Other forms: endgames
The endgame is the final stage, when few pieces are left. Reach the endgame, endgame technique, a rook endgame.
In chess it begins when so few pieces remain that the king becomes an active attacking piece, which is the real definition — endgames are studied separately because the rules of thumb reverse. Figuratively it means the final phase of anything and, loosely, the ultimate aim: what is their endgame. Note that the loose sense is now the commoner one.
1nounendgameThe final stage of a chess game, with few pieces left.
“The grandmaster played the endgame perfectly, winning with just a king and a rook.”
2nounphaseThe final phase or the ultimate aim.
“Nobody knows what the president's endgame is in this long trade war.”
endgame is a final stage.
End plus game, a plain compound from chess. The figurative political use spread in the twentieth century and now outnumbers the original.
From end + game.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Chess & Card Games