Opening package: 1.b3 and Black Secrets in the Modern Italian
Wesley So published two new opening DVDs: 1.b3, the so called Nimzo-Larsen-Attack, for White and his black secrets in the modern Italian. Get them in a package and save money!
Nadja Wittmann: Which is your favourite DVD (of your own) and why?
Karsten Müller: The ninth DVD of my Endgame Series on endings with rook and minor piece vs rook and minor piece. They occur very often in practical play, but are not well covered in the rich literature of the royal game.
Karsten working with super-GM Wesley So on his recent visit to ChessBase in December, 2017
What is your all lifetime motto over the board (and maybe also in life)?
Fight to the end or maybe fight to the endgame. Chess Endgames 9 - Rook and Minor Piece Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".
Wesley So also was a guest on the special 100th episode of Karsten's show Endgame Magic
What is it that you like most about playing chess?
As player the fight as coach and analyst the depth and beauty.
Do you have an example for that, Karsten?
Of course I have!
[Event "Linares"] [Site "?"] [Date "1998.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Topalov, V."] [Black "Shirov, A."] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Karsten"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/8/4kpp1/3p1b2/p6P/2B5/6P1/6K1 b - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "13"] {My favorite combination of all time is the following fantastic bishop sacrifice: [#] Black has only one move to win:} 1... Bh3 $3 {Really mind blowing.} (1... Be4 $2 2. g3 f5 3. Kf2 Kd6 4. Ke3 Kc5 5. Bf6 Kc4 6. Bg7 a3 7. Bf6 Kb3 8. Kd2 Ka2 9. Kc1 $11) (1... Kd6 $2 2. Kf2 Kc5 3. Ke3 $11) 2. gxh3 (2. Kf2 Kf5 3. Kf3 Bxg2+ 4. Kxg2 Ke4 $19 {(A.Shirov in Informant 72/(415))}) 2... Kf5 $1 (2... f5 $2 3. Kf2 Kd6 4. Ke3 Kc5 5. Kd3 (5. Bd4+ $2 Kc4 6. Bb2 d4+ 7. Bxd4 (7. Kf4 d3 $19) 7... f4+ 8. Ke4 f3 9. Be3 a3 10. Kxf3 a2 $19) 5... a3 6. Bf6 a2 7. Be5 f4 8. Ba1 Kb4 9. Ke2 Kc4 10. Kf3 d4 11. Kxf4 Kd5 $11) 3. Kf2 Ke4 $1 4. Bxf6 (4. Ke2 f5 $19 {(A.Shirov)}) 4... d4 $1 5. Be7 (5. Ke2 $6 a3 $19 { (Ftacnik in ChessBase Magazin 64)}) (5. Bg5 Kd3 6. Ke1 Kc2 $19) 5... Kd3 $1 6. Bc5 Kc4 $1 (6... Kc3 $2 7. Ke2 $11) 7. Be7 Kb3 (7... Kb3 8. Bc5 d3 9. Ke3 Kc2 10. Bb4 a3 $19 {(Ftacnik)}) 0-1
Chess Endgames 7 - Endgame Principles Weaknesses & Fortresses
The 7th volume of this endgame series deals with many different aspects of endgame play: the art of pawn play, weaknesses, converting an advantage, stalemate, fortresses, the art of defence and typical mistakes. Learn how to convert an extra piece or an exchange or how to exploit space advantage and better mobility. The themes the art or defence, fortress and stalemate are also intertwined. If your position has a solid fundament then you may surprisingly reach a fortress which might even be based on a stalemate.
Karsten Müller is never short of good ideas when it comes to chess | Photo: Nadja Wittmann
Do you think that you have enough time to spare also on non-chess-related activities?
Yes. For example I still do some mathematics, which is now my hobby.
Which is the ChessBase program that you use the most (and what for)?
ChessBase 14 to analyse and annotate endgames.
Chess Endgames 2 - Rook Endgames
With this second volume of his endgame training series, grandmaster and endgame expert Dr Karsten Mueller continues to lay the solid foundations for the last phase of the game.
Part II is dedicated exclusively to rook endgames: rook versus pawn, rook and pawn versus rook, rook and rook pawn versus rook, rook and two connected pawns versus rook.
What are you currently working on in the ChessBase studio?
At the moment I prepare the endgame sections for the ChessBase Master Class series. So I have investigated the endings of Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian and Spassky in detail.
