1/25/2021 – In the first round of the Tata Steel Tournament 2021 Alireza Firouzja lost against Magnus Carlsen, but then he scored 5½/7, and with 5½/8 and an Elo-performance of 2882 he is now sole leader. In round 8 Firouzja won an interesting game against Pentala Harikrishna in which he showed how powerful the bishops can be. Karsten Müller had a close look. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit - Tata Steel Tournament 2021

1/19/2021 – Pawn endings require precise calculation. Here, Black's king is stronger than White's outside passed pawn. Black to play and win.

1/12/2021 – Usually, in a race of passed pawns it is better to have a bishop than a knight. After all, bishops are long ranging pieces while knights can easily become short of breath. But there are exceptions, this position for example. White to play and win.

1/5/2021 – Endings with opposite coloured bishops have drawish tendencies. And often positional factors are more important than material, particularly so when building a fortress is the order of the day: White to play and draw!

12/29/2020 – Passed pawns can be dangerous, sometimes even extremely dangerous. In the diagram position Black really needs a good idea to stop the white pawns. What would you do? Black to play and draw!

12/22/2020 – Rook endings have drawish tendencies and being one or even two pawns up does not guarantee a win. However, having a theoretically drawn position on the board does not guarantee a draw in practice. Precision is required. What should Black play in the diagram position?

12/15/2020 – Stalemate draws the game, no matter whether one side has a huge material plus or not. Some chess players think that the stalemate rule is unjust and should be changed, but sometimes it leads to interesting tactical possibilities. How did Black save a draw in the diagram position?

12/8/2020 – Of course, it is usually good to promote a passed pawn as fast as possible. But chess is simply not that simple, and sometimes haste indeed makes waste. The diagram position is an example. Why is it a mistake to queen the pawn immediately? And what is a better move?

12/1/2020 – Pawn endings often require knowledge and precise calculation. And sometimes a (temporary) retreat is the best (and only) way to make progress.

11/24/2020 – Some endings are simple: you have a passed pawn that wants to push ahead and therefore your king also pushes ahead to support the pawn or enter the enemy's camp. But things are rarely that easy. In the diagram position White's pawn wants to push ahead and White's king can also push ahead to support his own pawn or to attack the black pawns on the queenside. But is that really the way to save the draw?

11/17/2020 – Connected passed pawns can be very dangerous - in the middlegame but of course also in the endgame. However, as dangerous as connected passed pawns may be, sometimes they need a little help from their king. Do you see how the white king can effectively support his pawns in the diagram position?

11/10/2020 – Rook endings have drawish tendencies and often being one or even two pawns up is not enough to win. However, rook endings are also complicated enough to offer both sides a lot of opportunities to go wrong and good chances to win or draw if the opponent does not find the best moves.

11/3/2020 – Rooks are of course stronger than bishops, and there is a reason why giving up a rook for a bishop is called exchange "sacrifice". But of course there are many positions in which a rook is not stronger than a bishop. In the middlegame and in the endgame. The diagram shows one example. Can you find way to save the position for Black?

10/29/2020 – About a week ago, Karsten Müller invited readers to analyze a fascinating rook endgame that occurred in a game between Vassily Smyslov and Pal Benkö from 1975. Smyslov was an endgame specialist but he still failed to grasp the hidden depths of this tricky endgame. But after taking more than one close look and with the help of the ChessBase readers, Karsten Müller and Zoran Petronijevic are now closer to the truth. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

10/27/2020 – Sometimes keeping distance is a good idea but in chess isolated pawns are usually weaker and more vulnerable than connected pawns. The diagram position is a good example. What did Black play?

10/22/2020 – Vassily Smyslov, the 7th World Champion, was an endgame specialist, and for generations of chess players Smyslov's book about "Rook Endings", which he wrote together with Grigory Levenfish, was the "Bible of Rook Endings". However, is everything in this "bible" really true? Karsten Müller and Zoran Petronijevic have doubts - and ask the readers to help analysing a fascinating endgame, which Smyslov presented in the third edition of his classic. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

10/20/2020 – Rook endgames have drawish tendencies. One reason for this is the fact that the rook of the defending side can often harass the enemy king with a series of checks. However, if the king is too close to the rook, this ressource usually fails.

10/13/2020 – It is helpful to know a couple of theoretical endgame positions - they might come up in a practical game or knowing them might help you to win an important or less important blitz game. Centurini's draw is the most important theoretical position in the endgame bishop and pawn against bishop.

10/9/2020 – Many players believe that Mark Dvoretsky's "Endgame Manual" is one of the best chess books of all time. Recently, Russell Enterprises released the 5th edition of this legendary work. In an interview with Johannes Fischer, Karsten Müller, who edited and revised the 5th edition of the "Manual", talks about his passion for the endgame, why studying Dovretsky's manual is fun and worth the effort, and what makes this book so special.

10/9/2020 – The first four rounds of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament saw a number of instructive and interesting endgames. Karsten Müller is happy and took a close look at the textbook-endgame between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Levon Aronian in round 3, which shows why it is sometimes better to have less.

10/6/2020 – Knights are ideal to block passed pawns. However, in the diagram position White's knight on the rim cannot stop the black pawns. If Black is careful and proceeds with precision.

9/30/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game from the Spanish Team Championship, in which Yuriy Kuzubov showed excellent endgame technique. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo:

9/29/2020 – This middlegame-guideline also applies in the endgame if not only the bishops remain on the board. However, attacking the enemy king with only a few pieces can be tricky. How does White win in the diagram positon?

9/23/2020 – Who is better, the bishop or the knight? It depends. In the endgame, when both sides fight on both wings, the bishop is usually better than the knight. But not always. One such exception is the diagram position. Here, the knight is better than the bishop. But how does Black win?