Breaking through

by Karsten Müller
7/20/2021 – In the diagram position White is a pawn up but can she win? And how? Should White push her h-pawn to break through with her pawns? Or her f-pawn? Or should White wait and bring the king into a better position?

Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen

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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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 #202

 

ChessBase Magazine Extra #201

 

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, 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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See also

Breaking the wall

7/13/2021 – Pawn endings must be calculated precisely and the activity of the king is very important. In the diagram position White has a protected passed pawn on b6 but it is not immediately apparent whether this is enough to win. Do you have an idea how White can overcome Black's defensive set-up?
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See also

A magic knight

7/6/2021 – Knights that fight against pawns can be clumsy but sometimes they can also work magic. In the diagram position, Black's a-pawn wants to queen but the white knight can still stop him. On the other hand it is hard to see how Black can stop White's e-pawn from queening. But Black can help her knight to do some magic and win. Do you have an idea how?
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Video

60m Botvinnik System

The setup for White recommended by Valeri Lilov is solid and easy to play – the thematic moves are almost always the same ones: Nge2, 0-0, Bg5 (or Be3), Nd5, Qd2. Later, according to Black’s setup, things continue with f4 or even Rac1, b4 and play on the queenside. Starting with the classic Botvinnik-Spassky, Leiden 1970, the author describes this universally employable setup in 7 videos (+ intro and conclusion).

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Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 11 hours ago
MickyMaus90: Good addition. Many thanks!
MickyMaus90 MickyMaus90 7/22/2021 12:07
Very nice position! Simple, but very far from trivial. A lot of tricky points. I like especially 88.Kg6! (after the resignation). Maybe one add-on?! In the line 82.Ke4? Kd6 after 83.h5 Black's idea from the game works: 83...gxh5 (83...Ke6=) 84.f5 h4 85.Kf4 h3 86.Kg3 Ke5 87.f6 Ke6 88.Kxh3 h6=
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