How does a game of chess work between two top level players? Do they have to think like 25 moves ahead to find any sort of opening against the opponent?
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The game can be broken down into three phases really.
The opening. This sets up the game, there are many many well known openings and at a high level it can be who knows the most lines, there are many many responses to openings. This is where the most lines-ahead are. High level chess players will choose to play slightly off main lines to force their opponent to balance their game theory with their book knowledge.
The mid game. As you get further away from the opening the games spin off into more strategy. A lot of pattern recognition and best approach here, typically your opening is trying to force some similar themes in the mid game so you get a lot of similar set ups. This part requires the most game knowledge IMHO.
The end game. As most of the pieces leave the board if the game hasn’t been lost already there’s just end game check mates. It’s a battle of pawn positioning and who can force mates well with few pieces.
All three stages require a different set of skills and are almost 3 games within a game. However the opening sets the tone, certain openings may typically result in gravitating towards a handful of midgame configurations and it’s a matter of how creatively your oponent plays them compared to your previous hundred games with the same opening. For general chess though I would say most advanced chess players can plan out a few lines 7 or so moves ahead but this is also alot of chaining known patterns together.
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