The Middlegame

The middlegame is my favorite phase of the game and I find it the most fascinating .  A few famous quotes concerning this phase of the game : 

My forte was the middlegame. I had a good feeling for the critical moments of the play. This undoubtedly compensated for my lack of opening preparation and, possibly, not altogether perfect play in the endgame. In my games things often did not reach the endgame!  -  Boris Spassky

If a chess statistician were to try and satisfy his curiousity over which stage of the game proved decisive in the majority of cases, he would certainly come to the conclusion that it is the middlegame that provides the most decisive stage.  -  Alexander Kotov

The middlegame I repeat is chess itself, chess with all its possibilities, its attacks, defences, sacrifices, etc.  -  Eugene Znosko-Borovsky

Books on the openings abound; nor are works on the end game wanting; but those on the middle game can be counted on the fingers of one hand.  -  Harry Golombek

Your only task in the opening is to reach a playable middlegame.  - Lajos Portisch

Before the endgame the gods have placed the middlegame.  - Siegbert Tarrasch

art of the middlegame is great, nice to see harry golombek get a mention......the keres bits were good too!

Yeah, I immediately recognized the Golombek quote when I read it. Art of the Middlegame is one of the best books I've read, one day I'm going to stop hanging pieces every third or fourth move and I'll finally be able ot put its lessons to some good use

i have followed some spassky games. he was outstanding in middlegame. he dictated terms in middlegames

Great quotes about the middlegame.  IMO the most under studied, and unappreciated phase of the game.  Plus my favorite middlegame quote:

Your only task in the opening is to reach a playable middlegame.  - Lajos Portisch

Great job Reb!

It's hard to pick a definitive favorite.  It depends on the opening too like Berlin Wall queenless middlegames can be quite dull and theoretical, as can Grunfeld middlegames.  I like strategic endgames since it's typically easier to build up and there's usually more leeway.  Plans suggests themselves and many people treat them like a middlegame, I've even looked at 2300's games from a database where one side would dream of a kingside attack that doesn't exist instead of applying the principle of two weaknesses.  If an attack is sufficiently bad then good defense doesn't lead to mere equality but even an outright advantage for the defender.  

The middlegame is what separates the merely good from fantastic, in my opinion. I like endgames, but I respect that in order to really climb, I need to place more emphasis on the middlegame.

The middle game is the most critical phase of the game.  You would be doing well if it was your strongest part.

I agree. I think middlegame mastery is pretty impossible. It's why computers can destroy even the strongest grandmasters. I've gotten some games that could have been decided in the middlegame but went to the ending because of inaccuracies.

This game is a case in point:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/endgames-are-fun

I don't like or agree with this quote.

This middle game is where I get bored and lose!

You know what the middlegame reminds me of? The onset of chaos. Ever see one of those mathematical plots of chaos where bifurcation (a split into two behaviors) begins, then it starts splitting at an accelerating rate until the entire graph is chaotic and unpredictable, then quickly settles down again for a while? That is so much like the relatively simple and relatively understandable opening and endgame (the simple, white regions of the graph) being separated by a hugely complicated situation where you can't tell what's going on--the middlegame. In fact, I'll bet those similar behaviors aren't an accident: I'll bet chaos theory accurately describes the phases of a chess game, if you got into the math deeply enough.