How often do games reach an endgame?
73.5% of games reach an endgame.
every level and clock · 3.1B games
Who wins the endgame?
White wins 48.3%Draws 5.0%Black wins 46.7%
Games with twelve or more captures, at every level and clock, from White’s side.
Endgame reach by rating
The share of games reaching twelve or more captures at each rating.
Endgame reach by time control
| Clock | Reach an endgame | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74.8% | 2.3% | 20,078,067 | |
| 75.7% | 3.7% | 1,147,692,850 | |
| 73.3% | 5.6% | 1,474,249,445 | |
| 68.8% | 6.3% | 466,487,194 | |
| 66.3% | 7.3% | 17,544,751 |
Choose a clock to read the page at it.
Methodology
73.5% of games reach an endgame. Scope: every level and clock. Sample: 3,126,052,307 analyzed games. Rated Lichess games played September 2023 to August 2026. TrueElo analysis of Lichess data. Here an endgame means twelve or more captures, regardless of which pieces remain on the board.
When citing manually, include the source URL and your access date.
https://trueelo.app/stats/endgamesHow the figures are made
- How to read this page
- How far a game got is read from how many pieces came off. Under eight captures it was still an opening or a middlegame, eight to eleven a late middlegame, twelve to fifteen an endgame, and sixteen or more a deep one.
- Whose games these are
- 3B+ rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
- Which games we count
- Rated games only — nothing casual.
- Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
- At least 2 moves played.
- A game is filed under White’s rating.
- Why every number comes with a range
- A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of chess games reach the endgame?
73.5% of Lichess games reach an endgame, meaning twelve or more captures. 88.1% reach eight or more captures, the late middlegame, and 52.1% reach sixteen or more, a deep endgame. The other 26.5% end before an endgame begins.
Do endgame reach rates vary by rating?
Yes. At 2500+, 84.3% of games reach the endgame versus 58.7% at 0-999—25.6 percentage points more at higher ratings.
Does time control affect how often games reach the endgame?
Yes. Classical games reach the endgame 66.3% of the time, while UltraBullet games reach it 74.8%—8.5 percentage points fewer in slower games.
How do we define an endgame?
An endgame here means twelve or more captures, which 73.5% of games reach: most minor pieces and a rook are gone, and king activity and pawn structure decide the game. Eight or more captures (88.1%) is the late middlegame, and sixteen or more (52.1%) a deep endgame.
Who wins more in chess endgames?
In Lichess endgames of twelve or more captures, White wins 48.3%, Black wins 46.7% and 5.0% are draws. Both sides win about as often.
How often are chess endgames drawn?
At 2500+, 10.4% of endgames are drawn versus 5.7% at 0-999. Draw rates are similar across ratings. Overall draw rate is 5.0%.
Should I put more work into endgames?
At 0-999, 58.7% of games reach the endgame and 39.0% reach deep endgames, against 84.3% and 67.1% at 2500+. Stronger players reach deep endgames 28.1 percentage points more often.
How often do chess games reach deep endgames?
52.1% of Lichess games reach sixteen or more captures, a deep endgame with little material left. The other 47.9% end before reaching this stage.