Rooks belong behind passed pawns

by Karsten Müller
6/18/2024 – This rule by Dr. Tarrasch is a good guideline in rook endings - when supporting your own pawns and when fighting against enemy pawns. In the diagram position, which is from a game Nurgyul Salimova and Vaishali Rameshbhabu played at the Women's Candidates 2024, it is Black to move and win. What should she do?
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.
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.h4 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.h5 c5 8.hxg6 hxg6 9.Bh6 Bxh6 10.Rxh6 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Kg7 12.Qd2 cxd4 13.Rh4 Rh8 14.Rxh8 Qxh8 15.cxd4 Nd7 16.e4 Nf6 17.Qf4 Bd7 18.Ng5 Rf8 19.Rb1 b6 20.f3 Qh6 21.Rc1 Nh7 22.Nh3 Bxh3 23.Qxh6+ Kxh6 24.gxh3 Ng5 25.Kf2 Ne6 26.Ke3 Rd8 27.d5 Nc5 28.Bc4 e5 29.a4 a5 30.Bb5 f5 31.Rd1 Kg5 32.Bc6 Kf6 33.h4 Rh8 34.d6 f4+ 35.Kf2 Ne6 36.Rd5 Rc8 37.Bb5 Rc2+ 38.Kf1 Rc1+ 39.Kg2 Nd8 40.d7 Ke6 41.Rd2 Ke7 42.Kh2 Rc5 43.Rg2 Kf7 44.h5 gxh5 45.Rg5 Ke7 46.Rxh5 Nc6 47.Rh7+ Kd8 48.Kh3 Kc7 49.Kg4 Nd8 50.Kf5 Rc3 51.Kxe5 Rxf3 52.Rh1 Nb7 53.Kf6 Re3 54.e5 Nc5 55.Rh7 f3 56.Re7 f2 57.Kf7 Rh3 58.e6 Nb7 59.d8Q+ Kxd8 60.Rd7+ Kc8 61.Rd1 Rf3+ 62.Kg6 Re3 63.Kf6 Rf3+ 64.Kg5 Re3 65.Kf6 Rf3+ 66.Ke7 Nc5 67.Kd6 Rooks belong behind passed pawns This rule by Dr. Tarrasch is a good guideline in rook endings - when supporting your own pawns and when fighting against enemy pawns. In the diagram position, which is from a game Nurgyul Salimova and Vaishali Rameshbhabu played at the Women's Candidates 2024, it is Black to move and win. What should she do?
Black to move and win
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Salimova,N2432Vaishali,R24750–12024D90FIDE Womens Candidates 202410.4

Karsten Mueller in ChessBase Magazine

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Apart from his regular columns and video lectures in ChessBase Magazine there is a whole series of training DVDs by Karsten Mueller, which are bestsellers in the ChessBase Shop.

Karsten Mueller

Karsten Mueller regularly presents endgame lessons in the ChessBase Video Portal

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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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