Endgames from Mexico City

by Karsten Müller
10/21/2023 – The 2023 edition of the World Junior Championships took place at the end of September in Mexico City. Marc’Andria Maurizzi from France and Candela Francisco from Argentina won the open and women’s sections respectively. Such a lengthy and prestigious event saw many games entering notable endgame positions. GM Karsten Müller followed the action and analysed what he considered to be the most instructive ones. Find here the nine endings he chose to share with us! | Pictured: Ema Walter from Slovakia | Photo: David Llada
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One chance

It is all about timing in chess. Sometimes you get only one chance to play the idea that will get you the full point.

In the following position, Icelandic FM Aleksandr Domalchuk-Jonasson failed to play the exchange sacrifice that would have granted him a win in his round-5 game against IM Jospeh Girel from France.

Domalchuk-Jonasson vs. Girel

64.Rxd5 wins here, as after 64...exd5 White will begin working towards getting a central passed pawn with 65.f5, and will take advantage of his active king to push it. Instead, White’s 64.a5 led to a rather quick draw.

Also in round 5, IM Samir Sahidi from Slovakia saved a draw from an endgame two pawns down after his opponent, FM Kemel Gallo from Cuba, hurried to push his a-pawn.

Sahidi vs. Gallo

52...a4 gives up the pawn to distract the light-squared bishop from the long diagonal — i.e. after 53.Bxa4, Gallo played 53...Bd5, pinning the knight to save his h-pawn. As shown in Karsten Müller’s analysis below, Black needed to give up the other pawn and transfer his king to the queenside. As it turns out, having two extra passers on opposite sides of the board is not always enough to secure a full point!

These are only two of the nine instructive endgame positions which you can study and enjoy in our dynamic replayer below.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.Bf4 Qb6 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.Bxe4 dxe4 13.Qxe4 Nb6 14.c5 Bxc5 15.Nxc5 Qxc5 16.Be3 Qc4 17.Rd1 Qxe4 18.Nxe4 Nd5 19.Bc5 Re8 20.Nc3 Nxc3 21.bxc3 b6 22.Bd4 Bb7 23.0-0 Red8 24.Be3 Rdc8 25.Bd4 Rc4 26.Ra1 Ra4 27.Rfb1 Rd8 28.a3 Rd5 29.Rb4 Rda5 30.Rxa4 Rxa4 31.Kf1 Kf8 32.g3 Ke8 33.Ke2 Kd7 34.Kd3 Bd5 35.Kc2 Kc6 36.Kb2 Bc4 37.f3 Be2 38.Kb3 Kb5 39.f4 Bc4+ 40.Kc2 Kc6 41.Bg1 Bd5 42.Bd4 h6 43.Be3 Kb5 44.Rb1+ Ka5 45.Ra1 Ka6 46.Bg1 Bf3 47.Rf1 Be4+ 48.Kb2 Bd5 49.Bd4 Ra5 50.Rb1 Be4 51.Rc1 Rb5+ 52.Ka2 Rd5 53.Kb3 Ka5 54.Re1 Rb5+ 55.Kc4 Bd5+ 56.Kd3 Rb3 57.Ra1 Ka4 58.Be3 Rb2 59.h4 Kb3 60.a4 Rg2 61.Rb1+ Ka2 62.Rb5 Rxg3 63.Kd4 Rg2 Opposite-colored bishops favor the attacker. Pure opposite-colored bishop endings have a large drawish tendency, but with rooks they favor the attacker, like in the middlegame: 64.a5? White misses the moment. 64.Rxd5 wins, e.g. exd5 65.f5 Rg4+ 66.Kxd5 Rg3 67.Bd4 Rf3 68.Ke4 Rf1 69.e6 fxe6 70.fxe6 Rf8 71.Bxg7+- 64...Rh2 65.axb6 axb6 66.c4 Bf3 67.Rxb6 Rxh4 68.Kc3 Rh2? Too passive. The direct 68...g5 is called for, e.g. 69.fxg5 hxg5 70.Bxg5 Rh2 71.c5 Re2= 69.Bd2? Only after 69.c5 Be4 can 70.Bd2+- be played. 69...Rh3 70.Ra6+ Kb1 71.Rb6+ Ka2 72.Ra6+ Kb1 73.Rb6+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Domalchuk-Jonasson,A2407Girel,J2494½–½2023E32FIDE World Junior Open-ch 20235.11
Sahidi,S2476Gallo Garcia,K2356½–½2023D19FIDE World Junior Open-ch 20235.20
Alonso Garcia,A2446Kanyamarala,T23291–02023B81FIDE World Junior Open-ch 202310.21
Ghazarian,K2473Fischer,D23461–02023C54FIDE World Junior Open-ch 202310.17
Gharibyan,M2495Makarian,R25481–02023E07FIDE World Junior Open-ch 202310.6
Makarian,R2548Harshavardhan G B23971–02023E15FIDE World Junior Open-ch 20239.8
Pranav Anand2509Niemann,H26670–12023C11FIDE World Junior Open-ch 202310.4
Rodrigue-Lemieux,S2485Dushyant Sharma23391–02023E05FIDE World Junior Open-ch 202310.11
Stearman,J2468Peyrer,K2430½–½2023E48FIDE World Junior Open-ch 202311.14

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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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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