What’s the Hardest Part of the Game to Learn?
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9 days ago
0
#3
RedRaider12345 wrote:
There are many days when I struggle with all three 😳😳
I think that's normal even most of my students have the same struggle sometimes but keep on pushing
9 days ago
0
#4
Hardest part to grasp and become sufficiently good is the ending: minor piece & Rook Endings, grasping when its an advantage have or not have opposition!? And the only other area of equal importance is knowing when to enter an endgame from the middle game, a very common error for the less experienced when they swap down into a bad ending without realising. These are the Area's of chess where you are defined as heading in the right or wrong direction!!?
I’d say middlegame — I always get decent positions out of the opening, but then I have no idea what plan to follow and end up drifting. Openings are easy to study, endgames make sense once you know the rules, but the middlegame feels like chaos sometimes
Middle game. I usually have solid openings and endgames are straightforward for the most part. But creating an attack or taking advantage of my opponent’s positional error has been something I need to work on. Puzzles help indeed but it’s still a lot to learn.
8 days ago
0
#7
I don't remember who said it but...
A mistake in the opening you can recover from.
A mistake in the middle game will hurt you.
A mistake in the endgame will kill you.
For me one of the great things about chess is that the fewer pieces on the board, the harder it gets.
Hey everyone!
I’ve been thinking lately about how players at different levels struggle with different phases of the game. So I wanted to throw this out to the group:
👉 In your opinion, which part of the game is the hardest to learn — the opening, middlegame, or endgame?
And why?
Here’s my take (feel free to agree or disagree!):
🔹 Opening can feel overwhelming at first — so much theory and memorization — but once you know the basic principles, it becomes more manageable.
🔹 Middlegame is where things get tricky. So many plans, tactics, and positional ideas. It's like the wild west of the game!
🔹 Endgame often gets neglected, but it’s so precise. A single tempo can win or lose the game. I’d say it's the most technical and hardest to master.
💬 What about you? Which phase do you find the most challenging, and how do you study it?
Let’s hear your thoughts — especially from players at different rating levels!