the ChessBase Shop.
ChessBase Magazin 161 - Intro
Opening article for free download!
Evgeny Postny: "A lot of blanks" (Nimzo-Indian with 4.f3 c5 5.d5 0-0 6.e4 d6)
If White wants to go for a sharp position against the Nimzo-Indian the move 4.f3 is always shortlisted. In this article IGM Evgeny Postny examines the many positions that may show up on the board after 4.f3 c5 5.d5 0-0 6.e4 d6.
Here 7.Nge2 is preferred by most experts, in particular Sergey Volkov, who is represented in the Mega database with countless 4.f3 games, plays this (till 2003 he still used 7.Bd2). Postny now considers four moves for Black: 7...Nh5, 7.exd5, 7...Re8, and 7...b5.
After the most frequently played move 7...b5 White then moves his knight away from e2. 8.Nf4is intended to provoke 8...e5, but it is not clear whether that is really necessary and whether it is in White’s favour at all. Thus Rainer Knaak comes to the conclusion:
"There are still a lot of blanks in the theory of this variation. As Evgeny Postny
writes, engines sometimes overrae Black’s prospects."
Hannes Langrock used to be a convinced adherent of the English Defence, but he has now changed sides. In his article he presents a repertoire from the point of view of White. According to Langrock’s analyses Black is faced with a difficult task after 4.Bd3!.
This variation is considered slightly better for White, but Viktor Moskalenko is of a different opinion. White may usually obtain the bishop pair, but Black has a sound position in which the pawns are placed on dark squares and appropriately he possesses the light-squared bishop.
Rotstein: Old Indian Defence A53
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.f3 e5
Somewhat surprisingly it is not quite so simple for White to manage a slight advantage for White after 3...Bf5. The most frequently seen move is 4.f3, but, as Arkadij Rotstein shows, Black obtains a satisfactory game after 4...e5.
In the second part of his repertoire against the old main variation (4...Bg4) Tibor Karolyi deals with the sub-variation 5...e6. White obtains a secure advantage in all lines and in our author’s opinion should above all avoid the move h3.
This was played by Bobby Fischer, but Tibor Havasi is able to squeeze a few new subtleties out of the subject. But above all, the setup presented by the young Hungarian is extremely easy to learn and nonetheless not without its venom.
Antic: Sicilian Defence B40
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3
Michael Adams has played this several times with a good measure of success. So Dejan Antic calls it the Adams Variation. White firstly does without d3 and if need be he protects e4 with Qe2. Of course this is no way to force an advantage, but it does immediately set Black a few problems.
White has for a long time been successful with 8.0-0-0, but countermeasures have been found for Black. At present it is still possible to surprise one’s opponent with 8.f4. But according to Krisztian Szabo Black should not have any great problems keeping things on a level keel.
Spurred on by the game Almasi-So (Capablanca Memorial 2014) Igor Stohl examines the modern variation with 12...d4. The results are absolutely heartening for Black and for the moment it is rather White who has to be thinking about improvements.
In the second part of his investigations into 6.Qe2 Michal Krasenkow comes to the critical variation with 8...Nc6. In it Black has good chances for equality but he needs to know his theory well and must also play accurately in the early middlegame.
Andrey Sumets analyses the variations from White’s point of view. From the diagram the first move examined is 7...d5. But then one needs to have a good knowledge of the sharp 8.Nc3 d5 9.e4.
Magnus Carlsen sees himself having to meet the move 4.f3 “all the time”. At the Gashimov Memorial he played 4...c5, resulting in the position in the diagram. Evgeny Postny considers Nakamura’s 7.Bd2 to be simply a side variation with the critical line being 7.Nge2.
This natural setup for Black is still valid. Mihail Marin tries in his extensive article to show that White has at least the more pleasant game. And he manages to do just that.
The almost new 8...Na5 attacks a sensitive point in White’s camp – the pawn c4 – and at the same time it prepares ...b5, because if White captured twice the final move would be Na5-b3! So far White has not found a good countermeasure – a hard blow for fans of the Sämisch Variation.
Karsten MüllerKarsten 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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