Phases of the Game: The Chess Middle Game

The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. The other phases of the game also include the middle game and the endgame. There may not be a fine line dividing each phase of the game but as you play more chess games you'll easily notice the different stages.

The part where you bring out and position your men on the board will easily be recognized as the opening. There are standard or book openings and there are non-standard or irregular openings. After you and your opponent have gone through the standard openings (or irregular openings, whichever is the case) you then come to the next stage, which is the middle game.

This is where a lot of the action comes in chess. This is where all the tactics you've learned come in handy as well. You can say that the middle game easily takes over where the opening took off. The middle game sometimes quickly transitions into the endgame or you can say it kind of blends with it. If you play chess to win you should understand this very important stage.

A lot of action occurs during this important stage. This is the stage where you and your opponent would struggle to get better positions. You can expect to be attacking and defending during this stage of a chess game. You should also expect to lose men along the way in the form of exchanges.

This is where chess tactics will work well for you. Some elementary tactics for gaining material, pace, and position would definitely include discovered attacks, pinning and skewering, and forking. If you need to learn the basic chess tactics you may visit our chess tactics page.

A goal worth keeping in this stage of the game will be to be able to attack the opposing King as soon as it is possible. And, contrariwise you should make it very hard for your opponent to attack your King. If you are able to do this then you can gain the advantage over your opponent in this stage.

You pawn structure will also be a significant factor in this phase. If you leave that many holes in your Pawn structure it would be easier for your opponent to attack. You might also want to review our page on Pawn Structure.

Mastering the middle game will require a lot of practice. So you might want to try playing against a computer set at your level first then move on to higher levels. A good resource to turn to would be a chess coach.

The middle game is a huge bulk of the game of chess. If you play chess to win then you should also pay attention to this important stage.