The relation of Opening - Middlegame - Endgame

A compilation on some thoughtful quotes about opening - middle game - endgame study.

* The aim of opening is to get a playable middlegame (Lajos Portisch)

* Openings teach you openings. Endgames teach you chess (Stephan Gerzadowicz)

* In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame (Jose Raul Capablanca)

* You can get by at relatively low levels without knowing much about endgame, because at those levels, people usually hang (lose without compensation) pieces or get mated before the ending. But as you get better, players do that less often, and the endgame becomes more and more important. Moreover, you can’t really play the middlegame well unless you understand the endgame. Good strategic middlegame plans revolve around the pawn structure and the looming endgame - which pieces to keep, which to exchange, etc. (Capablanca in his book “Last Lectures”)

* Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine (Spielmann)

* After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived (Edmar Mednis)

* Many players in beginners and intermediate level put too much emphasis on opening study and not enough on other areas. Tactics and endgames are foundation of chess, and doing tactics and endgame exercises daily is recommended. Deep opening study is very important at higher level such as expert, master and beyond. It is enough for beginner and intermediate players, to understand basic principles of chess opening. (Susan Polgar)

* About opening study, the key is understanding the ideas. A mastery of a little theory which conveys real understanding of the game is infinitely more valuable than a memorized of endless moves. If you know objectives you are seeking and you have a complete understanding of this phase of the game, you will be able to play strongly in the openings without too much memorizing any series of moves or variations. (Rueben Fine)

* All chess players eventually come to appreciate the importance of endgames. Some of us take longer than others. The lucky ones get to love the endgame from the early days of their chess careers, perhaps because of the influence of a wise trainer. Others among us are less fortunate and spend years using our chess study time to memorize ever-longer sequences of opening analysis, whilst ignoring the endgame. We only realize the error of our ways when we finally manage to trap a much stronger opponent in our opening preparation - our carefully opening preparation generates an ending with an extra pawn, which we then finish up only drawing, or even losing. After a few such experiences, a sadder and wiser man, we finally go home and take out our pristine copy of Basic Chess Endings, bought all those years ago, and left standing on our bookshelves ever since, untouched by human hand.