Bøger af Karsten Muller

Since there is already so much literature about Magnus Carlsen, one wonders why the author added yet another book. - Because he found it extremely interesting to look at the strategic play of a genius through the lens of the so-called 'model of the four types of players'. And as a result, he actually managed to illustrate both the outstanding strengths and the universality of the 16th world champion.But even if the reader isn't necessarily interested in this approach, he might as well consider the book an extremely useful 'textbook on strategy' given how instructive Magnus Carlsen's games are. Because according to his style, he masters many strategically indispensable and effective methods (for example active prophylaxis, strategic pressure play, etc.) like no other.In order to go deeper, the author has formulated numerous clear and meaningful rules of thumb on the various topics. However, he does not fail to point out that in chess, knowing this or that rule by heart is not the most important thing. Rather, it's crucial to train your intuition to recognize as reliably as possible when you are dealing with a standard case and when with an exception. And since Magnus Carlsen's skills can also be described as absolutely brilliant in this respect, it goes without saying that any reader who delves a little deeper into Carlsen's games can learn a great deal about the subtleties of chess from one of the greatest players of all timeEach chapter is rounded off with topic-related exercises. And practical QR codes make it easier to work directly on your smartphone whenever there's no board at hand.

A comprehensive work about the magic world of endgames.For starters, 100 interesting and instructive examples on important endgame topics are thoroughly analyzed and extensively commented. Especially those in which not only many useful rules of thumb are ex- plained and illustrated, but above all their not uncommon exceptions.In the chapter 'Practice makes perfect', 100 exercises give the readers the opportunity to check their previous knowledge and what they have learned in the first part.In the following 100 exciting studies, it was ensured that they do not show any artificial constructs, but positions that could well have come from practical games and whose solutions are clearly comprehensible.You can either tackle the given exercises under tournament-like conditions, or you can use the book as a pure textbook and deal directly with the solutions, because even with this approach you can enrich your existing knowledge with many typical endgame motives.Readers can rest assured that the magic from the realm of endgames will cast its spell over them and that they will enjoy the fascination of the final phase of the game.

It's not revealing anything new that most players prefer to attack rather than defend. It's also not surprising that various authors have devoted a number of books to the popular topic of 'attack' for more than a century.In this book, the author tries to present the constantly recurring mechanisms of attacking play as compactly as possible by limiting himself to a few important motives and describing typical elements of the attacking strategy. Numerous clear and meaningful rules of thumb are formulated for the in-depth study of the various subject areas.With regard to practical play, however, the point is not neglected that in chess it's not so important to know this or that rule by heart, but rather to train your intuition to recognize as reliably as possible in which case you are dealing with a rule and in which case with an exception.Among the topics discussed are, for example, such indispensable as: 'Opposite-colored bishops favor the attacker', 'The attacker should not exchange attack potential', 'Typical attack structures', 'Attack on a complex of weak squares'.One of the chapters is devoted to Mikhail Tal, one of the greatest attacking artists of all time, whose genius in this regard is illustrated by reference to some of his striking and pointed quotes - such as 'Centralize and sacrifice', 'If the opponent attacks one of your pieces, attack two of his!'And last but not least there's a chapter on the mating attack in the endgame, a look at some of the author's impressive attacking victories and all sorts of topic-related exercises for the individual chapters. In addition, practical QR codes enable you to replay the game directly on your smartphone if there's no board at hand.

After the great success of the first book (The Human Factor in Chess) on the model of the four player types, this follow-up volume contains not only specific tasks and exercises but also general questions such as: Do you prefer to calculate concrete lines or do you make your decisions more intuitively? Do you have a good sense of harmony and coordination?This approach is intended to enable the reader to assign himself to one of the player types and find out whether he belongs to the activists or rather to the pragmatists, theorists or reflectors. The result allows to draw conclusions in order to further expand the individual strengths or to develop a more universal playing style overall.Because even if you usually win thanks to your strengths, it makes sense to work on your own weaknesses as well. Of course, if there is only one move in a position, you should be able to find it. Playstyles are especially important in positions where you have a great choice. However, they also play a role when you choose the type of position, which you should strive for based on your style.Interestingly, a playstyle can also be imitated, which may even be the appropriate strategy against certain opponents. For example, certain characteristics stand out clearly in activists, and being able to adjust to them as an opponent is of course very valuable. A good example is Kramnik's win over activist Kasparov (at the London 2000 world championship match). Since Kramnik always managed to steer the game in the direction appropriate to his style, his big opponent never had the chance to demonstrate his own strengths in positions with attack and initiative.While 'The Human Factor' was about a clear distinction of the four playing styles, this book aims to emphasize the universality of each player. After solving the tasks tailored to the four player types, it becomes clear how your own competencies are distributed. Accordingly, GM Vincent Keymer states in his foreword:"Even if the further development of one's own player personality to a universal player who unites all player types may remain a utopia, it's still worth pursuing."

In designing this book, the author was guided by the following considerations. If you want to learn this or that opening, you can choose from dozens or even hundreds of textbooks. But what if you want to get familiar with the middlegame strategy used in positions that have emerged from exactly this or that opening? Or to put it another way: in positions that are typical for this or that opening.Of course, in every middlegame textbook there's one or the other position that clearly comes from this or that opening. However, their number is negligible in the context of example positions from all the other openings whose middlegame treatment the reader doesn't want to learn at all.For example, aren't the issues of hanging pawns and minority attack - the author asks with good reason - just as dispensable for an e4 player as they are essential for a d4 player? - Why should a die-hard enthusiast of Indian openings care about the strategic intricacies of positions resulting from all those complicated Queen's Gambit systems? And of course vice versa: what use are all these subtleties of Indian positions to a player who 'by nature' avoids fianchetto openings?And it's precisely this conspicuous and astounding vacuum in the area of middlegame literature that inspired the author to make a appropriate attempt at improvement: If you want to learn Sicilian middlegame strategy, you will get a textbook and exercise book in which only Sicilians are treated.However, this current book only deals with the type 'Open Sicilian'. More precisely: with positions characterized by the 'small center' consisting of the pawns on d6 and e6, which is typical for the vast majority of Sicilian systems.It deserves special mention that the more than 150 exercises have been assigned to specific topics for the benefit of entertaining diversity - for example 'the relegation candidate', 'the only move', 'violence or pressure increase' and the like.

Die Thermodynamik ist als Grundlagendisziplin essentiell fur das Verstandnis von Energie- und Verfahrenstechnik oder auch der Chemie. Gleichzeitig wird das Verstandnis der Thermodynamik oft dadurch erschwert, dass sie durch eine komplexe Mathematik beschrieben wird. Um den Einstieg in die Thermodynamik leichter zu gestalten erklart dieses Buch die Grundlagen der Thermodynamik ohne mathematische Gleichungen. Gezeigt wird unter anderem, wie Thermodynamik das Schnapsbrennen, die Kiemen von Fischen oder die Effizienz von Solarmodulen beeinflusst.

Together with his longtime trainer Matthias Krallmann, GM Matthias Blübaum describes his path from his early youth to the title of European champion. According to his own statement, he particularly benefited from the 'Group of Princes' of the German Chess Federation, which was founded in 2008 by national youth coach IM Bernd Vökler. In this actually not so long journey of an outstanding young talent to the German top player, the reader is not only taken along, but he can also learn a lot for his own practice 'on the way' and is offered all kinds of instructive tips and tricks.In his foreword, IM Bernd Vökler writes:"...a special highlight has been achieved: Renowned endgame guru, Dr. Karsten Müller, dissects selected endgames by Matthias Blübaum ... A double delight for the reader! - In the next part, a look into the treasury of every grandmaster is granted, namely into his opening repertoire. Matthias Krallmann notes that even former world champion Alexander Khalifman once praised Matthias' complete and self-contained repertoire. - The following chapter offers some of Matthias Blübaum's games against the top stars of the scene, annotated by himself. It's mouth-watering! - At the end, the reader is once again challenged himself. The big tactics test invites you to puzzle and calculate.Matthias Krallmann and Matthias Blübaum don't offer easy reading! Typically East Westphalian, labour-intensive, exhausting, honest and straight - the portrait of the chess worker, the chess grandmaster, the chess practitioner Matthias Blübaum. You don't become number one in Germany in a sprint, but in a marathon!"

There is probably no other player who has changed the chess world in so many areas and so radically - like Robert James Fischer, for whom the name Bobby Fischer has become common among chess players worldwide.Of his spectacular successes, his downright declassifying victories against three Soviet grandmasters in the early 1970s are particularly noteworthy - a kind of changing of the guard in the fight for the world title, to which the Soviets had subscribed, so to speak, for more than two decades. This triggered a worldwide chess boom, or more precisely: it triggered a chess boom especially in the western world, because in the Soviet Union with millions of club players such a boom was apparently hardly necessary.Many players of all levels were drawn to the royal game specifically because of the events of that time. Fischer's games are legendary, and since they have of course already been extensively analyzed and commented on in a number of works, the question arises: What is another book supposed to achieve anyway?German grandmaster Karsten Müller has selected what he considers to beFischer's 60 most instructive games and checked them with various newer engines. Although he noticed numerous errors in the old analyses, Bobby's games still shine in their former glory or even brighter. Since even top programs rarely find errors, every reader can learn more than ever from these games in order to improve their own playing strength in a success-oriented manner.In addition to the numerous photos, it's above all the quotations contained in many games that take the reader back to the 'old days of chess'. Therefore, even younger players can get a good impression of what the chess world was like when, for example, there were still 'adjourned games' and 'sealed moves' - and when no player could dodge the hard analysis work by simply delegating this tedious task to his computer.

Since the world chess champions excel in all areas of the game, it goes without saying that you can learn the most not only from their skills in the opening and the middlegame, but also from their superb handling of the endgame. Regardless of whether they were renowned tacticians or excellent positional players - regardless of whether they analyzed their openings in depth or played them more intuitively: it is completely out of the question that any of them could have reached the highest title without perfectly handling the endgame.In order to enable his readers to learn from the world champions, the author has concentrated on their individual 'specialities' - such as Petrosian's unmistakable instinct in questions of the right exchange and his skills in the endgame '¿+¿ vs ¿+¥', on Spassky's handling of the initiative, Fischer's precision in the so-called 'Fischer endgame' with '¿+¥ vs ¿+¿', on Karpov's dominance and restriction methods, Kasparov's attacks on the king with reduced material, Kramnik's strategic power play especially on a weakened color complex, on Anand's unrelenting pressure play and - last but not least - Carlsen's technique in the so-called 'Carlsen endgame' with rooks and same-colored bishops.In addition, all sorts of 'evergreen classics' of the players are offered, some of which appear in a new light thanks to current analyzes. The reader is also given the ideal training opportunity of numerous exercises to put himself in the shoes of the world champions and to look for solutions himself. Since the model of the '4 types of players' (activist, pragmatic, theorist and reflector) is also discussed in the margin, additional information can be obtained about the importance of this topic, especially in the endgame.And with this in mind, the Romanian GM and endgame expert Mihail Marin invites you in his foreword not just to take a look at the most outstanding endgame achievements of the world champions, but also to enjoy them.

Since the world chess champions excel in all areas of the game, it goes without saying that you can learn the most not only from their skills in the opening and the middlegame, but also from their superb handling of the endgame. Regardless of whether they were renowned tacticians or excellent positional players - regardless of whether they analyzed their openings in depth or played them more intuitively: it is completely out of the question that any of them could have reached the highest title without perfectly handling the endgame.In order to enable his readers to learn from the world champions, the author has concentrated on their individual 'specialities' - such as Steinitz's skillful handling of the bishop pair, Lasker's art of defense, Capablanca's use of the king, Alekhine's art of attacking in the 4th game phase, Euwe's skillful use of passed pawns, Botvinnik's iron logic and long-term strategy, Smyslov's meticulous rook endings and - last but not least - Tal's magic, which also often gave his endgames an enchanting touch.In addition, all sorts of 'evergreen classics' of the players are offered, some of which appear in a new light thanks to current analyzes. The reader is also given the ideal training opportunity of numerous exercises to put himself in the shoes of the world champions and to look for solutions himself. Since the model of the '4 types of players' (activist, pragmatic, theorist and reflector) is also discussed in the margin, additional information can be obtained about the importance of this topic, especially in the endgame.And with this in mind, the Romanian GM and endgame expert Mihail Marin invites you in his foreword not just to take a look at the most outstanding endgame achievements of the world champions, but also to enjoy them.

Playing styles in chess are an important and often discussed topic. GM Dr. Karsten Müller and GM Luis Engel take up a model by GM Lars Bo Hansen based on 4 types of players - 'activists', 'pragmatics', 'theorists' and so-called 'reflectors'. Their respective strengths and weaknesses are explained based on many examples, complemented by numerous exercises to enable the reader to assign himself to one or the other category."As part of the preparation for my opponents, I often try to research their typical player characteristics ... In this respect, it can be helpful to draw conclusions about the type of player, and thus about strengths and weaknesses, by looking at the openings they play - or to use the characteristics of certain players to infer the likelihood of which opening lines they might choose.These and numerous other considerations are presented in this book in a condensed and systematic form. The division of players into four prototypes is extremely helpful not only in terms of game preparation, but also to determine your own characteristics as a player. In addition, the book can serve as a helpful guide for amateurs and chess fans to get a more precise picture of certain players."(Excerpts from the foreword by GM Vincent Keymer)