Achilles' heel

by Karsten Müller
1/18/2022 – The duel knight against bishop is often full of fascinating possibilities. On first glance, the diagram position does not look particularly dangerous for White. But White's position is vulnerable, and with a cunning maneuver Black is able to exploit the hidden weaknesses in White's position. What would you do with Black?
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.
 

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.

ChessBase Magazine #204

ChessBase Magazine Extra #204

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.

Discuss

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Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 1/22/2022 09:49
banestillo: I think that 50...Ke5! is the only winning move. In your line White always gets enough kingside counterplay, when the a5 pawn is won.
banestillo banestillo 1/21/2022 09:03
the puzzle is not to find the winning combination, there may be several, the key first move Kc6 gives the black knight a slight tactical positional over the dark square bishop , which by Bd2 may be pinned protecting the a file pawn, allowing positional play to prevent a draw repetitive (Nb7-Nd6) etc and options to keep white at bay until h2 can be captured,(or the said a5 pawn.This sequence is maybe invisible to engines and depends on white, i,e this is a key vulnerability that the black pieces can exploit, as requested in the puzzle, not a winning sequence as there may be more moves than those even you have suggested.
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 1/21/2022 07:26
banestillo: Can you give a longer sample line?
banestillo banestillo 1/21/2022 05:53
51.a5 Nd8 52.Kd4 Nb7 53.Bd2

Nb7

..Nd6?...Ne7?
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 1/21/2022 09:22
banestillo: Your plan wins the a5-pawn, but not the game, e.g. 50...Kc6? 51.a5 Nd8 52.Kd4 Nb7 53.Bd2 Nd6 54.Bf4 Nb7 55.Ke4= as White's counterplay is quick enough.
banestillo banestillo 1/20/2022 09:37
Nd8 followed by Nb7
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 1/19/2022 06:30
banestillo: But how to continue after 50...Kc6? 51.a5 ?
banestillo banestillo 1/19/2022 05:41
Kc6
1