Endgame
The final phase of a chess game, played with relatively few pieces remaining on the board.
In the endgame, king activity, pawn promotion, and precise technique often decide the result; many endgames have been analyzed to a known theoretical outcome.
Etymology
Etymonline records endgame, also written end-game, as dating from 1850 and as originating specifically in chess, formed from end plus game. End descends from Old English ende, from Proto-Germanic andiaz, and game from Old English gamen meaning joy or fun, with the contest sense from about 1200 and attested in chess contexts. In chess the endgame is the third and last phase of the game, when there are few pieces left on the board. It is the phase where kings become active fighting pieces and pawn promotion becomes the dominant theme, and where theoretical knowledge of specific material configurations matters most. Alexander Alekhine's remark that we cannot define when the middle game ends and the endgame starts applies here as well: the boundary is conventional rather than exact. The word later generalised beyond chess into political and business usage, but its documented origin is the game itself.
First documented: 1850 — Etymonline entry for endgame: also end-game, 1850, in chess, from end + game (n.)
Translations
Translations for this term haven't been added yet.