Breaking through

by Karsten Müller
9/26/2017 – Knights surprise again and again. One single knight can frighten king, queen and rooks of your opponent (or yourself) or block strong and dangerous passed pawns. But sometimes knights are helpless against a single pawn that wants to queen. No wonder that knight endings are full of tactical tricks.

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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 #179 (August/September)

The editor’s top ten: 

  • The world champion outplayed: Aronian analyses his win against Carlsen at Norway Chess.
  • High quality exchange sacrifice: the winner of the 2nd FIDE Grand Prix annotates his most spectacular game from Moscow: Ding Liren - Vachier Lagrave
  • „Move by Move“ with Simon Williams: deepen your knowledge of the Najdorf move by move with the world class game Ponomariov-Wojtaszek (video)
  • Classy queen trap: enjoy Aronian’s second stroke from Stavanger in Daniel King's video analysis.
  • “Reti’s mate”: in Efstratios Grivas’ FIDE Training course learn about a rare but tactically highly effective idea.
  • “No clear path to equality”: GM Postny pulls together the trends in the Queen's Gambit Accepted and comes to a critical conclusion.
  • What can you do against the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation? Daniel King introduces you to the present state of theory (video).
  • A defensive move with diabolical hidden depths: let Rainer Knaak show you how to set the “Leonhardt Trap” in the Philidor Defence. (video)
  • Good in practice: Nadezhda Kosintseva arms you with the universal weapon universal weapon 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 against the French Steinitz Variation.
  • Hammer blow 14…Rxf3: Adhiban analyses his brilliancy against Akobian at the World Team Championship.

Chess Endgames 5 - Endgame Principles Activity & Initiative

Activity is above all important when we consider the role of the kings in the endgame because it is then that they leave their protective shield of pawns and take an active part in the proceedings. A further major topic is the activity of the rook and it is not uncommon in the ending for a pawn to be sacrificed to obtain such activity. The chapter on initiative introduces, for example, endgames such as rook+knight against rook+knight, because neither of these pieces is suited to a passive role and even a slight initiative can be sufficient for victory. In the endgame mate should contantly be in your thoughts. So, for example, Stamma’s mate is treated, as are mating attacks in rook endings and the 4th phase of the game. The correct choice of pieces to exchange naturally always plays an important role, but generally speaking the cost of every wrong move increases in the endgame. Video runnig time: 4 hrs 18 min.


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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