Answers.Body: <blockquote>
  <p>in practice opening theory does not end with <strong>an empty board</strong> but in positions where there is a certain consensus about how they should be assessed,</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>If chess had been solved then the logical conclusion of opening theory would be the end of the game, i.e. &quot;an empty board&quot; where only kings are left or only kings plus material insufficient to deliver mate. Note that there is an implied assumption here that chess is a draw since a checkmate position would very much not be &quot;an empty board&quot;.</p>
  <p>Since we don't have that complete knowledge the opening phase is generally regarded as having ended when development is complete.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-12-13T17:24:40.190Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2022-12-13T17:24:40.190Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>I got this statement from <em>Fundamental Chess Openings</em>  by Paul van der Sterren, and I don't understand what it means to end up with an empty board:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>However, since the human brain and even the computer is still not capable of completely seeing through (and thereby destroying) chess as a whole, in practice opening theory does not end with an empty board but in positions where there is a certain consensus about how they should be assessed, for instance 'chances are equal' or 'White (or Black) has the advantage'.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
Tags: <opening><terminology><quotations>
Title: What does "end with an empty board" mean?
ThreadText: # What does "end with an empty board" mean?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2022-12-13)
  
  I got this statement from *Fundamental Chess Openings* by Paul van der Sterren, and I don't understand what it means to end up with an empty board:
  
  > However, since the human brain and even the computer is still not capable of completely seeing through (and thereby destroying) chess as a whole, in practice opening theory does not end with an empty board but in positions where there is a certain consensus about how they should be assessed, for instance 'chances are equal' or 'White (or Black) has the advantage'.
  
  **Tags:** opening, terminology, quotations
  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2022-12-13. Score: 14 | Accepted answer
  
  > in practice opening theory does not end with **an empty board** but in positions where there is a certain consensus about how they should be assessed,
  
  If chess had been solved then the logical conclusion of opening theory would be the end of the game, i.e. "an empty board" where only kings are left or only kings plus material insufficient to deliver mate. Note that there is an implied assumption here that chess is a draw since a checkmate position would very much not be "an empty board".
  
  Since we don't have that complete knowledge the opening phase is generally regarded as having ended when development is complete.
  
  
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