The rules draw no line, but coaches agree on the signs. The opening is over when the minor pieces are developed, the kings are tucked away by castling and the rooks are connected. That is usually around moves 10 to 15.
The middlegame turns into an endgame when few pieces are left. The clearest sign is that the queens have been traded: without them an attack on the king is almost impossible, and the king itself walks into the centre.
A middlegame plan is not a memorised sequence of moves but an answer to a few questions about the position. Ask them whenever you do not know what to do:
A bad plan beats no plan: a game without one falls apart into random moves, and an opponent with a plan easily outplays them.
An open file is a file with no pawns on it. It is a road for rooks: along it a rook reaches the opponent's camp, the seventh rank, where the opponent's pawns stand.
The rule is simple: whoever takes an open file first owns it. That is why the middlegame is full of rook moves to a neighbouring file - a fight for the open file, not a waste of time. How the rook moves - the rook.
A weak square is one the opponent can no longer defend with a pawn. Pawns do not move backwards, so if the neighbouring pawns have advanced, the square stays weak for the rest of the game. A piece standing on such a square is on an outpost, and only a piece can drive it away.
The knight suits an outpost best: it moves a short distance and needs a stable base more than any other piece. A practical tip follows: before pushing a pawn, look at which squares it will stop guarding. Why a pawn move is permanent - how the pawn moves.
Pawns change more slowly than anything else on the board, which is why they set the plan for dozens of moves ahead. Three kinds of pawns worth recognising at a glance:
The isolated pawn is a weakness and a strength at once. In the middlegame it gives the pieces room and supports an attack; in the endgame it becomes a target. Hence a plan for both sides: the side with the isolani attacks while there are many pieces; the side against it trades pieces.
The most direct middlegame plan, and the riskiest. How to attack depends on where the kings have castled:
The basic condition of any attack is more force in that part of the board. Three pieces against one defender is an attack; one against three is a gamble. What classic king attacks look like - famous chess games: Lasker's double bishop sacrifice and the king hunts of Edward Lasker and Kasparov.
A trade is not a neutral move; it changes the character of the position. A few guidelines:
What the pieces are worth in pawns, for counting trades - how chess pieces move.
Strategy says where to put the pieces; tactics say what comes of it right now. Most amateur games are decided not by a plan but by a fork or a pin missed in the middle of the game.
So before every middlegame move it pays to run a short check: which of my pieces are unprotected, what does my opponent capture after my move, do I have a check or a capture. Thirty seconds on that check saves more games than any memorised plan. The patterns on diagrams - tactics for beginners.
The middle of a chess game - between the opening, where the pieces come out, and the endgame, where few are left. The middlegame has the most pieces on the board, and play follows a plan: attacking the king, fighting for open files and weak squares.
When the opening is over: minor pieces developed, kings castled, rooks connected. That usually happens around moves 10 to 15. The rules draw no strict line.
In the number of pieces and the role of the king. In the middlegame the king hides, and attack and tactics decide. In the endgame there are few pieces, the queens are usually off, the king comes into the centre as a fighting piece, and the main task is to promote a pawn.
Solve tactics every day and replay games by strong players and your own - asking what plan each side had. Classic games, where the plan is easy to see, are a good place to start.
A square in the opponent's camp that they can no longer attack with a pawn - and the piece on it, usually a knight. Only a piece can drive it away, so a knight on an outpost is often stronger than a rook.
No arbiter skills required. The app takes over the part that usually stops people from running tournaments at all: who plays whom in each round and who finishes first.
The bot is constantly improved based on real tournaments. If you need a feature that isn't there yet, message the developers right inside the bot with the /support command. Many features appeared exactly because organizers asked for them, and useful ideas get added quickly.
The start of the game - openings for beginners; the end - endgames and pawn endgames. Classic middlegames move by move - famous chess games. Terms - chess glossary.
At the board since childhood: hazy about his rating, precise about every rook he has blundered. Counts an evening as a good one if the opponent stayed to talk afterwards instead of rushing off to check with an engine. Message →
