Some would say its when the queens are exchanged but this has numerous exceptions, such as queen and pawn endgames. basicly its when most peices are off the board, like the openings transition into the middle game its hard to have set rules. at some point i guess you just feel it. silmans book "how to reasess your chess" talks about begginners not recognizing the opening, middlegame and engame as one whole instead of seperate fragments of the game.
Originally posted by TheDarkKnighti understand the concepts of beginning, middle, and end games. But how many moves constitute the beginning? 10? as soon as you move a piece twice? when you lose your first piece?
Some would say its when the queens are exchanged but this has numerous exceptions, such as queen and pawn endgames. basicly its when most peices are off the board, like the openings transition into the middle game its hard to have set rules. at some point i guess you just feel it. silmans book "how to reasess your chess" talks about begginners not reco ...[text shortened]... ing the opening, middlegame and engame as one whole instead of seperate fragments of the game.
And what about the end game? any tutorial (i've done two, GM9000, and GM 10th) puts the end game as maybe four pieces each max (generalisation), so is there a hard and fast rule to the boundries?
Sorry if this is a noobie question, but i know when i'm firmly in the end game, just not the rule of thumb.
Originally posted by huckleberryhoundi understand the concepts as well, but do you understand how they are connected and part of a whole? im not sure i do completely in the way the book meant. the opening i think is usually finished when most of your forces are developed and your king has castled. I might be wrong but i dont think there are hard and fast rules for when its an endgame, but for rules of thumb ive only ever heard "when the queens are exchanged" or "when most of the peices are off the board" as mentioned above. anybody else know any more?
i understand the concepts of beginning, middle, and end games. But how many moves constitute the beginning? 10? as soon as you move a piece twice? when you lose your first piece?
And what about the end game? any tutorial (i've done two, GM9000, and GM 10th) puts the end game as maybe four pieces each max (generalisation), so is there a hard and f ...[text shortened]... is a noobie question, but i know when i'm firmly in the end game, just not the rule of thumb.
Originally posted by 7ate9This is most usually about right. The opening's over when pieces and pawns are mostly developed and you're out of opening theory. The middlegame's largely over when there are fewer pieces on the board and one or both of the kings suddenly become more important in deciding the course of the game. No hard rules because it's a transitionary process. But when the king mobilises, you're almost certainly there.
when the king puts his running shoes on and carries his sword.
In my book the opening is when you have an opening position established i.e.
a few pawns, knights and possibly bishops have taken up a position maybe around 7 to 10 moves each
The middle game then commences where you through strategy and tatics try to arrive at the end game in better shape than your opponent
The end game is when only king, pawns and possibly one or two other pieces such as rook, bishop or knight are still on board
The best way to tell if the end game has begun would be the importance of your king and pawn moves as these determine the outcome usually
The definitions given by Savielly Tartakower are the best ones I know.
" A chess game can usually be divided into three parts, tha opening, the middle game, and the end game. During the opening you play to establish an advantage. In the middle game you try to turn the advantage into a winning position. The endgame is when you realize you are going to lose."