The Middlegame in Chess

According to Purdy the middlegame in chess goes as follows when two strong and evenly matched opponents meet over the board:

One player obtains a positional advantage; the opponent's difficulties increase until he loses some material; perhaps only a pawn; the player with the material advantage then strives to exchange pieces so as to bring about an endgame and finally Queen a pawn. After that, mate can be forced no matter how well the opposing King is defended. Naturally, the player who has lost the material throws all kinds of spanners in the works. If the disadvantaged player is more skillful than his opponent, he will usually win, even after making some early blunder that gives him a "losing" game.