Advanced Endgame Studies

. . . . . . . .
. p . . . k p p
. . . . . . . .
. p . . . . . .
. . . . . p . .
. . . . . P . .
P P P . . . K P
. . . . . . . .

Carlsen was playing black against Alireza in this endgame, here Carlsen missed b4! This move is actually winning for black, let's see how

. . . r . . . .
. k . . . . p p
. . . . p p . .
. . p . . . . .
. . . . P . . .
. P P . . . . .
. R . . K . P P
. . . . . . . .

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. . . . k p p .
. . . p . b . .
p . . . . . . P
. . B . . . . .
. . . . . . P .
. . . . . . K .

The Immortal Bishop sacrifice. Topalov vs Shirov, 1998 This move we're about to witness is known as one of the best moves in chess human history. Completely insane and stunning move and the only winning move, it's insane that this move was even found. Even when I put on stockfish 18 it tells me draw (low depth) and when I play Bh3 it says black is winning.

. . . . . . . .
p R . . . p . .
P . . . k . p .
. P . . . . . .
. r . . . . . P
. . . . K . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .

f6 draws easily! In the game f5 was played and black lost the game between Vincent Keymer and Jeffery Xioing (two strong grandmasters) The reason is that we can hide our king on f5 while the rook on the a file guards the passed a pawn

. . . . . . . .
p R . . . . . .
P . . . k . p .
. P . . . p . .
. r . . . . . P
. . . . K . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .

Now let's see why f5 instead of f6 loses, this is a very useful pattern to remember!

. . . . . k . .
R . . . . . . .
. . . . b p . .
. . . . . . p .
. . . . . . P .
. . . . . P . .
. . . . . K . .
. . . . . . . .

This was Giri vs Sindarov in candidates 2026. This is a drawn endgame and the technique is to wait with Ke8 -> Kf8 until the white king reaches c5, then we start moving the bishop forth and back on the diagonal

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. . . . . K . .
. . . . . . . R
. . . . n k . .