Opening, Middle-game, or Endgame, Which is most critical for improving your chess and why?
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WisdomLeaf
Aug 7, 2022
0
#121
if you look at my game you can see i found a idea to stop white from winning the game. But i don’t know much about openings and could use some help
Endgame
Aug 7, 2022
0
#124
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
#110 very good comparison, unfortunately there are players who believe openings aren't important. You can probably live in an house without a roof but why would you?
I'm sure there are those that think openings are not important. But i also think that its relative to skill level and ability. In the end, people are going to do what they want to do.
All three opening,middlegame and endgame are important.
Endgame is the least important and middlegame is the most important!
If you got Queen or Rooks on the board, opponent usually will collapse around late middlegame
The opening because you get checkmated a lot if you don’t know them.
Feb 17, 2024
0
#131
i used to not know any endgames and i would always get winning positions againts people better than me than blunder in the endgame so i started practising endgame positions
Feb 17, 2024
0
#132
The vast majority of world champions, lesser grandmasters, and chess teachers, especially those in the Soviet Union, have said the same thing. I would find out what that is. The photo offers a clue.
Feb 17, 2024
0
#133
Optimissed wrote:
Could it be because I'm wrong?
Yep.
The Soviet Union did dominate the chess world.
Soviet trainers did use endgames to identify talent.
What other country has nationalized their chess curticulum?
Feb 17, 2024
0
#134
blueemu wrote:
You should probably study them all, but your main emphasis should be on the endgame first, later on the middle-game, and focus on openings last.
That what José Capablanca wrote in what remains more than a century later the best book for beginners and even many intermediate players: Chess Fundamentals
Perhaps the most logical way to learn chess is to start with King and Pawn vs. King endgames - the least amount of pawns/pieces available, where a win is still possible.
The player learns about things like pawn promotion, tempo, escorting the pawn with the king, and about opposition. This also teaches basic checkmates like King+Queen vs. King, and King+Rook vs. King, as those will happen after the pawn promotes ...
After that, the difficulty can be increased by adding more pawns or pieces to either side ...
Little by little, the player masters a certain setup, then the difficulty gets increased by adding more pawns or pieces.
Eventually (perhaps after weeks, months, or even years), the final position (the hardest difficulty of all) would be reached, where all the pawns and pieces are in place: the starting position.
Feb 17, 2024
0
#136
I would say middlegame as it is that when you may blunder pieces do not get tunnel vision as you may lose also I would get a solid opening and work around it but I still struggle from elo anxiety it is driving me crazy as I feel pressured to rise to the top
Feb 17, 2024
0
#137
Optimissed wrote:
Ziryab wrote:
Optimissed wrote:
Could it be because I'm wrong?
Yep.
The Soviet Union did dominate the chess world.
Soviet trainers did use endgames to identify talent.
What other country has nationalized their chess curticulum?
So you agree I am right.
I just played a 5 mins game and put it on analysis to see where I went wrong. Apparently nowhere although sometimes I didn't make the optimum moves. However, the point I'm making is that the engine, after three moves, shows the Modern Benoni as being about +1.3 for white. I think it should be showing about +0.4 ish.
Therefore new players definitely need to acquire basic opening knowledge in order to counter the silly assessments of this engine on chess.com.
Several people in this thread have emphasized that one should work on all phases of the game. I agree. Where you and I disagree is where to begin. You claim the opening. I say one should start with the end. The first pages of Jeremy Silman, Silman’s Complete Endgame Course offer elementary checkmates with heavy pieces. This is the correct approach. José Capablanca, Chess Fundamentals begins the same way.
After you master checkmate with a queen, you should make sure that you can get a queen when you enter a pawn ending. Along the way, tactics should be a focus and some general opening principles.
I play a lot of 1500s who navigate the opening well and play the middle game well enough to be equal or often even better. More often than not they falter in the ending. This morning I had a draw and a win against two 1500s who entered the ending completely in control.
The endgame is stupid as you may agree.
Ziryab wrote:
Several people in this thread have emphasized that one should work on all phases of the game. I agree. Where you and I disagree is where to begin. You claim the opening. I say one should start with the end. The first pages of Jeremy Silman, Silman’s Complete Endgame Course offer elementary checkmates with heavy pieces. This is the correct approach. José Capablanca, Chess Fundamentals begins the same way.
After you master checkmate with a queen, you should make sure that you can get a queen when you enter a pawn ending. Along the way, tactics should be a focus and some general opening principles.
I play a lot of 1500s who navigate the opening well and play the middle game well enough to be equal or often even better. More often than not they falter in the ending. This morning I had a draw and a win against two 1500s who entered the ending completely in control.
Even Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess focuses on mating primarily 
.
