The fortress - real or an illusion?

by Karsten Müller
6/26/2018 – Some players believe in fortresses, others do not. But no matter whether you are believer or not, some fortresses are real and really solid. In the endgame rooks are usually much better than a knight. But with pawns on one side, the defending side might build a fortress:
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Paradoxical

Can you believe it? Black can draw.

 
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51.Ra7 Some players believe in fortresses, others do not. But no matter whether you are believer or not, some fortresses are real and really solid. In the endgame rooks are usually much better than a knight. But with pawns on one side the defending side might build a fortress:
Black to move and draw
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Blondel,F1776Harding,T2356½–½2017A46Veterans World Cup10 Gr452

The 7th volume of this endgame series deals with many different aspects of endgame play: the art of pawn play, weaknesses, converting an advantage, stalemate, fortresses, the art of defence and typical mistakes. Learn how to convert an extra piece or an exchange or how to exploit space advantage and better mobility. The themes the art or defence, fortress and stalemate are also intertwined. If your position has a solid fundament then you may surprisingly reach a fortress which might even be based on a stalemate.

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.

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

ChessBase Magazine #184

The editor’s top ten:

  1. CBM 184The deciding moment in the candidates tournament: Fabiano Caruana annotates his final round victory over Grischuk.
  2. “Fresh and unexpected”: Vladimir Kramnik explains how he crushed Aronian with Black after innovating with 7…Rg8.
  3. A new plan against the Najdorf? Peter Heine Nielsen annotates Carlsen's successful experiment with 5.Qd2!? in Shamkir.
  4. “Fantastic fighting game”: Karsten Mueller analyses the endgame in the trail-blazing duel between Kramnik and Caruana (video)
  5. Salvation after a series of draws: Ding Liren comments on his win over Mamedyarov in the candidates tournament.
  6. Attack like a WCh challenger: Find the best continuation – “Move by Move“ with Simon Williams in the game Meier-Caruana!
  7. “Domination on both flanks”: enjoy Daniel King’s video analysis of the game Caruana-Aronian and let him whip up some enthusiasm for the Ruy Lopez!
  8. A popular weapon against the Najdorf: let Robert Ris introduce you to the secrets of the variation with 7.Nf3.
  9. “Like Karpov in his prime”: Rustam Kasimdzhanov annotates Caruana's win over MVL at the Grenke Chess Classic.
  10. Promising in the long term: Yannick Pelletier recommends 6…h6 in the Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit (video)

Links

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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