The king is king

by Karsten Müller
7/9/2024 – In an endgame you should activate your king. In the diagram position, it is Black to move and he can win by activating his king. But how?

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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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 h6 4.a3 d5 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Nbd2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.b4 Bd6 9.Bb2 a6 10.g3 c5 11.dxc5 bxc5 12.Qa4 0-0 13.Qc6 Qc7 14.Qxc7 Bxc7 15.Bg2 cxb4 16.axb4 Bd6 17.b5 Nb6 18.Nd4 Bb4 19.Nc6 Bxd2+ 20.Kxd2 Nc4+ 21.Kc2 Nxb2 22.Kxb2 Bb7 23.Rhc1 axb5 24.Ne7+ Kh7 25.Rc7 Rxa1 26.Kxa1 Ba8 27.Bh3 g6 28.Kb2 Kg7 29.f3 Rd8 30.Kc1 b4 31.Rc8 Rxc8+ 32.Nxc8 Bb7 33.Na7 d4 34.e4 g5 35.Bf5 The king is king In an endgame you should activate your king. In the diagram position, it is Black to move and he can win by activating his king. But how?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanchuk,V2609Tabatabaei,M27070–12024E107th Sharjah Masters 20242.2

Karsten Mueller 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.


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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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