Endgame Openings in Chess

When I was 15 years old I played my first tournament game against a master and it was a very thrilling experience because I came very close to securing a draw. Considering I was rated nearly 800 points lower than my opponent, this would have been an extremely huge game for me. After the game, my opponent commended me on my strategy for the game and we discussed how clever of a line it was for the situation I was in.

The opening of this game (I had the white pieces) went 1. e4 Nf6, 2. Nc3 d5, 3. exd5 Nxd5, 4. Nxd5 Qxd5, 5. Qf3 e6, 6. Qxd5 exd5 and from there the game really began. What's important to note here is that we traded queens on move six, which massively lowers my opponent's advantage because now there is no chance for complex positions of attack and defense. My strategy going into this game was to try to trade queens as early as possible for this very reason, especially since although I probably wasn't as strong as him in late middlegame and early endgame positions, the gap between my skill level and his was probably not as great as the gap between my middlegame skill level and his.

While this approach was more specifically for this one particular game in my instance, you can apply the same principles to your games even if you're not playing much higher rated opponents, but it requires that you're strong in the endgame. In fact, if you are likely stronger in the endgame than your opponent, and you know that you're likely weaker in the middlegame than your opponent, then it's not a bad strategy to use at all.