John Fairbairn wrote:In japanese, when they speak of the middle game (chuban) they aren't referring to middle in the sense of between the beginning and the end, they are referring to the middle as in the center of the board.
No. E.g. 布石と終盤との中間の段階。(The intermediate stage between the fuseki and the endgame: Hayashi) It is also defined as the stage from when fighting erupts to the start of large boundary plays.
The centre area of the board would be 中腹 or 中元 or 中央 etc.
Hmm... I thought I had read the opposite somewhere, but I can't find my source now so perhaps I was mistaken.