Endgames from Mayrhofen

by Karsten Müller
10/13/2022 – The European Club Cup was played last week, with no fewer than 70 teams in the open section and 17 women’s squads making their way to Mayrhofen, Austria. Our in-house expert Karsten Müller once again compiled a series of instructive endgames for us to learn from and enjoy! | Pictured: Anna Muzychuk (photo by Fiona Steil-Antoni)
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The value of technique

Philidor’s win

Superbet’s Marsel Efroimski took home an individual gold medal after showing a truly strong performance on the fourth board. In the first round, she proved that rook and bishop against rook is very difficult to defend even when the defender has a pawn left on the board.

 

The wrong check — on move 140!

In the fifth round, Adi Federovski, who played on board 2 for Rishon Lezion, was defending fiercely against Gambit Asseco See’s Ljilja Drljevic. Only on move 140, in an ending with queen and knight versus queen and bishop, did Federovski falter. 

 

Extreme precision needed

Pure opposite-coloured bishop endings have a very large drawish tendency, and fortresses are the main defensive recourse. But even in these cases, precision in finding the correct king path is needed. As seen in the game between Anna Muzychuk and Alina Kashlinskaya. 

 
Muzychuk vs. Kashlinskaya

One might think it does not make much of a difference, but playing 36.Kg2 or 36.Kf1 can decide the fate of the game. Muzychuk chose the latter, and went on to draw the game, while placing her king on g2 would have given her a full point.

Find this game’s full analysis plus three more instructive endgames in the replayer below.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.h3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c3 b6 9.Re1 Bb7 10.Bf1 Nbd7 11.d4 Re8 12.c4 c5 13.d5 b5 14.cxb5 Nxd5 15.Nbd2 N5f6 16.Nc4 d5 17.Ne3 Bf8 18.a4 d4 19.Nc4 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Qc7 21.Bg5 h6 22.Bxf6 Nxf6 23.Qd2 Nd5 24.Rxe8 Rxe8 25.Re1 Rxe1 26.Qxe1 Nb6 27.a5 Nxc4 28.Bxc4 Qd8 29.b6 d3 30.Qd2 axb6 31.a6 b5 32.Bxb5 c4 33.Bxc4 Bc5 34.Bxd3 Qg5+ 35.Qxg5 hxg5 The right king road. Pure opposite colored bishop endings have a very large drawish tendency and fortresses are the main topic. But sometimes they can be broken by a king invasion on the right road: 36.Kf1? The wrong king road. Now Black's fortress is impregnable. 36.Kg2 wins, e. g. Kf8 36...f6 37.b4 Bd4 38.f4 Kf7 39.fxg5 fxg5 40.Kg3 Kf6 41.b5 Ba7 42.f4+- 37.Kg3 Ke7 37...f6 38.b4 Bb6 39.f4 gxf4+ 40.Kxf4 Bxf2 41.Kf5 Kf7 42.Bc4+ Ke7 43.Kg6 Kf8 44.h4 Ba7 45.h5 Bf2 46.b5 Ba7 47.Bd3 Bb6 48.h6 gxh6 49.Kxf6 Ke8 50.Ke6+- 38.b4 Bd4 39.Kg4 f6 39...Kf6 40.f4 gxf4 41.Kxf4 Bxf2 42.Bf5 g6 43.Bg4 Ke7 44.Ke5 f5 45.Bxf5 gxf5 46.h4+- 40.Kf5 Bxf2 41.Kg6 Kf8 42.Be2 Bd4 43.Bd1 Ba7 44.f4 gxf4 45.h4 Bb6 46.h5 Ba7 47.b5 Bb6 48.h6 gxh6 49.Kxf6 Ke8 50.Ke6+- 36...Kf8 37.Ke2 Now 37.Kg2 can be met by Ke7 38.Kg3 Bd4 39.Kg4 f6 40.f4 gxf4 41.Kxf4 41.h4 Bxf2 42.Kf5 Bd4 43.Kg6 f5 44.Kxf5 Kd6 45.Kxf4= 41...Bxf2 42.Ke4 g5 43.Kd5 Kd7= 37...Ke7 38.Be4 Kd6 39.b4 Ba7 40.Bb7 Ke5 41.Bc6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Muzychuk,A2534Kashlinskaya,A2482½–½2022C422.1
Djukic,S2138Osmak,Y24280–12022A141.11
Danielian,E2431Sukandar,I2401½–½2022D302.9
Thorsteinsdottir,H1959Hunt,H23590–12022B511.27

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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