Barriers 2

by Karsten Müller
12/6/2016 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

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Training Position
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.c4 e6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.0-0 Nd7 7.d3 Ngf6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Nd4 Qb6 10.Nc2 Nc5 11.h3 Bh5 12.Be3 Qc7 13.Rc1 0-0 14.b4 Ne6 15.b5 Qa5 16.Bd2 Qb6 17.bxc6 bxc6 18.Kh1 d4 19.Na4 Qb5 20.Ne1 Rac8 21.Nf3 Nd5 22.Rb1 Qa6 23.Qb3 Rb8 24.Qxb8 Rxb8 25.Rxb8+ Bf8 26.Nb2 Nb6 27.g4 Qxa2 28.gxh5 Qxb2 29.h6 g6 30.h4 Qa2 31.Re1 Nd7 32.Rbb1 Bc5 33.Kg1 Bb6 34.Kf1 f6 35.Ra1 Qd5 36.Rac1 Qd6 37.Kg1 c5 38.e3 Ne5 39.Nxe5 fxe5 40.exd4 Nxd4 41.Bc3 Bd8 42.Bxd4 Qxd4 43.Re4 Qxd3 44.Rxe5 Bxh4 45.Bd5+ Kf8 46.Rce1 Be7 47.R1e4 Qd2 48.Re3 Qd1+ 49.Kg2 Qg4+ 50.Rg3 Qh4 51.Rf3+ Ke8 52.Be6 Qxh6 53.Bf7+ Kd7 54.Rd3+ Bd6 55.Re6 Qh2+ 56.Kf1 Kc7 57.Rexd6 Qxd6 58.Rxd6 Kxd6 59.Bg8 h6 60.Bf7 g5 61.Ke2 Ke5 62.Kd3 Kf4 63.Bh5 a5 64.Kc4 a4 65.Bd1 a3 66.Kb3 Ke4 In the endgame the activity of the king(s) is often a decisive factor:
White to move and draw.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gonzalez Zamora,J2502Otero Acosta,D24300–12016A11Jugando Open 20166.5

 

Karsten Müller 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.

Click to go to the ChessBase Magazine page

Apart from his regular columns and video lectures in ChessBase Magazine there is a whole series of training DVDs by Karsten Müller, which are bestsellers in the ChessBase Shop.

 

ChessBase Magazine #175 (December/January)


 

The editor’s top ten:

1. Mini repertoire against the King's Indian: Vladimir Kramnik annotates his surprise coup (with 6.b3) against Daniele Vocaturo
2. A big point for the USA: Olympiad winner Wesley So analyses his victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi.
3. Trends in the Benko Gambit: why does Black often delay the capture on a6? How should White react? GM Stohl brings you up to date!
4. "Move by Move": together with Simon Williams find out how the young Dutch player Benjamin Bok outplayed top GM Nakamura (interactive video)
5. "Premature Resignation": find out together with Oliver Reeh why in Amonatov-Hansen a last check of the position could have paid dividends.
6. 8 out of 10 and gold on board 1: Daniel King demonstrates one of Baadur Jobava's brilliancies from Baku (video).
7. The positional queen sacrifice: strategy expert Mihail Marin reveals why the sacrifice of the strongest piece is often the best practical solution.
8. Marches with kings: David Navara again discovers a fantastic king march – this time from g1 to h7 – and wins!
9. The Slav with 4.g3: let GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi explain why big names like Gelfand and Grischuk play this side variation (video).
10. Hypermodern manoeuvre: let Pavel Eljanov show you how to optimise one’s piece play these days: Eljanov - Shirov


 

 

 

Recommendations for your repertoire

Postny: English A33 (recommendation for Black)
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 e6 6.a3 Bc5 7.Nb3 Bb6

 

Instead of allowing Hedgehog positions with 7...Be7 8.e4, moving the bishop to b6 leads to quite different types of position (since 8.e4 0-0 9.Be2 can be met with 9...d5!). Evgeny Postny sees Black as having equalised and thinks that 6.a3 will perhaps disappear from practice.

Iotov: Alekhine Defence B02 (of interest for White and Black)
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.c5 Nd5

 

The Chase Variation is actually considered harmless. But in his article Valentin Iotov shows that with 5.Nc3 e6 6.d4 White can bring about extremely sharp positions. Both sides have the option of leaving the path which transposes to the Alapin Variation (Sicilian).

Krasenkow: Modern Defence B06 (recommendation for Black)
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 d6

 

At the heart of Michal Krasenkow’s article there is the continuation 5.Qf3 e6. After it play is of a very forcing character. Black needs to know what he is doing, but if he does he has no difficulties in achieving a level game.

Szabo: Sicilian Defence B76 (recommendation for White)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.g4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6

 

By first playing 9...Nxd4 Black avoids the 9...Be6 10.Nxe6 variation. On the other hand, in the position in the diagram White must not castle long but can play more flexibly. But according to Krisztian Szabo’s analyses, it is not clear whether 9...Nxd4 is better than the alternative.

Neven: French Defence C11 (recommendation for Black)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0

 

By choosing this move order Black delays Nb8-c6 and is planning 8...b6 on his next move. Then he no longer has to fear d4xc5 and moreover has ...Ba6 up his sleeve. Knut Neven analyses the variation and also presents ideas for Black after the aggressive 9.h4.

Kosintseva: French Defence C17 (recommendation for White)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2

 

So far the Bogoljubow move 5.Bd2 has been considered really harmless, but the new trend is towards 5...Ne7 6.a3! As Nadezhda Kosintseva convincingly points out, White then has very good chances of an opening advantage.

Papp: French Defence C18 (recommendation for White)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qa5 7.Bd2 Qa4 8.Qg4

 

Petra Papp has an aggressive plan against the popular variation with 6...Qa5: 8.Qg4 and after Black has protected the g7-pawn the queen does not return to d1 and the c2-pawn is not defended. Black appears to have problems here.

Sumets: Slav Defence D16 (recommendation for Black)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e3 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 cxd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.Qe2 0-0 11.Rd1

 

The variation with 5...e6 and a subsequent c6-c5 should not be under-estimated. Black may well lose a tempo, but a4 is not necessarily useful. Andrey Sumets cannot see any opening advantage for White.

Ris: Queen’s Gambit Accepted D27 (recommendation for White)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Nc3 b5 8.Be2

 

Putting the bishop on e2 has, above all in the lines with d4xc5 and an early exchange of queens, the advantage that pressure is being exerted on the a6-b5 pawn chain. Robert Ris is very optimistic for White, though he admits that Black gains equality with precise play.

Marin: Slav Schlechter Variation D94 (recommendation for Black)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 a6

 

With 7...a6 Black prepares an immediate ...b5, but also ...dxc4 followed by ...b5. Mihail Marin then examines several continuations for White, none of which, however, is suitable for offering White an opening advantage.

Kuzmin: King's Indian Fianchetto E62 (recommendation for Black)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 e5 8.d5 Nb8

 

This variation was previously played with 8...Ne7, but as Alexey Kuzmin explains in his article, c5 is the ideal square for this knight and it is better reached via b8. Surprisingly, White then has hardly any chance of an opening advantage.

ChessBase Magazine #175 (December/January)

 

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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