Endgames from Madrid (4)

King activity

In round 10, Ding Liren scored a second consecutive win by beating Richard Rapport with the black pieces. In the endgame, he had the more active king and that proved to be the crucial factor to decide the winner of the encounter.

Rapport gave up the exchange with 45.Rxd4 (also allowing his king to escape via g1), but even the opposite-coloured bishop ending is lost for White as the black king will quickly invade on the queenside.

Round 12 saw Alireza Firouzja holding a draw with black after some adventurous play against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. But how could have Duda got better winning chances in this position?

37.Rxf7 was not precise. Keeping more tension in the position with 37.Rfg2 would have given White good winning chances.

Find analyses for these two positions and four more endgames in the replayer below.

Magical Chess Endgames Vol. 1 & 2 + The magic of chess tactics

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.

Links

• Round 1: Fighting chess, Nepo and Caruana score
• Round 2: Nakamura bounces back
• Round 3: Ding’s missed chance
• Round 4: Nepo beats Firouzja in wild Sicilian
• Round 5: Remarkable draws
• Round 6: Nepo and Caruana in a league of their own
• Round 7: Nepo and Caruana score, again
• Round 8: Naka beats Caruana, Rapport strikes back
• Round 9: Maiden wins
• Round 10: Ding and Naka strike as Caruana falters
• Round 11: Nepo wins, Caruana collapses
• Round 12: Radjabov stops Ding, Nepo almost there
• Endgames from Madrid (1)
• Endgames from Madrid (2)
• Endgames from Madrid (3)