World Champions and their best endgames

by Davide Nastasio
7/29/2019 – Reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO noticed a flaw in many chess biographies of world champions. They all have an index for the opponents, they have an index for the openings, but there is no index for the interesting endgames. Often we find a 400 or 500 page biography with tons of games, yet no idea how to find typical middlegame themes or endgames to learn from. In the latest FritzTrainer from GM Karsten Mueller, however, you'll find the world champions' best endgames, each deconstructed using Mueller's great endgame insight and teaching experience.

Enjoy Capablanca's fine technique, Tal's magic, Lasker's fighting spirit, Petrosian's defensive skills, Smyslov's feeling for harmony, and Alekhine's and Spassky's flair for the attack.

A review of Volume 2

I was listening to an interview on the Perpetual Chess Podcast recently and one of the questions was how to learn the endgames. The guest suggested one should get a collection of games by different champions like Rubinstein, Capablanca, Smyslov, and review the games starting from the beginning of the endgame.

This video series offers viewers the opportunity to do just that — but with a wide selection of endgames covering ten world champions from different historical periods, plus a bonus section on Morphy. No need to buy ten books, and waste a lot of time sifting throuhg the material.

In fact, some of these champions are famous specifically for their endgame skills — noteably Capablanca who even had one book dedicated soley to his endgames. Smyslov is another world champion who wrote a book on endgames which is still a classic and a must read. But this is, in a sense, our blessing today. We have GMs like Mueller who grew up reading the books I just mentioned and can reinterpret that knowledge for us in a new, more efficient format.

This month I'll have three weekends tournaments. Then, of course, there are other distractions from our quest for chess mastery: family life, kids out of school, work etc. But thanks to ChessBase and Mueller, I can increase and enjoy my endgame prep for each tournament, with the limited time I have.

For one month I've decided to prepare for my tournaments giving preference to studying endgames. I also try to keep my interest up by adding new tools, books or DVDs. Because I believe one can learn more by keeping the attention high, which also helps with retaining the material studied. 

GM Mueller begins the DVD showing the Steinitz method of restriction using the bishop pair. I admit I didn't know such idea, or that it was typical of Steinitz.

There is a lot of chess wisdom to be learned from Mueller's narration. The above position needs to be converted technically into a rook and bishop vs rook and knight. Mueller says today such endgame would be called Fischer's endgame, dropping a hint to look at the endgames of the legendary player in order to grow more in our endgame understanding.

Fischer is treated fully in volume 1 of this endgame series of DVDs, and if one has the Master Class volume dedicated to Fischer, there's also endgame material to study. But the point here is that Champions like Fischer learned from classic champions like Steinitz, and gained their technique thanks to the study of great games and the practice in tournament.  I believe in Fischer's time one would learn the endgames, and the art of analysis, thanks to adjournments. Today we don't have such possibility anymore, but we still need to learn endgames, and know how to analyze a position.

Steinitz

As just mentioned, the first section of the DVD is on Steinitz. Mueller gives some biographical notes to better understand some important moment in this world champion's life. That will help us to put Steinitz's life in the historical chess period in which he lived. The Steinitz section is made up of six videos in which Mueller explains some important endgames played by Steinitz, and one interactive video in which Mueller shows an endgame position and then ask the viewer to take Steinitz's role and win, giving feedback for good and wrong moves.

I'd like to show a position which I found interesting, and could be used for training purposes. In fact, it can be played against the engine within the diagram below. White just played 17.a3?? a blunder. How should Black continue and win the game? (It's partly tactical, but then the real training part begins, when one must be able to convert the material advantage into a win).

 
Try to win the game!
Black to move

Of course the DVD is full of positions which can be used by a coach to test and improve a student's endgame knowledge, like in the following one. White just played 38.h5 how would Black win? (Again, this position can be played against an engine from the diagram.)

 
How to win as Black?
Black to move

I also believe we must pay attention to Mueller's evaluation of the endgame positions, because his words reveal the knowledge we must acquire. For example the following position is defined as a "technical endgame" by Mueller. This means we must play such position, and learn to win it.

 
Endgame technique...
White to move

If one has the ChessBase Account, it can be played against Fritz online, giving the player not only a library of endgame videos, but also a library of positions to practice and learn from.

Lasker is the second world champion treated in this collection. There are a total of ten videos explaining his endgames, and two interactive videos where one needs to find the right moves, as played by Lasker.

Even in the non-interactive videos, Mueller often asks questions about the position, so viewers can always pause the video manually and try to find an answer. This is important because often we cannot afford a GM to teach us, but thanks to Mueller wise questions, we understand critical moments, and when we need to stop and think, like we would do in a game.

In the first video, as he does with Steinitz, Mueller begins with a brief biographical sketch. In Lasker's case, most top players are impressed with the longevity of his reign: 27 years! In fact Lasker's long time competing in chess is rivaled only by Smyslov and Kortchnoi.
Mueller does a good job to examine both sides. Often he doesn't limit himself to showing how good Lasker was, but also finds ways for the other player to draw or defend.

The following position is one such example. Black can draw if he defends precisely. Try to play it against the engine. Surely some practice will help you hone your defensive skills, even if the engine wins all the time.

 
Increase your defensive skills!
Black to move

This position is really dense in variations, and perfect for those who want to learn the art of analysis.

Capablanca

The material on Capablanca has been divided in different types of endings — minor piece endings, Rook endings, Double rook endings etc. — for a total of twelve videos plus two interactive videos.

I find also simple pawn endgames sometimes difficult to win or draw. For example the following is taken by the game Flohr vs Capablanca in 1935. White just played 49.xd3, can you draw against the engine?

 
Can you draw?
Black to move

I'd like to point out how much we can improve, if we just try to analyze some pawn endgames.

The following comes from the gamed Ed. Lasker vs Capablanca in 1915.

 
Black to win the endgame!

White just played 32.d3, and Capablanca was able to win. But maybe White didn't defend like an engine would. Try it yourself. The point here is to gain experience in these endgames, to play better tournament games.

While illustrating the endgames Mueller asks over and over: "How to continue...??" This question is something we'll hear also in our tournament games, and it will be a good way to focus, and ask ourselves something which will give us direction in the endgame.

Alekhine

Alekhine gets ten videos of endgames. In each video, Mueller points out also at possible natural moves one would think to play, and show why such moves are positional mistakes which would give the opponent counter-play.

To link Capablanca and Alekhine, I'd like to show the end of a game, for which Mueller has made a video, in which there are four queens!

 
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60...Rd8 60...Qf1-+ 61.a6?! 61.Kg2 Qf5 62.Qxc3 62.Rf2 Rd2-+ 63.Rxd2 cxd2 62...Rd3 63.Qc6 Qg4-+ 61...Qf1! 62.Qe4 62.a7 Rd2 63.Rxd2 Qxc4 64.a8Q cxd2-+ 62...Rd2 63.Rxd2 cxd2 64.a7 d1Q 65.a8Q Qg1+ 66.Kh3 Qdf1+ 66...Qdf1+ 67.Qg2 Qh1# 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Capablanca,J-Alekhine,A-0–11927D52World Championship 13th11

Euwe

We come then to what many considered an interim world champion, Euwe, who lost the title as soon as Alekhine regained his sobriety. Euwe however is more important as chess organizer and of course FIDE president. Many don't know that in 1946, it was thanks to Euwe that a qualifying system gave us the interzonals and candidates system to select the future challenger to the World Champion for nearly 40 years. Ten videos of endgames, and one interactive video are dedicated to Euwe. Through the different endgames, Mueller teaches also the importance of losing control of some important squares, and how it would affect the game. Some don't consider Euwe a "real" World Champion, because he had a real job (one to actually pay bills and have a family, retirement etc.), and differently from most world champions, thanks to his writing skills, a lot of amateurs and club players benefited from the wealth of chess literature he left behind.  

Try this Euwe endgame, from a game played against Olland in 1920. Olland as Black has played 33...g6  against the engine it can be a good calculation exercise.

 
Lots to calculate with queens are over the board!
White to move

Botvinnik

Botvinnik, who is the most representative world champion of the so called Soviet School of chess, reigned for a long time. He has twelve videos and two interactive clips dedicated to him. Mueller shows us how some broken pawn structures can be good for some minor pieces, the knight can be such an example of a piece which can use the holes in the enemy pawn structure for one's own advantage. I found the following game, with a beautiful rook and pawns endgame, which clearly show us why we need to study the games of world champions:

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.d4 d5 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 b4 9.Ne4 Bb7 10.Nxf6+ gxf6 11.e4 Bd6 12.0-0 Rg8 13.Qe2 Qa5 14.Nd2 0-0-0 15.Nc4 Qc7 16.f4 c5 17.a3 f5 18.axb4 Nf6 19.Na5 c4 20.Nxb7 cxd3 21.Nxd6+ Rxd6 22.Qxd3 fxe4 23.Qe2 Qb7 24.f5 Nd5 25.Qxe4 Nxb4 26.Qxb7+ Kxb7 27.fxe6 fxe6 28.Rf7+ Kc6 29.Be3 Kd5 30.Rxh7 Nc6 31.Bf4 Rdd8 32.Bc7 Rh8 33.Rg7 Rhg8 34.Rh7 Rh8 35.Rg7 Rhg8 36.Rf7 Rgf8 37.Raf1 Rxf7 38.Rxf7 Rc8 39.Be5 Nxd4 40.Bxd4 Kxd4 41.Kf2 a5 42.g4 Rc2+ 43.Kg3 Rxb2 44.g5 a4 45.g6 Rb1 46.Kh4 Rg1 47.Kh5 Kc4 48.Rf4+ Kb5 49.Rf3 Kb4 50.Rf4+ Kb5 51.Rf3 Kb4 52.Rg3 Rxg3 53.hxg3 a3 54.g7 a2 55.g8Q a1Q 56.Qg4+ Ka5 57.Qxe6 Qh8+ 58.Kg6 Qc3 59.g4 Qd2 60.g5 Qd4 61.Qf5+ Ka4 62.Kh5 Qh8+ 63.Kg4 Qh1 64.Qf4+ Ka5 65.Qe5+ Ka4 66.g6 Qd1+ 67.Kg5 Qd8+ 68.Kf5 Qc8+ 69.Kf4 Qc1+ 70.Qe3 Qc7+ 71.Qe5 Qc1+ 72.Kf5 Qc8+ 73.Kg5 Qd8+ 74.Qf6 Qd5+ 75.Qf5 Qd8+ 76.Kh5 Qe8 77.Qf4+ Ka5 78.Qd2+ Ka4 79.Qd4+ Ka5 80.Kg5 Qe7+ 81.Kf5 Qf8+ 82.Ke4 Qh6 83.Qe5+ Ka4 84.g7 Qh1+ 85.Kd4 Qd1+ 86.Kc5 Qc1+ 87.Kd6 Qd2+ 88.Ke6 Qa2+ 89.Qd5 Qe2+ 90.Kd6 Qh2+ 91.Kc5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mikhail Botvinnik-Nikolay N Minev-1–01954D47Amsterdam ol (Men) fin-A5.1

Smyslov

Smyslov is dealt with in eleven normal and two interactive videos. For those who want to know more about Smyslov's endgames, he wrote a book, with 150 examples mainly taken from his games. Definitely a worth read for those who aspire to play at master level. And for those who don't like to read, luckily there are the dozens of DVDs on the endgame authored by Mueller!

Tal

One of the most loved champions, Tal is also known as "the magician" for his magical tactics. He gets twelve videos divided into three sections: Six of magic endgames, three on rook endings and three of legendary endgames. To know him only for his prowess on tactics wouldn't be fair to him, since like all great champions he studied the endgames and developed the technique to convert a minimal advantage into a win.

I've begun to collect games which inspire me, and I must admit they were mostly miniatures. But thanks to this DVD on the endgames, I've begun to make some collections, for each champions, of endgames I love. Here a small sample of five amazing endgames played by Tal:

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Be3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Be7 13.Nd2 0-0 14.Rfd1 Qf5 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4 Rab8 17.Rd7 a5 18.a4 Qe5 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20.Qxe5 fxe5 21.Re1 f6 22.c4 Rf7 23.Red1 Rc8 24.b3 Rc7 25.Rxc7 Rxc7 26.Rd6 Kf7 27.Kf1 f5 28.g3 Kf6 29.Rb6 f4 30.gxf4 exf4 31.Ke2 Kf5 32.f3 Ke5 33.Kd3 Rd7+ 34.Kc3 Kf5 35.Rb5+ e5 36.Rxa5 Rd1 37.Rd5 Rh1 38.a5 Rxh3 39.Rd3 Rg3 40.Kd2 Rg2+ 41.Ke1 Rb2 42.c5 h5 43.Kf1 h4 44.Rc3 h3 45.Kg1 e4 46.a6 e3 47.axb7 Rb1+ 48.Kh2 e2 49.Re3 fxe3 50.b8Q Rh1+ 51.Kxh1 e1Q+ 52.Kh2 Qf2+ 53.Kxh3 Qxf3+ 54.Kh2 e2 55.Qf8+ Ke4 56.Qe8+ Kd3 57.Qb5+ Kc3 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aivars Gipslis-Mikhail Tal-0–11955B30URS-ch qf
Mikhail Tal-Vladimir Antoshin-1–01967C82USSR Championship
Tonu Oim-Mikhail Tal-0–11971A56Parnu8
Mikhail Tal-Orest Averkin-1–01973B18USSR Championship17
Jozsef Pinter-Mikhail Tal-0–11985E94Taxco Interzonal15

Petrosian

Petrosian is famous for his python squeezing style. He clearly had a deep positional understanding, and strong defense. Watching his games one understands the exchange sacrifice. Petrosian had an incredible understanding of minor pieces versus rook. Mueller mentions how he labeled the knight vs bishop endgame the Andersson endgame, but one could use also the term: Petrosian's endgames, because the Armenian really had an incredible feeling for understanding when the knight was better, and how to capitalize such advantage. This section is made up of eleven videos of endgames, plus two more interactive. Here a sample of games played by Petrosian which have some very interesting endgames.  

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.e3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Be2 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nc6 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.exd4 d5 10.c5 Be6 11.Bf3 Qd7 12.Bf4 Rfd8 13.Be5 Ne4 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Bxe4 Bxe5 16.dxe5 Qb5 17.Qc2 Rac8 18.Rfc1 Rd4 19.b3 Rcd8 20.h3 Rd2 21.Qc3 Qe2 22.Qf3 Bd5 23.Qxe2 Rxe2 24.Bd3 Rxe5 25.Rc3 Bc6 26.b4 a6 27.Rac1 Red5 28.Bc4 Rd4 29.a3 e6 30.R3c2 h5 31.Rb2 Rd2 32.Rxd2 Rxd2 33.Re1 Rc2 34.Bb3 Rc3 35.Re3 Rc1+ 36.Kh2 h4 37.Rd3 Rf1 38.Rd2 Ra1 39.Ra2 Rxa2 40.Bxa2 Kg7 41.f4 Kf6 42.g3 Kf5 43.Bb1+ Be4 44.Ba2 Bd3 45.Kg2 Ke4 46.gxh4 Kxf4 47.Kf2 Ke5 48.Bb3 Kd4 49.Bd1 e5 50.h5 gxh5 51.Bxh5 f5 52.h4 f4 53.Bd1 e4 54.h5 Ke5 55.h6 Kf6 56.Bb3 e3+ 57.Kf3 Be4+ 58.Ke2 Kg6 59.Be6 Kxh6 60.Bd7 Kg5 61.a4 Kf6 62.b5 axb5 63.axb5 Ke5 64.Bg4 Kd5 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vitaly Georgievich Tarasov-Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian-0–11957A56USSR Championship9
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian-Anatolij Bannik-1–01958A29USSR Championship4
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian-Mikhail Botvinnik-1–01963D94Botvinnik - Petrosian World Championship Match5

Spassky

And finally we hit the last world champion of this series: Spassky, who's covered by twelve videos and two more interactive clips.

Spassky is the champion made famous by Fischer and the Match of the Century. A Match which went quite beyond chess, and quickly became a comparison between two different economical systems: Capitalism vs Communism. Spassky is a great world champion, slightly overshadowed by Fischer, the Legend. He has some really great games and, like all world champions, some great endgames. One beautiful game, whose endgame has been annotated by Mueller in a video is the following I share here: nowadays these two great players are both former world champions. It's funny to think Karpov used what is known as Fischer's defense in the King's Gambit Accepted.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 h6 5.d4 g5 6.0-0 Bg7 7.g3 g4 8.Nh4 f3 9.Nc3 Nc6 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Qd2 Nxe4 12.Nxe4 d5 13.Nc3 dxc4 14.Rae1 0-0 15.d5 Ne7 16.Bxh6 Ng6 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qd4+ Qf6 20.Re7+ Kg8 21.Qxf6 Rxf6 22.Rxc7 Bf5 23.Rxc4 Re8 24.h3 Bxc2 25.Rd4 gxh3 26.Kh2 f2 27.Kxh3 Re1 28.Kg2 Rxf1 29.Kxf1 Rf3 30.Rd2 Bd3+ 31.Rxd3 Rxd3 32.Kxf2 Kf7 33.g4 Rd2+ 34.Ke3 Rxb2 35.Kd4 Ke7 36.Ke5 Rg2 37.d6+ Kd8 38.Kf4 Kd7 39.Ne4 Rxa2 40.Ke5 Ra5+ 41.Kf6 b5 42.Nc5+ Kxd6 43.Nb7+ Kc7 44.Nxa5 Kb6 45.Nb3 a5 46.Kxg6 a4 47.Nd2 Kc5 48.Kf5 Kb4 49.g5 a3 50.g6 a2 51.g7 a1Q 52.g8Q Qd4 53.Ne4 Ka3 54.Qa8+ Kb2 55.Qa6 b4 56.Qe2+ Ka3 57.Nd2 b3 58.Nb1+ Kb4 59.Qe1+ Ka4 60.Nc3+ Ka5 61.Ne2+ Qb4 62.Qa1+ Kb6 63.Qb2 Qc5+ 64.Kf4 Qc4+ 65.Ke3 Qc5+ 66.Nd4 Qe7+ 67.Kd3 Qb4 68.Nxb3 Qb5+ 69.Ke4 Qb4+ 70.Ke3 Qe7+ 71.Kd3 Qh7+ 72.Kc3 Qh3+ 73.Kb4 Qd7 74.Qf2+ Kc7 75.Nc5 Qe7 76.Qg3+ Kc6 77.Qg2+ Kb6 78.Qg6+ Kc7 79.Kb5 Qe2+ 80.Nd3 Qe7 81.Qc6+ Kd8 82.Qa8+ Kc7 83.Qa7+ Kd8 84.Qb8+ 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Boris Spassky-Anatoly Karpov-1–01982C34Hamburg

Morphy

The bonus section is dedicated to Morphy. He wasn't a world champion, but he's considered the first unofficial world champion, since his genius and chess intuition, or chess understanding, are similar to Fischer's. Morphy was quite ahead of his time. Eleven videos and and extra interactive video are dedicated to him.

This wealth of videos can surely enrich everyone's endgame understanding just through sheer exposure to the mass of material, and the recurring ideas, manoeuvers, and geometrical laws common to every endgame. There is also another reason to study deeply this DVD. Lately I was reading this book by Gata Kamsky on his chess games.

Kamsky book cover

One reviewer argued the analysis were too long, and dense. But when I finally received the book, I realized Kamsky had to spell out some ideas which would have been evident if one knew the endgame. Practically, game after game I read long analysis by Kamsky which were intended to show the reader why he took a certain decision in the middlegame. And we can see he takes decisions in the opening and middlegame already thinking about which endgame will result, and its likely outcome.

Nowadays amateurs rely on engines to evaluate a position. But the engine cannot really convey chess knowledge, and a mere number doesn't automatically translate into a win especially if our endgame technique is poor. Instead, when we read annotated games we find even more cryptic evaluations, like: space advantage or bishop pair advantage. For a titled player at GM/IM level such advantage is clear, because he knows how to use it, and he has seen it in many examples throughout his career. For an amateur such evaluation doesn't mean much.

One of the strengths of this FritzTrainer is how Mueller shows these advantages applied to many games. For example in the section on Steinitz we find multiple examples of the bishop pair winning against the knight pair. This is a first step in growing as chess player, to understand such evaluation plays out in practice. Then the next step is to make it happen in our own games.

The way I used the DVD is the following: Each evening I had time away from family and distraction, was enjoyed on a different champion, following Mueller's video-lectures. Within a month I was able to work through them all.

Final thoughts

At the moment, some world champions are still missing from the Master Class series, and I don't know when they will be published. For Steinitz, Smyslov, Euwe, Petrosian, and Spassky the material we find in this DVD is totally new, while for some Champions, the material may also be found on their respective Master Class DVDs.

Honestly, I got into this series because I consider it a mere quarter of what I would pay for one hour of training with a GM while here we get 13 hours of endgame explanations!! Yes, the value of this DVD is immense. 13 hours of lessons with a GM would be about USD $1300 — instead for less than $30 I have a GM at home who shows me some of the most important endgames played in chess history, for a ridiculously low price.

Kudos to Mueller for collecting all the material in one DVD. The DVD is worth having for teaching us something about the different world champions, especially in today's modern times, where we spend all our time doing tactics. It's a masterpiece to return from time to time, when we want to enjoy titanic battles which were won thanks to great endgame skills. Such knowledge, if only it would rub off on us, could help us earn easy points in our tournament games.

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Davide is a chess aficionado who regularly reviews books and DVDs.

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