Instructive endgames from the London Chess Classic

by Karsten Müller
1/10/2024 – The thirteenth edition of the London Chess Classic saw 52-year-old Michael Adams becoming the first Englishman to win the now traditional tournament. Shreyas Royal (pictured with his father), at 14, collected his second GM norm, and showed excellent endgame technique when required. GM Karsten Müller selected some of the most instructive endgame positions to share with us, including a couple by the youngster of Indian origin. | Photo: London Chess Classic
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Should I simplify into a rook endgame?

Rook endgames often end in draws, even when one of the sides has one (or even two) extra pawns. Thus, trading pieces to enter a pure rook ending is usually a difficult decision.

In round 3 of the London Chess Classic, Shreyas Royal correctly assessed that he could exchange queens with Amin Tabatabaei and convert his extra pawn into a win. 

After 35.Qd6 Qxd6 36.cxd6 the resulting rook endgame is indeed winning. White went on to grab the opponent’s b-pawn while allowing Black to get a new queen of his own on the kingside. The resulting position with queen and rook against queen and rook was completely winning for White.

49...g1Q 50.Qd8+, and the white king’s activity is crucial to get the win. Royal found a couple more precise manoeuvres to prompt Tabataei’s resignation.

This is only one of the four instructive endgame positions which you can study and enjoy in our dynamic replayer below.

Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.

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.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register