Airthings Masters, Carlsen vs Dubov: A close look at a difficult endgame

by Karsten Müller
12/28/2020 – In the first eight rounds of the Airthings Masters Preliminary Tournament Magnus Carlsen (pictured) drew seven of his games and won only one. He defeated Daniil Dubov in a difficult technical endgame. The Airthings Masters is a rapid tournament, and the players often have only seconds to make their moves - not enough to think too much about endgame subtleties. However, analysts like to search for the truth, and Zoran Petronijevic and Karsten Müller decided to take a close look at the endgame in Carlsen vs Dubov and found an amazing ressource. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

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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.
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1/1/2021 – In the quarterfinal of the Airthings Masters Magnus Carlsen was defeated by Daniil Dubov after losing two spectacular games, in which Carlsen missed good chances. In another game of the match Carlsen had good chances in a rook ending with an extra pawn. But could he have won? Zoran Petronijevic and Karsten Müller took a close look!
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Airthings Masters QF: Aronian and MVL score

12/30/2020 – Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won their first mini-matches in the quarterfinals of the Airthings Masters and only need a draw in tomorrow’s second ‘set’ to reach the semis. The remaining two matchups finished tied, with Magnus Carlsen and Daniil Dubov trading wins while Teimour Radjabov and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew all four of their 15-minute encounters. | Photo: <a href="https://lennartootes.com/">Lennart Ootes</a>
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Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 12/29/2020 03:19
From Zoran Petronijevic:
Dear Karsten,

I truly enjoy analyzing games on the real board, and i have found it without engine, although it was checked by engine...

Best wishes,

Zoran
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 12/29/2020 10:08
lajosarpad: Good question. I will ask Zoran Petronijevic.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 12/29/2020 09:39
Was 50... Kh8!! found without an engine? If so, then it's an amazing find!
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 12/28/2020 08:38
Yes you are right. For example 45...Rd7 draws as well. After your plan Nf5 and push h4 a rook endgame with f+g vs h pawn may arise in a tablebase draw. But these kind of rook endings are sometimes won over the board...
dwaltz dwaltz 12/28/2020 07:52
I think that also 45... Nh4 is "not necessary", not a mistake, but black can simply keep shuffling the R on the 7th rank, holding f4 and h4 protected and h6 behind the Ng6. I see no way for white to make any progress. Even after Nf5 Kh7, pushing in h4 seems to bring to a tablebase draw.
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