Answers.Body: <p>I don't remember the exact wording or even the source but I have seen a definition of where the opening ends and where the middle game begins as the point where the players leave prepared opening lines and start to innovate. This would vary from player to player, new players may leave their understanding of prepared opening lines in one or two moves, while grand masters may understand the opening lines, pre-prepared understanding of positional specifics, into 15 moves or more. </p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Edward Goodson
Answers.Body: <p>Roughly speaking, when most knights and bishops are off the back row and kings are casted, the middlegame has begun.  There's no hard and fast rule, however.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Answers.Body: <p>The dividing lines between the various stages of the game are somewhat fluid, but a good rule of thumb is that the opening ends when all your pieces are developed to their best squares and you have castled.  Of course you are considering middle games strategies while you are making some of these moves, which accounts for the ambiguity.  The same is true of the demarcation between middle and endgames, although that's often classified as when the queens leave the board.  I guess the bottom line is to view the entire game as an integrated unit with subtle transitional stages along the way.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: CConero
Answers.Body: <p>The opening is for "deploying." The middle game is for "fighting." So the middle game begins when the fighting begins in earnest.</p>
  
  <p>Think of two armies marching to a battlefield. The opening is when they "leave camp." The middle game is when they arrive on the battlefield and get down to fighting.</p>
  
  <p>If there is serious "fighting" a middle game can begin as early as the seventh or eighth move. On the other hand, the middle game can begin as late as the fifteenth move or so if both sides opt for a "slow" development.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Tom Au
Body: <p>Just curious if there's a set of guidelines to determine when a player can call the opening pretty much done, and move into the middle game. I know some rules of the opening that would apply are</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>All pieces developed</p>
  <p>King castled</p>
  <p>Rooks connected</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>And by those definitions, it's easy to see that white may begin a middle game strategy while black is still in the opening phase, or vice versa.</p>
  <p>I'm pretty sure there is no hard and fast rule such as</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p><em>By move 10 all players should be thinking middle game, regardless of position</em></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>As all games are different (sometimes one side plays aggressive and there may be no time to castle).</p>
  <p>I see a related question on <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/106/when-does-the-middlegame-end-and-the-endgame-begin">the line between middle game and endgame</a>, but not this one.</p>
  
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Comments.Text: Basically when many pieces have been developed and both sides are actively carrying out plans to accomplish things.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-05-11T05:48:16.567Z
Comments.Text: These boundaries are all arbitrary and not really important to worry about. opening, middle game and end game are meant just as a general description of the stage the game is at just to help in describing it. I would not worry about if I am in the middle game or not. Just worry about making good chess moves.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Nasser
Tags: <opening><strategy><theory><middlegame>
Title: At what point does the opening end, and middle game begin?
ThreadText: # At what point does the opening end, and middle game begin?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2013-05-10)
  
  Just curious if there's a set of guidelines to determine when a player can call the opening pretty much done, and move into the middle game. I know some rules of the opening that would apply are
  
  > All pieces developed
  >
  > King castled
  >
  > Rooks connected
  
  And by those definitions, it's easy to see that white may begin a middle game strategy while black is still in the opening phase, or vice versa.
  
  I'm pretty sure there is no hard and fast rule such as
  
  > *By move 10 all players should be thinking middle game, regardless of position*
  
  As all games are different (sometimes one side plays aggressive and there may be no time to castle).
  
  I see a related question on [the line between middle game and endgame](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/106/when-does-the-middlegame-end-and-the-endgame-begin), but not this one.
  
  **Tags:** opening, strategy, theory, middlegame
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: These boundaries are all arbitrary and not really important to worry about. opening, middle game and end game are meant just as a general description of the stage the game is at just to help in describing it. I would not worry about if I am in the middle game or not. Just worry about making good chess moves.  
  > **username_1**: Basically when many pieces have been developed and both sides are actively carrying out plans to accomplish things.  
  
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  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2013-05-11. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
  
  The opening is for "deploying." The middle game is for "fighting." So the middle game begins when the fighting begins in earnest.
  
  Think of two armies marching to a battlefield. The opening is when they "leave camp." The middle game is when they arrive on the battlefield and get down to fighting.
  
  If there is serious "fighting" a middle game can begin as early as the seventh or eighth move. On the other hand, the middle game can begin as late as the fifteenth move or so if both sides opt for a "slow" development.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2013-05-11. Score: 5
  
  I don't remember the exact wording or even the source but I have seen a definition of where the opening ends and where the middle game begins as the point where the players leave prepared opening lines and start to innovate. This would vary from player to player, new players may leave their understanding of prepared opening lines in one or two moves, while grand masters may understand the opening lines, pre-prepared understanding of positional specifics, into 15 moves or more.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2013-05-11. Score: 1
  
  Roughly speaking, when most knights and bishops are off the back row and kings are casted, the middlegame has begun. There's no hard and fast rule, however.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2015-07-15. Score: 0
  
  The dividing lines between the various stages of the game are somewhat fluid, but a good rule of thumb is that the opening ends when all your pieces are developed to their best squares and you have castled. Of course you are considering middle games strategies while you are making some of these moves, which accounts for the ambiguity. The same is true of the demarcation between middle and endgames, although that's often classified as when the queens leave the board. I guess the bottom line is to view the entire game as an integrated unit with subtle transitional stages along the way.
  
  
  ---
  
  