8/6/2014 – "There is both good and bad news about GM Karsten Mueller's Fritztrainer series "Chess Endgames". The good news is that a new volume has just been released but the bad news is that it will be the final volume." It is subtitled The Golden Guidelines of Endgame Play and rounds off the whole series with general advice, backed up by well-chosen illustrative examples. Review by Sean Marsh
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Mueller:
Chess Endgames 14
Review by Sean Marsh
One of the most valuable jewels in the ChessBase crown is undoubtedly the
endgame series presented by Karsten Mueller, which has been entertaining
and instructing chess players since 2006. There is both good and bad news
about the series. The good news is that a new volume has just been released
but the bad news is that it will be the final volume.
The Golden Guidelines of Endgame Play doesn't focus on one particular
aspect of endgames. Rather, it intends to round off the whole series with
general advice, backed up by well-chosen illustrative examples. It's all
about ''rules of thumb'' which, according to Karsten Mueller, ''are the
key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex
endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist
introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.''
The material is split into two sections: General Rules of Thumb
and Principles of Special Endgames.
General Rules of Thumb means things such as activating
the king, when to exchange pawns, the best pieces to use when blockading
pawns and improving the worst piece.
Right at the start, Karsten makes it clear that ''the art of the royal
game'' is not to memorise all of the guidelines ''and repeat them each morning,
in front of a mirror'' as chess should not simply about who has the better
memory. Rather, it is best to have a sound knowledge of the guidelines and
to combine such wisdom with one's own intuition when trying to find the
best move or plan.
Here's an example of the General Rules of Thumb, demonstrating the guideline
It doesn't matter what disappears from the board but what remains.
Aronian vs. Nakamura, Moscow 2012
White is clearly better with his extra pawn, more active king and rook
and impressive and centralised knight. How should he proceed to convert
his advantage into victory? Aronian made the correct decision ''from a practical
point of view'' as he exchanged his ''octopus knight'' with 40 Nf7+
Bxf7 41 Rxf7. The point is a lot of people may have been put off
entering a rook and pawn ending due their general high tendency to end in
draws.
It is now a race of passed pawns and Karsten goes on to demonstrate various
subtleties as Nakamura's h-pawn hurtles down the board. Aronian probably
already had the final position in mind (or something very much like it)
as he entered this endgame, which is a good example of Karsten's advice
to pair general guidelines with personal intuition over the board.
White forced resignation with 53 Rg2! when Black can never
move his rook without losing the h-pawn (provided White doesn't clumsily
allow him to do so with check). An instructive example and typical of the
type of material to expect in the first part of the DVD.
Principle of Special Endgames offers concrete material on various types
of positions featuring very little material. We start off with learning
how to checkmate with a bishop and a knight against a lone king, during
which the winning side keeps complete control if he sticks to the 'W' method.
Then it's on to pawn endings before moving through examples with other pieces,
concluding with a very interesting section rook and minor piece vs. rook
and minor piece.
The Fischer Endgame, in which a rook and bishop are better than rook and
knight, is relatively well known. Karsten introduces us to a new piece of
nomenclature - the Andersson Endgame - in which the reverse is true.
Andersson vs. Franco Ocampus, Buenos Aires 1979
Andersson's deep chess vision led him to the move 16 Bxb6!
when after 16 ...axb6 17 Nc4 he set about proving that
the unlikely looking exchange of bishop for knight was not only justified
but also the way to a serious edge.
Fast forward to the end of the game and it's very easy to see that things
turned out exactly as he wanted them to. I found this lesson to be one of
the most instructive on the whole DVD.
With a running time of seven hours and 27 minutes, there is clearly a lot
of material on this DVD. It acts very well as a stand alone release; prior
knowledge of the material presented on volumes 1-13 is not necessary. Indeed,
this is (somewhat ironically) a very good volume with which to start, giving,
as it does, so much instruction based on the basic general principles. For
newcomers to Karsten's endgame DVDs it is clear: If you like the style of
this one then it would be a good idea to go back to volume 1 and work your
way forward from there.
Yes indeed, after eight years this magnificent series has finally come
to a natural end. Rest assured that the high quality has been maintained
all the way through the 14 volumes.
Born in 1970, GM Karsten Müller has a world-wide
reputation as one of the greatest endgame experts. He has, together
with Frank Lamprecht, written a book on the subject: “Basics of
chess endgames” in addition to other contributions such as his
column on the website ChessCafe as well as in ChessBase Magazine. Mueller’s
ChessBase-DVDs on endgames, in Fritztrainer Format, are bestsellers.
Karsten has a PhD in mathematics and lives in Hamburg, where he has
also been hunting down points for the HSK in the Bundesliga for many
years.
Naturally, a universal approach using ...Nf6, ...g7-g6 and ...d7-d5 as the base would be very useful for players of all classes, saving time and energy and promising a fluid, dynamic position.
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