“Considering the three main phases of chess — the opening, middlegame, and endgame — how should players effectively allocate their study time among them? Which phase do you believe is most critical for a player’s development and why?“

“How you divide study time is personal, but for beginners, I recommend focusing on the endgame first — as my friend Robert Dabo-Peranic often said: Next comes the middlegame, where core strategic and tactical ideas take shape. While the opening is important, don’t just memorize lines — understand the ideas. I prefer one-page notes with key concepts for easier recall.”

The most critical phase for improvement is the middlegame, especially typical patterns from your openings. Pattern recognition is key — the more patterns you know, the stronger you’ll be. If splitting study time, I’d suggest 70% on openings linked to middlegame patterns, and the rest on tactics and endgames.”