Karsten Müller

Karsten Müller, born 1970, has a world-wide reputation as one of the greatest endgame experts. He has, together with Frank Lamprecht written a book on the subject: “Fundamental Chess Endgames” in addition to other contributions such as his column on the website ChessCafe as well as in ChessBase Magazine. Müller's ChessBase-DVDs about endgames in Fritztrainer-Format are bestsellers. The PhD in mathematics lives in Hamburg, where he has also been hunting down points for the HSK in the Bundesliga for many years.

Recent news

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Mihail Marin

7/17/2019 – Renowned trainer and author Grandmaster Mihail Marin is Karsten's guest today. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Dancing with pawns

7/16/2019 – Even apparently simple pawn endings can be surprisingly tricky. Black to play and draw!

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Dev Shah

7/10/2019 – More endgame training with an even younger Indian prodigy! Karsten is joined by 12-year-old Candidate Master Dev Shah. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

The knight blocks and the king attacks

7/9/2019 – White is a piece up but still has to win. In such cases zugzwang often helps.

Looking for a way

7/2/2019 – In the endgame, kings should get active. But sometimes it is not clear which way the king should take to make the most of its activity.

Stop passed pawns or let them run?

6/25/2019 – Rules of thumb are just that — rules of thumb. They are often a good guideline but sometimes they are made to be broken and only concrete calculation helps.

A strong but helpless knight

6/18/2019 – The duel bishop vs knight is often more complicated than it seems at first. "Strong" knights are often not as strong as they seem and "bad" bishops can become really bad - for the unsuspecting opponent. How should Black continue in the diagram position?

Mate ends the game

6/11/2019 – "Mate ends the game!" Beginners know this simple truth but if you start to learn the intricacies of positional play you sometimes forget about the enemy king while trying to exploit weak pawns, weak squares, pawn majorities, etc. But mating attacks are often very powerful - even in the endgame.

Zugzwang?

6/4/2019 – White is almost in zugzwang but the diagonal a2-g8 happens to be just long enough for White's bishop.

Believe it or not, a fortress can hold

5/28/2019 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen once famously quipped that he doesn't believe in fortresses. But sometimes fortresses are strong enough to save a draw despite a heavy material disadvantage. White to play and draw...

Two knights and a pawn too many

5/21/2019 – It is strange but two knights alone cannot force checkmate. However, things are different when the defending side still has a pawn at or behind the so-called Troitzky-line. It also depends on where the defending king is placed. Karsten Mueller explores some of the secrets of this unusual endgame.

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Nihal Sarin

5/14/2019 – More endgame training with an Indian prodigy! Karsten is joined by 14-year-old GM Nihal Sarin. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

The crucial d-file

5/14/2019 – Rook endings often have drawish tendencies. But some rook endings that are theoretically drawn are sometimes still very difficult to defend.

Strong pawns

5/7/2019 – Far advanced passed pawns can be really powerful and sometimes they are even more powerful than a rook.

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Simon Williams

5/2/2019 – Two EMs in one week, oh my! Karsten is joined by Grandmaster and prolific ChessBase FritzTrainer author Simon Williams. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Dancing with knights

4/30/2019 – Knights can be very agile and strong but against far advanced pawns they are sometimes surprisingly helpless.

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Adrian Mikhalchishin

4/29/2019 – An "impromptu" Endgame Magic Monday! Karsten is joined by Grandmaster and renowned trainer Adrian Mikhalchishin. On-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and D. Gukesh

4/24/2019 – Karsten is joined by the second youngest grandmaster ever, the Indian prodigy D. Gukesh who's fresh off a phenomenal result at the Grenke Open. Join Karsten and Gukesh live at 14:00 UTC (16:00 CEST, 10:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!
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