total eclipse


Once upon a time I was falling in love,
But now I'm only falling apart,
There's nothing I can do,
A total eclipse of the heart

goxie,
I think I see the misunderstanding. Techically you can checkmate on move #2, but that does not mean the starting position is an endgame.
From wikipedia: "In chess and chess-like games, the endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board."
This game is still solidly in the middlegame.