A strong knight

by Karsten Müller
5/27/2025 – When knights are strong, they can be very strong. In the diagram position it is White to move and win. What should he do?
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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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.c5 Be7 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 9.Bf4 Ne4 10.Nge2 0-0 11.0-0 Rc8 12.b4 f5 13.f3 Nxc3 14.Nxc3 g5 15.Bg3 f4 16.Bf2 a6 17.Re1 Rf6 18.Qb3 Nf8 19.Re5 Rf7 20.Rae1 Bf6 21.R5e2 Rg7 22.a4 g4 23.fxg4 Rxg4 24.Rxe6 Nxe6 25.Rxe6 Bh4 26.Qxd5 Bxf2+ 27.Kxf2 Qh4+ 28.Kf3 Kh8 29.Qe5+ Rg7 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31.Qxe8+ Rg8 32.Qe5+ Rg7 33.Qb8+ Rg8 34.Qxf4 Qe1 35.Qe5+ Qxe5 36.dxe5 Rd8 37.Ke4 Kg7 38.b5 Kf7 39.Nd5 axb5 40.axb5 Rc8 41.Kd4 Ke6 42.Nf4+ Kf5 43.Nd5 Ke6 44.Nb4 Rg8 45.c6 bxc6 46.Nxc6 Rg4+ 47.Kd3 Kd5 48.e6 Rxg2 49.e7 Rg8 50.Ke3 Kc5 A strong knight When knights are strong, they can be very strong. In the diagram position it is White to move and win. What should he do?
White to move and win
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Feuerstack,A2471Dautov,R25681–02025B14German Bundesliga 2024-2512.5

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.

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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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Topics: ChessBase Magazine, Endgame, Karsten Mueller
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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See also

Precision required

5/20/2025 – Pawn endings are often tricky and require precise calculation. In the diagram position it is White to move and win. What should he do?
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See also

The power of passed pawns

5/13/2025 – In the diagram position it is Black to move - how should he parry White's check and how should he use his pawns to defeat White's bishop?
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 6

Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.

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