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Endgame theory forms the basis for chess. This becomes painfully clear as soon as a player has reached a clearly won endgame, yet must fi nally content himself with a draw because he lacks the necessary know-how. Does this sound familiar? Then avoid such accidents and make endgames your strength – by building up a solid endgame technique. With this second volume of his endgame training series, grandmaster and endgame expert Dr Karsten Mueller from Hamburg continues to lay the solid foundations for the last phase of the game. After dealing with basic endgames from giving mate with the queen to the basics of pawn endgames in part I, part II is dedicated exclusively to rook endgames: rook versus pawn, rook and pawn versus rook, rook and rook pawn versus rook, rook and two connected pawns versus rook. Those who have always found studying endgames with chess textbooks too dry and tedious will enjoy this DVD with its comfortable training system and benefi t enormously – in brilliant endgames at the actual board. Complete video running time: 5 hours. Author: Since 1988 grandmaster Dr. Karsten Mueller from Hamburg plays for the Hamburger Schachklub in the Bundesliga and in 1996 and 1997 he fi nished third in the German Championship. As an internationally renowned endgame expert he is the author of the endgame column in the ChessBase magazine and the author of the Endgame Corner column on ChessCafe.com. His book „Fundamental Chess Endings“, which he co-authored with Frank Lamprecht and which was published in 2001 by Gambit is already considered to be a modern classic.

Magic of Chess Tactics Chess Tactics are the art of combat command. When tactics dominate concrete action is required immediately in order to put a plan into practice or to grab an opportunity. However in complicated positions and with determined resistance basic tactics are often insufficient and intuition, imagination and precision are necessary. The Magic of Chess Tactics DVD helps to develop these qualities and hereto offers a multitude of highly interesting, thoroughly analysed examples as well as detailed explanations and exercises.

How should systematic chess coaching be structured so that students are able to use their freshly acquired knowledge in their own games? Author Stefan Becker came to an astonishingly simple answer. The solution to every chess problem lies on the board. So it’s quite logical that we should ask our pieces what they think about their future. But what do these discussions sound like, and what happens if the pieces have different or conflicting interests? This DVD provides the answers to these questions and more by working through a number of selected masterpieces. Suddenly it becomes clear how world-class players come up with their brilliant ideas. Stefan Becker illustrates his concept, talking to the pieces, by taking the role of the player in a number of games. German Grandmaster Dr. Karsten Müller lends his voice to the pieces and tries to express their feelings, aims, plans, wishes and fears. Becker then demonstrates how this feedback, together with calculation and new questions, leads to the right decisions over the board. Becker’s didactic concept can also be used by teachers to explain the inner workings of chess to their students. Video length: 4 h 17 min.

The more reduced the material, the more important it is to correctly assess the potential of your own and the enemy pieces. This is particularly true in endgames with unbalanced material. On DVDs 9 and 10 of his endgame series Dr. Karsten Müller explored symmetrical material constellations with two pieces against two pieces, and this DVD begins with a discussion of asymmetrical material balances, including

• rook against bishop
• rook and knight against two bishops
• two rooks against rook and bishop
• queen and rook against queen and bishop
• rook and knight against bishop and knight
• rook against two bishops

These endgames allow one to study the important characteristics „coordination“ and „harmony of the pieces“ in detail and lead to interesting practical insights. For instance, Müller shows that rook and knight are markedly superior to bishop+knight whereas the two bishops cope much better. With the help of a large number of examples the internationally renowned endgame expert explains the pertinent winning motifs of the side with the rook, such as returning the exchange, opening lines for the rook and restricting the bishop. Another factor that is of great importance in converting one‘s advantage is the question when and when not to exchange“. Video running time: 8 hours 26 min.