Herman Grooten (1958) is a famous dutch chess trainer, writer and player.

(picture taken by Hans Hoornstra)

He uses endgame studies often in his books and trainings.

Herman is an IM (otb) and has written a special article for Arves.

Below you may find the article with the used examples to replay.

Some more about him:

Website by Herman (in Dutch).

With Karsten Muller at Chessbase about Endgames.

His works: at Chessbase shop.

Many of his instructive Chess Videos to listen.

His book of the year 2009:

An excerpt of this book.

More Chess books by Herman Grooten.

Article_HermanGrooten.pdf

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Open the PDF here separately

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent open"] [Site "Hoogeveen"] [Date "2006.10.24"] [Round "5"] [White "Mamedjarova, Zeinab"] [Black "Grooten, Herman"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Knight vs pawns (practice)"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2318"] [BlackElo "2387"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/8/p2p4/Pn1P1kP1/2K2B2/8/8/8 w - - 0 58"] 
 {The following game was played in Hoogeveen, where the tournament hall was almost empty at this point. My opponent was Zeinab Mamedyarova from Azerbaijan. There was a time scramble phase in a position where White had a healthy extra pawn. While I was thinking about my next move, I suddenly saw my opponent's brother, the famous Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (who was playing in the crown group) enter. He immediately started a conversation with his sister — no arbiter in sight... At that moment I thought: “Now I'll also have to face 2750+ rating points in this miserable endgame…” But that's not how one should think, and so I naturally assumed they were talking about the weather instead of the game! The fact was that White couldn't see a clear way to make progress with normal means. So, she sacrificed the bishop to bring her king in. Black now had to make some tricky decisions with little time on the clock.} 58. Bxd6 $5 Nxd6+ 59. Kc5 Ne4+ 60. Kb6 { This is the first moment to determine how Black can best defend. Afterward, it turned out there were multiple ways to secure a draw, but during a game, a player has to make choices. Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman once said that a player should choose one line they trust most and try to calculate it all the way through. If they can determine that this line achieves the desired outcome, they should play it after verifying. I chose} Ke5 {My idea is to remove the potentially dangerous passed pawn on d5 first. The key then is how the king and knight divide their tasks. There are two ideas: 1) If the White king captures on a6 quickly, the Black king takes d5 off the board and then heads toward White's g-pawn, still remaining within the square. The knight then handles White's a-pawn with the famous 'carousel.' 2) If White immediately advances the g-pawn, the king still captures d5 and then focuses on White's a-pawn. It’s crucial that if the White king captures a6, the Black king immediately locks it on the edge. In these cases, the knight blocks the g-pawn. Even if the White king eventually escapes the edge and tries to drive away the knight, I knew that with the knight hopping back and forth, the draw was secured. The variations were based on the schemes I had in mind.} ({In hindsight, it turns out that} 60... Kxg5 {was also a fairly simple way to secure the draw.} 61. Kxa6 Kf6 62. Kb6 Nd6 63. a6 Ke7 {and the knight carousel does its work again.} (63... Ke5 {is also possible, as long as the d5 pawn can be captured in time.})) 61. Kxa6 ({Of course, this must also be considered:} 61. g6 $5 { must be examined. Because I must, of course, remain consistent.} Kxd5 $1 {is now the only move!} ({Immediately} 61... Nf6 $4 {would be a terrible blunder because of} 62. Kxa6 Kxd5 {Black is too late...} ({Also} 62... Nxd5 {loses because of} 63. g7 Ne7 64. Kb7 {and now the a-pawn decides.}) 63. Kb7 $1 {and the White king cannot be kept away from the edge, guiding the a-pawn directly to promotion.}) 62. Kxa6 Kc6 63. g7 Nf6 { with a draw. An example for illustration:} 64. Ka7 Kc7 65. a6 Kc8 66. Kb6 Kb8 67. Kc5 Ka7 68. Kd4 Kxa6 69. Ke5 Ng8 70. Ke6 Kb6 71. Kf7 Nh6+ 72. Kg6 Ng8 73. Kf7 Nh6+ 74. Kg6 {and so on.}) 61... Kxd5 62. Kb6 { This is again an important moment because now the second scheme comes into action. The division of tasks is that the knight must block the a-pawn, and the king focuses on White’s g-pawn.} Nd6 63. a6 (63. g6 Ke6) 63... Ke6 {} 64. Kc5 {She tries it this way.} ({The carousel works as follows:} 64. Kc6 Nc8 65. Kc7 Na7 66. Kb7 Nb5 67. Kb6 Nd6 {and so on.}) 64... Nc8 65. Kc6 Kf5 66. Kc7 Na7 { The carousel again works well here!} 67. Kb6 Nc8+ 68. Kb7 Nd6+ 69. Kc7 Nb5+ 70. Kb6 Nd6 71. a7 Nc8+ 72. Ka6 Nxa7 73. Kxa7 Kxg5 {Completely exhausted!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bucharest"] [Site "Bucharest"] [Date "1985"] [Round ""] [White "Armas"] [Black "Grooten"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Grooten,Herman"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/4k3/1P1n4/8/3p4/3P1K2/2P5/8 b - - 0 41"] 
 {In the following story, I would like to talk about the time when chess games could still be adjourned. Endgames are better learned not from books but in practice. When you have an adjourned game, you are highly motivated to finish it successfully. That's much more engaging than plowing through the dense material that endgame books usually offer. Consulting a reference book at that moment can sometimes be enlightening. The following adjourned game has a personal backstory that I would like to share. Bucharest The Eindhoven Chess Association (ESV) had become national champions in the 1983-1984 season and thus had the opportunity to participate in the European Cup matches. In those matches, six boards were played, and two matches were scheduled. In case of a tie, the result on the higher boards would determine the outcome. In the first round, Eindhoven was paired against IT Bucaresti in Romania. This meant that about ten of us from Eindhoven flew to Romania at a time when Ceaușescu was still in power. After the first match, Eindhoven had taken a slight lead, but it soon became clear that the second match would be "all hands on deck" for us. The games were played during a time when games could still be adjourned. In the second round, our first board player, IM Peter Scheeren, had a particularly unpleasant queen endgame with a pawn down that he had to defend against none other than GM Gheorghiu. Another adjourned game was clearly lost for us, and the third adjourned game was mine against the Romanian IM (& professional) Julius Armas. If I won my game, the other two could lose, and Eindhoven would still come out on top. However, if I failed to win, Scheeren would have a very tough challenge ahead... It was clear that the entire team focused on the adjourned position from my game, which looked like this (see diagram). That evening (and night), we analyzed the position extensively because play would resume the following morning. Teams were formed to analyze different variations following the Russian school of thought. The analysis I present below is the result of a joint effort by the entire team, with significant contributions from IM Peter Scheeren, Gerard Welling, Johan van Mil, Rudy Douven, and IM Frans Kuijpers. Incidentally, the other three would later all become IMs as well. Because the win could only be achieved in one — in my eyes, very artistic — way, the conclusion was justified: a game position had truly been elevated to an endgame study! The initial optimism about a successful outcome quickly turned to a negative mood when someone found a defense for the opponent that seemed difficult to crack. Fortunately, during dinner, using a small magnetic chessboard, a brilliant discovery was made, reviving the mood. Even a few beers appeared on the table. After dinner, we combined our efforts again, and all variations seemed to point in the right direction. The initial excitement about winning in a beautiful way was tempered by the fact that one variation still eluded victory. However, this defense, discovered by Gerard Welling, was so obscure that the team remained reasonably optimistic about the outcome. "Would the opponent have analyzed as well as we did?" was the legitimate question I asked myself as I was sent to bed well past midnight. I had to play at 10:00 the next morning! While everyone, except one teammate, had gone to bed deep into the night, Johan van Mil continued his search. He was not confident that the opponent wouldn't find the defense, and he decided to sacrifice his sleep. Towards the morning hours, he made a miraculous discovery, which proved to be the key to success, and for which he woke me up at 8 a.m. As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, he showed me the chessboard on which he had performed the winning concept. In the position after 8... Kd4 (with a knight on d6), he discovered that this position could also be reached with a knight on d8. I immediately understood what he meant because we had previously found a win with the knight on d8 earlier in the evening. This dry observation crowned the effort. The study had now become a true work of art, at least in my humble opinion. Black submitted the move 41... Kd7 sealed in an envelope. Since I am a chess instructor, I have chosen to present the variations with detailed explanations. I hope the reader will enjoy the remarkable maneuvers the black knight must perform to force the win, just as the players from the Eindhoven Chess Association did that night in a dark hotel in Bucharest during Ceaușescu's even darker regime.} 41... Kd7 42. Kf4 Kc6 43. Ke5 Kc5 $1 ({Essential is that} 43... Nb5 {achieves nothing because of} 44. Ke4 $1 {With this, White adopts a waiting stance, which is sufficient for a draw.} ({Especially not} 44. b7 $2 {due to} Kxb7 45. Kd5 Kb6 {and we get the position from the main line with the opposite color to move. Now Black wins easily. For example:} 46. Kc4 Kc6 47. Kb4 Nc3 48. Kc4 Ne2 49. Kb4 Kd5 50. Kb5 Ke5 51. Kb4 Kf4 52. Kc5 Ke3 53. Kb4 Kd2 54. Kb3 Kc1 $19) 44... Kxb6 45. Kd5 {With mutual zugzwang.}) 44. Ke6 Nb7 45. Ke5 Nd8 $1 { Black now threatens to cover the pawn with check (...Nc6+) so that the black king can capture on b6.} 46. Ke4 Nf7 $3 {Peter Scheeren's discovery during dinner. The idea behind this move is to deprive the White king of squares to drive him away from the White pawn, giving Black time to neutralize the troublesome b-pawn.} 47. Kf5 $1 {The only move that qualifies, because once again Black has no time to capture the pawn. Observe:} (47. b7 $4 Nd6+ {winning}) 47... Kd5 $1 {A paradoxical move, as the black king now also moves away from the b-pawn that it must neutralize. But now White is forced to decide on a move.} (47... Kxb6 $2 48. Ke6 $1 Nd8+ 49. Kd5 Nc6 50. Kc4 {followed by c2-c3 and the position is a draw.}) 48. Kg6 $5 {The most obvious attempt, since after 48. Kf6 Nd6 White falls into a kind of zugzwang.} (48. Kf6 $2 Nd6 $3 {A new key point in Black's concept. It is important that now 49. Ke7 is impossible because of 49... Nc8+ and the pawn falls. Since the knight controls f5 and f7, the White king must go to the g-file, where he stands just too far away.} 49. Kg5 Kc6 50. Kf4 Kxb6 51. Ke5 Kc5 {and Black returns just in time, having consumed the b-pawn.}) (48. Kg4 $1 { Suggested by Gerard Welling who said: 'If 48. Kg6 doesn't work, then you should try 48. Kg4, since the White king is equally close to the Black pawn.'} Nd6 $3 {Alternatives don't work.} (48... Kc6 $2 49. Kf5 Kxb6 50. Ke6 Nd8+ 51. Kd5 Nc6 52. Kc4 {and Black cannot make progress.}) (48... Nd8 $2 49. Kf4 $1 Nb7 50. Kf5 Nd6+ 51. Kf6 {and a familiar position arises with the 'wrong' color to move.}) 49. Kf4 {} Kc5 $3 {The whole point. With the knight on d6, the king must go to the fatal square e5.} 50. Ke5 {Discovered by Johan van Mil after an entire night of analysis. His comment on this: 'If the knight is on d6, it is also on d8!' And so in this position you can check! on c6 and remove the pawn on b6. The knight is now going for a little walk... It all sounds like a "Columbus' egg," but discovering it required considerable effort (and a sleepless night)!} Nb7 51. Ke4 Nd8 52. Ke5 Nc6+ {check!!} 53. Ke4 Kxb6 54. Kd5 Kb5) 48... Nd8 $1 {The correct idea, as will become clear.} ({But now that the White king is on g6,} 48... Nd6 {also wins} 49. Kf6 {transitioning into variations we have already seen.}) 49. Kf5 ({The key point is that now on} 49. Kf6 $2 {the brilliant} Kc5 $3 {follows so that Black can give the decisive check after} 50. Ke5 (50. Ke7 {also doesn't help because of} Nc6+ {check!} 51. Kd7 Kxb6 52. Kd6 Nb4 53. Ke5 Nxc2) 50... Nc6+ {the crucial check!} 51. Ke4 Kxb6 52. Kd5 Kb5 {and Black has achieved a known winning position.}) 49... Nb7 50. Kf4 {Forced, since we already saw that 50. Kf6 fails to the zugzwang after 50... Nd6. The White king must always be able to reach the Black pawn as quickly as possible.} (50. Kf6 Nd6) 50... Nd6 51. Kf3 {White realizes that he will not be able to save the game and accepts his fate.} (51. Kg5 Kc6 52. Kf6 Kxb6 53. Ke5 Kc5 {and wins.}) 51... Kc6 52. Ke2 Kxb6 53. Kd2 Nb5 54. Kc1 Kc5 55. Kb1 Kb4 56. Kb2 Na3 57. c4 dxc3+ {And resigned, after which a kind of "hurrah mood" erupted in the Eindhoven camp!} 0-1