Questions tagged [stalemate]
A chess game is said to end in stalemate when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check.
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Why is stalemate a draw?
It is so difficult to force stalemate and sometimes unintentional too, so why is stalemate a draw?
As the opponent doesn't have a further move, why is it not considered a win?
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Endgame problem: How to avoid stalemate and win?
I'm stuck on this problem a friend shared with me recently, with barely any pieces left and apparently white is able to force a win but I've been hitting a wall with everything I've tried so far, as ...
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Stalemate situation with all pieces on the board
Suppose all the pieces are on the board. Does there exist a position such that
A) one of the players can't make any move (a stalemate)?
B) neither player can make any move (a double stalemate)?
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When en passant is the only legal move
Consider the following position:
8/7p/5K1k/8/7p/7P/5PP1/8 w - - 0 1
1. g4 hxg3
In the above postion, White plays g2-g4. The only legal move is hxg3, en passant. I heard someone say that since the en ...
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What is the fastest way to reach stalemate?
It is known that the minimum number of moves required for checkmate is 2 moves (4 half moves) resulting in a victory for Black. However, what is the minimum number of moves required for stalemate? ...
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Can the king step into stalemate?
Is it possible that the king can move to a square, and the opponent can move, but no matter where it is a stalemate? If it is impossible, how do you prove that?
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Examples of forced stalemate
The usual case one often sees specially in blitz play is when one side (usually the winning) mis-plays and then stalemate occurs with the losing side dodging a loss. But are there positions where ...
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Shortest stalemate in serious tournament game
I am looking for the shortest stalemate that has occurred in a serious chess game (there were no agreements between the players). So far, I have found only compositions, but is there a real game where ...
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Can White avoid a loss in this endgame study by Lazar?
This is the position with White to move. This was created by Lazar in 1935 according to Susan Polgar in a Chess Daily News article from 5/27/2008.
[FEN "8/3P4/3b4/8/8/1p2k2p/1Pp4P/2K5 w - - 0 1&...
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Term for checking piece whose opponent daren't capture it
What if any, is the term for a piece whose owner gets a draw by keeping up a relentless series of checks with it -- a paradox being that even if this player puts it en prise, the opponent daren't ...
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Can a King and a Knight force stalemate against a lone King?
I believe that a King and two Knights are able to force stalemate against a lone King (though obviously not checkmate)... but what about a King and one Knight against a lone King?
I first thought ...
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Is it technically a checkmate if the king is not in check, but all moves will result in check?
In other words, after white's move, black king is not in check. It is now black's move, but any move that black could make results in check. Is this a checkmate? Is there a chess term for this ...
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Mutual Stalemate
You are required to find position such that:
1) Any move made by White or Black leads to stalemate for both sides immediately.
2) The position can be reached from the starting position of a chess ...
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Is it possible to have a double self-smothered stalemate?
I came up with this rather amusing and bizarre stalemate where Black stalemates itself by self-smothering.
[FEN "8/8/8/8/8/3p4/pp6/krb1K3 b - - 0 1"]
1...d2+?? 2. Kd1
The peculiar feature of ...
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What is the order of actions in chess under FIDE rules?
Reading some recent posts about the 50 move rule made me realize that I've never seen an explicit order of actions for chess. By way of comparison, the order of actions in Monopoly is given here:
(1) ...
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Games won by the stalemated player?
Here is a quote from Davidson's "A short history of chess" (Link), chapter 8, which I used in an answer to an earlier question.
[...] In Italy, however, from the very beginning, players ...
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What's a good explanation for stalemate being a draw for a beginning chess player?
I've started playing chess a little more using an app on my phone, and frequently run into the situation where I'm dominating the computer opponent (on an easy difficulty level) to the point where he ...
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What's the history behind stalemate not being a win? [duplicate]
If your opponent eliminates all your options to move, you don't lose in chess, but is regarded an equal to your opponent. Isn't this peculiar? In most games and in real life hunt and war it is a ...
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What is the longest known stalemate your opponent in x-moves problem?
What is the longest known stalemate your opponent in x-moves problem where the given stalemate is the fastest one from the initial position? A win is not possible, but stalemating your opponent so ...
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How many queens can be on the board without neither forced mate nor forced stalemate (53?)?
I was wondering how many queens can be put on boards without the position being a forced checkmate or a forced stalemate. The best I came up with is 53 this position.
[FEN "QQQQQRK1/QQQQQPr1/...
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Would there be more decisive games if we began to see stalemates as checkmates? And hence more "interesting" chess? [closed]
I think it is up for debate as to whether a stalemate should be a win or a draw. I agree stalemates make beginner chess more interesting but we rarely see games at international level end in stalemate....
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Stalemating the opponent in order to not lose [closed]
There are some defensive ideas to get one's own king stalemated in order to not lose the game (mostly in the endgame, but sometimes also in the middle game).
Have (master) games been played where the ...
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Is this a checkmate for White?
[FEN "8/3RkQ2/3B4/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
Is there a way out for Black?
My son and I finished this way (only the relevant parts of the position are shown in the diagram), but reading about stalemates ...
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Only the king remains, but he is stuck, can't move [duplicate]
I played with my friend yesterday, and we reached a point when I cornered him from everywhere. I had a queen and a king, and he had only his king left, but he could not do any move because any move ...
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When exactly does a checkmate or stalemate take effect?
I'm not enthusiastic about chess in particular, so if I use terminology incorrectly please correct me. I use "phase 1 & phase 2" for each player's move, and "turn n" for each pair of phases.
I'm ...
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What will happen if you have a position where no one can lose?
What will happen if you have a position where no one can lose?
[fen "5k2/8/1p1p1p2/pBpP1Pp1/P1PpK1P1/1P1Pb3/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
Here is my game, I know it is live960 but I was wondering the ...
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How can I avoid stalemate in this position?
I am very much a beginner to chess and have been clueless in my past matches. I feel like I'm either making a move just to protect any of my pieces at that moment or make a move to simply knock my ...
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Why was this stalemate?
I'm new to chess and I don't have much knowledge. But I was playing a game as Black, and I was up by a lot of material and played Nxc4 to capture White's last bishop. The game ended in a stalemate, ...
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Is there a position where the weaker side can force stalemating the stronger side?
Usually, the (materially) stronger side stalemates the materially weaker side. Is there a position where the weaker side can forcibly stalemate the stronger side?
The only position I know where this ...
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Can a stalemate be forced even if it is the opponent's turn to move first?
Here are examples in which the side that desires a stalemate can force a stalemate, provided it is their turn to move.
Are there positions where the side which desires a stalemate does not presently ...
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What is the record for the most stalemates in one?
Is there a known record for the most possible stalemates in one in a legal position, for with and without promoted pieces? I did some constructing myself for a start.
For without promoted pieces, I ...
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How different would chess be if a stalemate was a win? [duplicate]
Historically stalemate has been handled in different ways. I wonder how different chess would be if it was a win for the stalemating player.
Has enough thought been put into this so that it's ...
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What happens if you move your king on stalemate?
Let's say the following happens during a blitz match:
White makes a move, resulting in stalemate
Black doesn't notice the stalemate and moves the king into an illegal position.
Usually illegal moves ...
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Why is this position stalemate? I'm new to chess
Why is this position stalemate? I'm new to chess and I played white.
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During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era, what was the rule for stalemate in France?
Wikipedia has a stalemate history section, but for France it only says:
The forfeiture of Black's turn to move (medieval France) (Murray 1913:464–66) (Davidson 1981:64–65), although other medieval ...
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Complete game Troitzky-Vogt?
The Wikipedia on stalemate shows a position where Vogt became victim of a diabolic stalemate trap set by Troitzky.
[Title "Troitzky-Vogt"]
[FEN "2kr4/1ppb1pp1/1b4r1/pP2p3/P3P3/5qN1/2Q2P1P/2R1B1KR w - ...
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Wrongly accepted stalemate but game is a clear win?
What will happen when we wrongly accepted stalemate and thereafter 02-03 seconds we noticed it was not a stalemate but a clear win?
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What are the minimum required pieces for checkmate in 3d chess?
Assuming the rules of millennium 3d chess, what are the minimum required pieces for checkmate?
I realize this is an extremely difficult question, but in regular (2-dimensional) chess, we have rules ...
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An Interesting Idea: Pinned Pieces Stalemate
I had an idea for a type of stalemate: One side is stalemated with 8 pins in a legal position with as many pieces as possible, with all of the stalemating side’s units being “necessary.”
”Necessary” ...
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Is this a stalemate?
The gamepigeon app is declaring I lost (I am black). This simply does not make sense since it is white's turn and they are in check. The game abruptly ends.
Is this erroneous logic? How can I lose ...
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Why go for stalemate here?
In a Daily Puzzle of the Chess.com app, playing as white the solution to the puzzle was as follows:
[Title ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/p1Q3bk/P2N2p1/5p1p/7P/6q1/8/7K w - - 0 1&...
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Fastest stalemate in Duck Chess
Seeing the meteoric rise in popularity of Duck Chess (full rules), I'd like to ask how to stalemate the fastest (from the starting position) in this variant, because the stalemated player wins here.
...
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Tricks to force stalemate? [closed]
When playing against a novice player, how can you attempt to force stalemate (please don't ask how you would get there against a novice player)
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Situations of underpromoting the pawn
I recently came across a wonderful article on Chess.com about under promotion of pawns. One of the situations is here:
[FEN "8/8/1KP5/3r4/8/8/8/k7 w - - 0 1"]
[Date "1895.??.??"]
[White "Saavedra, ...
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What are good strategies or principles to prolonging the first stage of a game?
Is there a particular strategy or principle you can use to drag out the first stage of a game, namely, to preserve all your pieces as long as possible.
One way I can imagine this being useful, if ...
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What is the shortest 1:16 mutual stalemate with the White king at home?
In this ancient r/chess thread, several users explored the shortest possible 1:16 mutual stalemate. StoofBuzze provided a record in 42.5 moves. However, what is the shortest such game in which the ...
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Tablebases for variant where stalemate is a win?
Since time immemorial, some people have suggested that stalemate be declared a loss for the player who is unable to move. This proposal is sometimes called "abolishing the stalemate rule" although I ...
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USCF rule for wrongly agreeing to stalemate? [duplicate]
In a USCF tournament game, after I moved and hit my clock, my opponent said "Is that stalemate?", reaching out his hand to shake on the result. I said "I think so," and shook his ...
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How is this position a draw?
I played against a bot as a White and had this position. The computer claimed that it's a draw.
[FEN "2Q/k/3QP/8/3K/8/8/1N - - - 0 1"]
I thought it would be a checkmate because wherever the Black ...
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A special "dead" position
Construct a position which forcibly leads to White or Black being stalemated (and both events are actually possible), meaning that the position is already dead. Further (or it would be too easy) all ...
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