In the early history of chess tournaments, a great deal of attention was paid to the endgame. Players like Akiba Rubinstein or Raúl Capablanca were unrivalled endgame virtuosos. In later years, research into openings and the search for improvements in the early phases of the middlegame became more prominent.
With Magnus Carlsen, however, things changed, since we got a world champion who was once again very interested in the endgame and put a lot of energy into this phase of the game. In his younger years, Carlsen saved many games with his outstanding skills in the endgame and then cemented his role as the world’s best player, particularly thanks to his fantastic endgame skills. Incidentally, as some may still remember, he mentioned that he had intensively studied the book Fundamental Chess Endings by Karsten Müller and Frank Lamprecht.
GM Müller has picked out ten endgames played in 2023 that particularly inspired him. Magnus Carlsen is represented twice in this selection. One in which the Norwegian wins an endgame with queens and (initially) knights, and an endgame with rooks and knights. Anish Giri also appears twice in the list. But other players who are not so high up in the world rankings are also capable of handling endgames in anexemplary manner!
Replay Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic Show #259: Endgames from 2023
Here are Karsten Müller’s top 10 endgames of the year. Enjoy!
