Understand the Berlin Variation - Part 1
The camp of GM Michael Roiz - Understand the Berlin Variation is already a digital product.
This product includes all the videos from the workshop as well as the PGN file related to the training sessions. Overall, the material consists of 6 hours of video and a PGN database, which includes 32 files!
You will find the following lectures:
✅ Move Orders and Nuances Regarding Black's King
✅ Pawn Play in the Berlin Endgame
✅ Exchange Strategies
✅ Piece Play in the Berlin Endgame
Now, we shall take a look at the different lectures.
Move Orders and Nuances Regarding Black's King
The basic position of the Berlin Endgame arises after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8 Kxd8
The basic position of the Berlin endgame. It once had a reputation as being boring, though this is undeserved as it can lead to exciting games. White mainly plays on the kingside, using his majority: f4, g4, and e6 are among White's possibilities. Black, on the other hand, has the pair of bishops. Especially the unopposed light-squared bishop is an important piece. Despite his doubled pawns, Black is superior on the queenside and may, in some instances, manage to create a passed pawn. For instance, if b2-b3 is played, then ...c6-c5-c4 becomes an option. So both sides have their trumps!
In Lecture 1, our goal is to understand against which 9th moves by White we have to play a setup with ...Ke8 or when we can play ...Kc8. We will discuss typical plans to demonstrate how to handle these positions.
Below, you will see one of the examples from the lecture.
Pawn Play in the Berlin Endgame
The pawn play is quite fundamental for the Berlin endgame. Every little pawn move could lead to dramatic changes in the evaluation of the position. The annotated model games included in this section will give you a deep understanding of the Berlin structures.
Below, you can see one of the structures.
Exchange Strategies
In this lecture, GM Roiz presents the most important exchange strategies in the Berlin endgame. The examples examined in this section will help you correctly evaluate all the possible simplifications. Such knowledge is far more important than memorizing concrete theory.
Below, you shall see one of the model games.
Piece Play in the Berlin Endgame
In this lecture, we will discuss typical maneuvers and scenarios in the Berlin endgame. The lecture consists of 3 extensively annotated model games. After studying them, you will develop an intuitive feeling of many Berlin endgame positions.
Below, you can examine one of the model games.