Building a fortress

by Karsten Müller
10/10/2023 – Endings with opposite coloured bishops have large drawish tendencies and often being one or two pawns up is not enough to win. Material is often less important than positional considerations. In the diagram position White is two pawns down, but with best play he is able to hold the draw. What should he do?

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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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.c3 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Ne2 Re8 9.0-0 Nd7 10.Ng3 g6 11.Ne4 Be7 12.Bf4 Nb6 13.Bg3 f5 14.Nc5 Nd5 15.h3 b6 16.Nb3 a5 17.Nd2 Be6 18.Nc4 b5 19.Ne5 Qb6 20.a4 Bf6 21.Qd2 Red8 22.Qe2 f4 23.Bh2 bxa4 24.Rxa4 Bxe5 25.dxe5 Rab8 26.c4 Nb4 27.Bb1 Qd4 28.b3 Qc3 29.Ra3 Rd4 30.Qe1 Qb2 31.Qc1 Qxc1 32.Rxc1 Rbd8 33.Rf1 g5 34.Ra1 Kg7 35.Re1 Rd2 36.Be4 Nc2 37.Bxc2 Rxc2 38.Rec1 Rb2 39.Rcb1 Rxb1+ 40.Rxb1 Rb8 41.Ra1 Rxb3 42.Kh1 Bxc4 43.Rxa5 Bb5 44.f3 Kg6 45.Bg1 Rb2 46.Ra1 Kf5 47.Rd1 Ke6 48.Rd6+ Kxe5 49.Bd4+ Kxd6 50.Bxb2 c5 51.Kg1 Kd5 52.Kf2 Ke6 53.Ba3 c4 54.Bb2 Kf5 55.Bc3 Ba4 56.Ba5 h5 57.Ke1 Bb5 58.Bc3 g4 59.h4 Bc6 60.Ke2 Bb7 61.Bd2 Ba6 62.Bc3 Bb5 63.Kf2 Ba4 64.Ke2 Bc2 65.Ke1 Ke6 66.Bd2 Ke5 67.Bc3+ Kd5 68.Bd2 gxf3 69.gxf3 Kd4 Building a fortress Endings with opposite coloured bishops have large drawish tendencies and often being one or two pawns up is not enough to win. Material is often less important than positional considerations. In the diagram position White is two pawns down, but with best play he is able to hold the draw. What should he do?
White to move and draw
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Winkelman,A2227Miladinovic,I25070–12023B1523rd Dubai Open-A 20238.31

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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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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