Endgames from Chennai (1)

by Karsten Müller
7/30/2022 – Over 650 games are being played daily at the record-breaking Chess Olympiad in Chennai. GM Karsten Müller is attentively following the games, looking for instructive endings. Naturally, all sorts of setups and typical patterns show up with so many encounters running concurrently. Go over our in-house expert’s analyses, and you are sure to find something to learn or, at the very least, something to enjoy! | Pictured: Ariadna de la Riva (Andorra) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Tactics matter

What is the value of having a good bishop when the position is completely locked up? Sam Shankland (United States) and Domingos Junior (Angola) were each left with a light-squared bishops and six pawns in an endgame — but, importantly, Junior’s pawns were the ones standing on the same colour as the minor piece.

Can you figure out why the Angolan resigned in this position?

 
Shankland vs. Junior

Zugzwang! After 53...Bb7, White has 54.Bh5 winning. Black’s king and bishop are not in time to stop the passer Shankland is about to create on the kingside.

In the game between Abubaker Tagelsir (Sudan) and Matthias Bluebaum (Germany), White counted with a tactical resource to recover the knight he had just given up in the following position. But Bluebaum had seen one move further.

 
Tagelsir vs. Bluebaum

46.Ra1 seems to equalize the position by force, but after 46...Bc6 White has nothing better than to resign the game — 47.Rxa7 fails to 47...Rc1+, and White needs to give up the bishop to prevent mate.

Find out how Shankland and Bluebaum reached the aforementioned winning position and one more instructive endgames in the replayer below.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nc3 Nbd7 10.Bf4 Ne4 11.Rc1 c5 12.dxc5 Ndxc5 13.Be5 Nxc3 14.Bxc3 Ne4 15.Bd4 Bb4 16.Rf1 Qe7 17.Qa4 Bc5 18.e3 Rfd8 19.Rfd1 a6 20.Ne1 Rac8 21.Nd3 b5 22.Bxc5 Rxc5 23.Qa3 Rc7 24.Qxe7 Rxe7 25.Nb4 g6 26.Rd4 Red7 27.Nd3 f5 28.b4 Kg7 29.h4 Kf6 30.Nc5 Nxc5 31.Rxc5 Ke5 32.Kf1 Rd6 33.Ke2 Bc6 34.Rd2 R8d7 35.Rdc2 Bb7 36.Kd3 Rb6 37.Rc7 Rbd6 38.R2c5 Ba8 39.Rc8 Bb7 40.Rb8 Re7 41.Bf3 Rdd7 42.g4 Rc7 43.Re8 Kd6 44.Rd8+ Red7 45.Rxc7 Kxc7 46.Rxd7+ Kxd7 Shankland's space advantage. Same colored bishop endings have a certain drawish tendency. But when the defender has two weaknesses the attacker can often win: 47.g5!? Good technique. 47.gxf5 wins as well, e.g. gxf5 48.Kd4 Kd6 49.Bh5 Bc8 50.Bf7 Bb7 51.Bg8 h6 52.f4 Bc6 53.Bf7 Bb7 54.Be8 Bc8 55.a4 bxa4 56.Bxa4 Be6 57.Bc2 Bd7 58.Bd3 Bc8 59.h5+- 47...Kd6 48.Kd4 Ba8 49.h5 Bb7 50.h6! The pawn grabs valuable space and prepares the decisive breakthrough. Ke6 51.Bg2 51.Kc5 wins as well, but the game continuation is more beautiful and instructive. 51...Kd6 52.f4 Bc6 53.Bf3 zugzwang 53.Bf3 Bb7 53...Bd7 54.Bxd5 Be6 55.Bxe6 Kxe6 56.Kc5+- 54.Bh5‼ Shankland's beautiful point. gxh5 54...Ke6 55.Bxg6 hxg6 56.h7+- 55.g6 Ke6 56.gxh7+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Shankland,S2720Junior,D21071–02022E1744th Chess Olympiad Open 20221.2
Tagelsir,A2232Bluebaum,M26730–12022B1444th Chess Olympiad Open 20221.9
Shariff,S1183Guillen Cristobal,S19620–12022B3844th Chess Olympiad Women 20221.54

In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.

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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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