endgame

1. Games. The final stage of a chess game after most of the pieces have been removed from the board.
2. The final stage of an extended process or course of events: the diplomatic endgame that led to the treaty.

(END-gaym)
noun

1. The final stage of a game of chess in which only a few pieces are left.

2. The final stage of a game, process, or activity.

Usage:

"Defense Secretary in the 1960s and memoir writer in the 1990s, McNamara still gropes for the elusive coherence that can offer a graceful endgame for his life." — Ervin, Mike, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (book review), The Progressive (Madison, Wisconsin), Jun 1, 1995.

The final stage of some process, as in The book discussed the diplomatic end game resulting in the treaty. This term, dating from about 1880, comes from chess, where it denotes the stage of a game when most of the pieces have been removed from the board. In the mid-1900s it began to be transferred to other activities.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: the final stages of an extended process of negotiation
  Synonym: endgame

Meaning #2: the final stages of a chess game after most of the pieces have been removed from the board
  Synonym: endgame