Karsten Mueller instructs: Wijk Endgames (3)

by Karsten Müller
1/24/2015 – Renowned for his tactical prowess and creative middlegame play, Ding Liren has also been showing his chops in the endgame. Here are two endgames won in which he finds solutions that are far from obvious, including his very imaginative reversal against Wojtaszek. Radjabov also works a win in a drawish endgame with instructive technique. Lessons from the doctor.
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The Bishop's Knightmare

With a knight the play is often tactical, and Van Wely found himself on
the receiving end of Ding Liren's knight pirouettes

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76.Nf6!? A good solution as the bishop can not be taken: Taking the bishop would be a blunder that would squander the win. 76.Rxe3? Rxg4+ 77.Kd3 Rh4 78.Re8 Kxd5 79.Rh8 Rh3+ 80.Ke2 Ke6 81.h7 Kf7= 76.Nxe3? also leads to nothing. Rxe4+ 77.Kd3 Ke5 77...Rh4? 78.Nf5++- 78.h7 Rh4= 76...Rh3 The point of the knight move is that the abandoned pawn on h6 is equally untouchable. After 76...Rxh6 White plays 77.Re6+ 77.Ne8+ Kd7 78.Rxe3+- wins as well. 77...Kc7 78.d6+ Kc6 79.d7+ Kc7 80.Re8 Rh4+ 81.Kd3 Rd4+ 82.Kxe3+- Rd6 83.Rc8+ Kb7 84.d8Q and it is game over. 76...Rxe4+ 77.Nxe4+ Ke5 78.h7+- 77.Re6+ Kc7 78.d6+ Kb7 79.d7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ding Liren2732Van Wely,L26671–02015A3477th Tata Steel GpA7

Radjabov's Rook

Pure endings with opposite colored bishops have a large drawish tendency,
but when a pair of rooks is still on the board then they usually favor the attacker.
Radjabov's technique here is both exemplary and instructive.

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52.Rf4! Kg6 Black's king must escape the mating net immediately. The threat is Bf7 mate. 52...Re3+? 53.Kf6 Be7+ 54.Kf5+- 52...Rxa6? 53.Bf7+ Rg6 54.Kf5 Be7 55.Bxg6# 53.Rg4+ Kh7 53...Kh5? would be hara-kiri. 54.Kf5 Rxa6 55.Bf7+ Rg6 56.Bxg6# 54.Be4+ Kh8 55.Rg6 h5?! 55...Be3 is more tenacious, but does not defend in the long run, e.g. 56.h5 Ra5+ 57.Bd5 Kh7 58.Ke4 Ba7 59.Rd6 Bc5 59...Bg1 60.Rd7+ Kh8 61.Rd6 Kh7 62.Kf3 Ra3+ 63.Kg4 Be3 64.Kf5 Bc5 65.Rd7+ Kh8 66.Bc4+- 60.Rc6 Bg1 61.Rc7+ Step-by-step the white pieces make progress. Kh8 62.Rc8+ Kh7 63.Rc6 Bc5 64.Kf3! The king now joins the fray. Ra3+ 65.Kg4 Bg1 66.Rd6 Be3 67.Kf5 Bc5 68.Rd7+ Kh8 69.Bc4 Rc3 70.Kg6 Rg3+ 71.Kf6 Rf3+ 72.Ke5 Ra3 73.Bd3 Ra4 74.Rh7+ Kg8 75.Rxh6+- 56.Rc6 Bf8?! Now White can close in for a direct mating attack. 56...Bf2 makes the win more difficult, e.g. 57.Kf6 Rg3 57...Bxh4+?! 58.Kf7+- 58.Bg6 Bd4+ 59.Kf5 Ra3 60.Bxh5+- 57.Kf6 Kg8 58.Bd5+ Kh7 59.Kf7 59.Kf7 Ra5 60.Be4+ Kh8 61.Rc8+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Radjabov,T2734Wojtaszek,R27441–02015B9077th Tata Steel GpA8

The miracle breakthrough

Appearances are deceiving. Althought the rook is usually much stronger than the bishop in
a technical endgame, White's three connected passed pawns seem to be an insurmountable
hurdle. Ding Liren's alertness and creativity overcome that.

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61...a5‼ This key preparation of the ...b6-b5 breakthrough is the only way to win. 61...a6? is met by 62.Kf4 for example b5 63.axb5 axb5 64.Ke5 Rb6 65.cxb5 Rxb5 66.Kd6 Rb2 67.g4 Rh2 68.Kxc5 Rxh3= 62.Bb7?! Now the resulting black passed pawn is too quick. 62.Be4! was more tenacious, but does not defend in the long run, e.g. Rd4 The direct 62...b5? allows the defence 63.cxb5 Rd4 64.b6 Rxa4 65.b7 Rb4 66.Bc6 a4 67.Bxa4 Rxb7 68.f4 c4 69.Kf3 Rb4 70.Bc2 Rb2 71.Be4 c3 72.Ke3 Rd2 73.h4= 63.Bd5 Kg6 Now White is in zugzwang. 64.h4 64.Kf2 b5-+ 64.Be4+ Kf6 65.Bd5 Ke5 66.h4 Kf6 67.h5 Kg5-+ 64...Kf6 65.h5 Kg5 66.Kf2 66.Kh3 b5 67.axb5 a4 68.b6 Rh4+ 69.Kg3 Rxh5 70.b7 Rh8 71.Be6 Rb8 72.Bc8 a3-+ 66.Bc6 Rxc4 67.Kf2 Kxh5 68.g3 Kg5 69.Ke3 Kf5 70.Kd3 Rb4 71.Bd7+ Ke5 72.Kc3 c4-+ 66...b5 Finally the breakthrough can come. 67.axb5 a4 68.b6 a3 69.b7 Rd2+ 70.Ke3 Rb2-+ 62...b5! The decisive breakthrough. 63.cxb5 63.axb5 a4-+ 63...c4 64.Be4 c3 65.Kf4 Rd2 65...Rd2 66.Ke5 c2 67.Bxc2 Rxc2 68.Kd6 68.b6 Rb2-+ 68...Rc4 69.b6 Rxa4 70.b7 Rb4-+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wojtaszek,R2744Ding Liren27320–12015E9477th Tata Steel GpA11

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.

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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