A duo of authors
Karsten Müller has for decades been one of the world's most influential authors on the endgame. The German grandmaster has published numerous works, including the legendary endgame series covering all endgame themes. It can be said that Müller has made one of the most important contributions to endgame teaching.
Leon Mendonca is an Indian grandmaster who represents a younger generation of professional players. In this course, his role is primarily to question and apply the rules presented from the perspective of a practical tournament player. This concept is intended to reduce the distance between theory and practice.
While some readers will already be familiar with both authors, many will not yet know the duo, and they do not really get the chance to do so in the course either, as Karsten Müller gets straight down to business by clarifying the course content and mentioning the two authors by name in a subordinate clause. The fact that the course begins before the two protagonists have really been able to introduce themselves creates a vacuum that runs through the entire introduction and clearly leaves not only Mendonca confused and silent, but also left me feeling the same way on the first listening.
From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!
Course structure and objective
The core of the course consists of the ten golden rules of endgame play. These form the basic framework by which the illustrative exercises in the theory section, as well as the practice section, are to be approached.
Course contents
- Activate the king
- Activate the rook
- Zugzwang is the sharpest endgame weapon
- Restrict the opponent's pieces
- Every exchange favours one side
- Do not hurry!
- The principle of two weaknesses
- Passed pawns should be pushed forward
- Bishops like open positions
- Opposite-coloured bishops have two faces
This video course features the ins-and-outs of the possible setups Black can choose. You’ll learn the key concepts and strategies needed to add this fantastic opening to your repertoire. An easy-to-learn and yet venomous weapon.
The course essentially follows the principle of a teacher-student exchange, or a training session with a coach, in which the teacher - here Karsten Müller - presents and explains concepts to the student and then tests the pupil with exercise positions. The approach itself is certainly sensible and makes it possible to convey ideas effectively to the student.
However, it often happens that, after Müller's initial question, Mendonca does not get to give a full answer, as the course immediately moves on - and his explanations frequently cannot be heard through to the end. A somewhat less tight schedule, or a finer sense for this issue, would have been more beneficial for the course.
Black to move. Should Black play …Ke6 or …Bd7?
Additional material
In addition to the example positions from the video lessons, a total of 40 exercises in ChessBase and e-book format have also been included. This is very positive, as most of the examples can be solved with the help of the endgame rules presented in the course. This allows users to test their own knowledge or to create small test sheets for club work in order to check and evaluate the students' understanding.
Target audience
The 10 Golden Rules of Endgame Play are certainly useful, even if they often have a very general character, as they occur frequently in statistical terms and provide a compass through the murky waters of numerous endgames.
Although the course very quickly and frequently makes it clear that, alongside these endgame principles, concrete calculation always takes precedence, they serve as a useful guide for beginners and intermediate players when handling endgames. I would therefore place the target audience here at around 1200 to 1600 Elo, since above that level more concrete knowledge becomes increasingly important.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
Endgames decide more games than any opening preparation ever will and yet they are often the least understood phase of chess. In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
Free Video sample: Introduction
Free Video sample: Activate the king
Conclusion
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.A product that, by virtue of its conception and the expertise of both players alone, could have made a valuable contribution is devalued by a plainly ill-considered presentation. Where ten useful rules of endgame play should set the tone, exceptions and overlaps of motifs accumulate, making the importance of these endgame principles look somewhat absurd.
What remains from this course are the approaches that Leon Mendonca shows while solving the endgame positions, as well as the material itself, which is well-structured and can be used for personal study at home or in a club. The additional exercise material is also extensive, leaving behind a usable course, though one that is likely to rank among Karsten Müller's weaker works - and this is said by someone who has devoured absolutely all of his works and who, with the help of his legendary endgame series, was able to develop a passion for the endgame. I often quote Müller in club training when the phrase "That would be good technique!" comes up yet again. That is the technique I would like to see again in his next course.
Overall rating: ★★ 2/5
Positive:
✔ Compact basic knowledge for orientation in the endgame
✔ Well-prepared material
✔ Numerous exercises for home study
Negative:
– The idea of a teacher-student exchange only works to a limited extent here and repeatedly breaks with the concept
– The improvisation on both sides often gives rise to confusion - both for the viewer and for the authors
About the authors:
GM Dr Karsten Müller was born in Hamburg on 23 November 1970. He studied mathematics and graduated in 2002. Müller has played for Hamburger SK in the Bundesliga since 1988 and earned the grandmaster title in 1998. Together with Frank Lamprecht, he is the author of the highly regarded works Secrets of Pawn Endings (2000) and Fundamental Chess Endings (2001); with Martin Voigt, Danish Dynamite (2003); with Wolfgang Pajeken, How to Play Chess Endgames (2008); with Raymund Stolze, Kämpfen und Siegen mit Hikaru Nakamura (2012); and finally, between 2004 and 2012, he authored the Chess (Cafe) Puzzle Books 1-4 (3 with Merijn van Delft, 4 with Alex Markgraf), and more recently, with Stefan Becker, Ask the Pieces (2013), a FritzTrainer/chess coaching DVD. Müller’s book Bobby Fischer, The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion (2009) attracted attention, as did in particular his excellent series of ChessBase endgame DVDs, Schachendspiele 1-14. Müller’s popular column Endgame Corner has appeared at www.chesscafe.com since January 2001, and his Endgames column in ChessBase Magazine since 2006. The busy and internationally recognised endgame expert was named “Trainer of the Year” by the German Chess Federation in 2007.
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Luke Leon Mendonca is a young grandmaster from India, born in 2006, who earned the grandmaster title at the age of 14. He is a very active player and has many opening ideas, which he has now presented in several video courses for ChessBase.
More products by the author are available in the ChessBase Shop
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In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
Endgames decide more games than any opening preparation ever will and yet they are often the least understood phase of chess. In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
Free Video sample: Introduction
Free Video sample: Activate the king
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