Chess Endgames 1 to 14 Dr Karsten Mueller Complete Chess Endgames DVDs

Mueller: Chess Endgames 14

Review by Sean Marsh

One of the most valuable jewels in the ChessBase crown is undoubtedly the endgame series presented by Karsten Mueller, which has been entertaining and instructing chess players since 2006. There is both good and bad news about the series. The good news is that a new volume has just been released but the bad news is that it will be the final volume.

The Golden Guidelines of Endgame Play doesn’t focus on one particular aspect of endgames. Rather, it intends to round off the whole series with general advice, backed up by well-chosen illustrative examples. It’s all about ”rules of thumb” which, according to Karsten Mueller, ”are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.”

The material is split into two sections: General Rules of Thumb and Principles of Special Endgames.

General Rules of Thumb means things such as activating the king, when to exchange pawns, the best pieces to use when blockading pawns and improving the worst piece.

Right at the start, Karsten makes it clear that ”the art of the royal game” is not to memorise all of the guidelines ”and repeat them each morning, in front of a mirror” as chess should not simply about who has the better memory. Rather, it is best to have a sound knowledge of the guidelines and to combine such wisdom with one’s own intuition when trying to find the best move or plan.

Here’s an example of the General Rules of Thumb, demonstrating the guideline It doesn’t matter what disappears from the board but what remains.