Chess Strategy: 3 Phases of a Wood Chess Set

To further understand chess play, it's also important to see the game (and chess board) in phases. To do so will enable a player to better plan, based on the configuration of his chess pieces at a given time. The three phases of a chess game are: the Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame.

By keeping each phase in mind, a champion player will be able to determine defense, offense, and overall strategy - all of which impact movement on a chess board. From controlling board space to exchanging chessmen to forming a pawn blockade, the question is what to do and when. Whether this is in the opening, middle, or end, is up to the player. However, by seeing the game in three parts, such decisions are more easily made.

The Opening consists of the game's initial moves, which are perhaps the most important overall. At the start of a game, each player begins with his/her own chess set of 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 bishops, 2 knights, 2 rooks, and 8 pawns. With the Opening, these pieces are methodically deployed. Moved into position to best protect the king. Note that at this time, you shouldn't work to checkmate your opponent. Simply try and get your chess pieces to their best positions possible on the chess board.

These would be positions of power, yet of safety. Ideally, players will want to move their pieces toward the center of the board. In a chess game, power is centralized. This is like electronic sudoku you have to think seven steps ahead. Via the center, your opponent will likely try and break through and thus, controlling this space is an objective of the Opening. You'll want to try and achieve this in a minimal amount of time as well.

It's said that the Opening doesn't end until all pieces are moved from their original positions (with the exception of say the king, the rooks, and some of the pawns). Once the civil war chess sets "army" is deployed, the Middlegame can take over. This is the phase in which players clash head-on, as chess pieces are moved, captured, replaced, possibly exchanged, and promoted. It's during the Middlegame that every move in the Opening gains that much more importance. Was a hole left in the defense? Did the pawns get to their strongest positions? Is my king in danger?

Note that although the Middlegame is the phase in which much of the "action" takes place, this is also the phase in which players are on their own. How to bridge the Opening to the Endgame is ultimately up to the individual player and being able to maneuver the chess board at this point is something that simply comes with time and practice. Each game will prove a different challenge as there will invariably be a different defense to be faced each time.

During the Middlegame, this is also when the chess board thins out from pieces being removed. Once the board reaches this stage, the game transforms once more: to its Endgame. This is when formal attacks on the king are attempted and when the king is at his most powerful. Unlike a backgammon sets , by rule, the fewer the pieces on a board, the greater the king's strength. Thus, the Endgame is when the king is able to best defend itself and hopefully avoid that dreaded checkmate.

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