Questions tagged [winning]

one out of three possible results in a chess game (win, draw and loss are the 3 possible results).

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
33 votes
5 answers
16k views

Game ended with a handshake

In a amateur game, black offered a handshake and white shook hands with him and neither spoke any word and the game ended. Later they had a dispute whether the game is a draw or a win for white. Black ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 9,053
22 votes
8 answers
11k views

Can a player in check win, by checkmating the opponent, while not getting themselves out of check?

Consider a player who is in check. Suppose they can make a move that would checkmate the opponent, but would not stop themselves from being in check. Would that be a legal move? For example, in the ...
user32279's user avatar
  • 245
16 votes
2 answers
4k views

Is this endgame position a theoretical win or draw?

The following tactics problem comes from ChessTempo, and was taken from a game between Anatoly Karpov and Alexey Kuzmin. It's white's move. The idea of the problem is to find white's best move from ...
Mark Byers's user avatar
  • 1,649
14 votes
8 answers
9k views

Why is flagging considered a win?

Let's say I totally dominate my opponent, but simply run out of time, then I lose the game right? But doesn't it make more sense to be given 51% of the rating adjustment (not 50/50 as for a draw). The ...
lbragile's user avatar
  • 829
11 votes
7 answers
1k views

What chess *scoring* alternatives exist?

Chess (often being classified as a sport) stands almost alone among sports in that its results are of a strictly ternary nature that is not quantified any further: The only possible outcomes are a win,...
user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
685 views

The thin line between winning and losing at the top level?

At lower level, we often blunder many times and do not make the best moves, so there can be multiple ways to win. But at the top level, for example, during the candidate matches going on now, the ...
xaisoft's user avatar
  • 16.8k
9 votes
2 answers
3k views

Can the game end in multiple ways at the same time?

We know that a game can't end in checkmate and draw by 50 move rule. The checkmate will take precedence. But just for fun let's ask: is it possible for a game to end in both draw by repetition & ...
Laska's user avatar
  • 11.8k
8 votes
3 answers
4k views

What does it mean to win "by force"?

I occasionally see annotations/commentary where a move / line is said to make (for example) white win "by force". I am unsure if it has the general sense of "this move initiates a forcing sequence ...
Ani's user avatar
  • 231
7 votes
2 answers
564 views

Is this a chess variant? Chess without taking pieces!

I just noticed a special style of playing chess in some of the top games in chess.com; A chess without taking pieces: The whole game here: [FEN ""] [Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "...
BigOther's user avatar
  • 729
6 votes
5 answers
4k views

Is there a terminology for "the worst winning move"?

What do people call a move which maintains a winning position but is the worst among all such moves? For example, h8=N+ is such a move in the following game: [FEN "8/7P/6k1/8/8/8/B1K5/8 w - - 0 1&...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 9,053
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

How is White winning in this OTB position?

Can anyone kindly guide me on how White has won in this picture of the end of an OTB game?
Gagan Nayyar's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is this endgame winnable for either side?

I'm a complete novice in chess and I don't know if this even qualifies as endgame with so many pieces left, but I ended up in this position playing as black vs. a king's pawn debut. I sort of tried to ...
Violet Giraffe's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
203 views

How can white force a quick win here?

This is from a tactics puzzle I encountered today. The given solution was 1. Qxf6 gxf6 2. Bxf6#,” but to me 1... Ne6 seems to halt white in his tracks, even if it does give up a rook. My moves as ...
Darren H's user avatar
  • 375
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

There is neither checkmate nor stalemate, so why did black win?

I'm programming chess in python for my cs class and I'm doing some testing using chess.com. However, I'm confused as to why this game (and several others) seem to prematurely come to an end? AFAIK the ...
Jam's user avatar
  • 161
5 votes
4 answers
4k views

What happens if a player mistakenly thinks they have been checkmated?

A quote from Wikipedia: The objective is to 'checkmate' the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. Suppose two players (A and B) play the game using the old ...
EmilyJ's user avatar
  • 279
4 votes
1 answer
646 views

Why is pawn c6 is not winning here and what is the missed win for black?

When I played a game on chess.com and then ran the analysis afterward, the computer said that the pawn move c6 was incorrect. [title "Black to play"] [fen "r1b2rk1/p1p2p1p/5p2/2bNq3/8/8/PPP1BPPP/...
hqt's user avatar
  • 157
4 votes
5 answers
527 views

Can White win this Q+P endgame?

Can white win this queen and pawn endgame? From this position put Black queen on the best defensive square, and then it will be White's to move. [FEN "8/1PQ3pk/6pp/8/8/8/8/3K4 w - - 0 1"] It might ...
jf328's user avatar
  • 2,488
4 votes
3 answers
765 views

Is there a forced mate/ winning advantage?

Recently I played a game in a High School league match as the top board. I played f4 followed by d5 (very standard). I played passively and waited out his attack and soon gained the momentum. At ...
theeppright's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
159 views

Variant where White cannot lose?

I was pondering an asymmetrical variant where White's king is just a regular piece that moves like a normal king, but can be captured without consequence (and hence check for White does not exist). ...
Steve Bennett's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
891 views

About how to win a pawn by applying pressure-Looking for examples

Is there any easy way to know you can win a pawn just by applying pressure on the opening? So, if you guys can help me with examples of winning pawns just by applying pressure on each phase, opening, ...
Marcelo's user avatar
  • 296
3 votes
1 answer
781 views

Why is a win better than 2 draws in the tiebreaks

When I play chess tournaments and I have 5/2/2 in the tiebreaks I always lose to players with 6/3/0. So why is a win better than 2 draws? Which is the logic behind it?
Cerise's user avatar
  • 261
3 votes
1 answer
503 views

What is the result if a player has insufficient material and the opponent plays two illegal moves?

Suppose player X has only a king. Their opponent has played two illegal moves during the game. Is it a draw or does X win?
iammilind's user avatar
  • 714
3 votes
2 answers
509 views

How Did Alireza Firouzja Qualify Over Wesley So for the 2024 Candidates Tournament?

I've been following the recent developments in the chess world and noticed that Alireza Firouzja qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament, overtaking Wesley So in the process. Can someone explain ...
Iman Mohammadi's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
155 views

Is it possible to win this endgame?

[FEN "7r/1pk2p2/2p5/p5pp/3R2P1/1P3P1P/P5K1/8 w - - 0 1"] Is it possible to win this endgame with either White or Black ?I know the Lucena and Philidor positions which are the first things ...
bretlee's user avatar
  • 2,515
2 votes
2 answers
132 views

What am I missing here?

[FEN ""] 1. e4 {0} e5 {8} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {5} 3. Bc4 {0} Bc5 {3} 4. c3 {0} d6 {6} 5. O-O {0} Nf6 {8} 6. d3 {0} O-O {1} 7. Re1 {0} Re8 {4} 8. b4 {0} Bb6 {19} 9. Qd2 {0} d5 {12} 10. exd5 {0} ...
bretlee's user avatar
  • 2,515
2 votes
3 answers
466 views

When you're up in material [closed]

In some games, I was up on material, but then lost due to either time pressure or blunders. How should I avoid these type of pitfalls?
zscoder's user avatar
  • 341
1 vote
1 answer
101 views

Winning middlegame?

The following is a winning middlegame for White from Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals. It's white to play. [FEN "2nb1rk1/1pqrnppp/p2p4/2pQ1N2/6P1/1P1B1N1P/P3RP2/3R2K1 w - - 0 0"] 1. Nxe7+ ...
MBolin's user avatar
  • 255
1 vote
1 answer
63 views

Is bughouse a win for a team with excess time?

In bughouse it is a huge advantage during the game to have more time on your clocks than your opponents. So I wonder what happens if one team starts with a time advantage (from now on called the time ...
domotorp's user avatar
  • 410
-1 votes
1 answer
341 views

Why did the computer win?

I just played chess on my mac and the computer (black) won. Here's the final board: Why couldn't I, white, use my king (D4) to take the black queen (C5)?
alex's user avatar
  • 9
-1 votes
1 answer
210 views

Chess FEN winner

I'm new to Chess FEN notation and I'm making an online chess game, but I have one problem, I need to check after every new move if there is a winner and which one is a winner. Can I extract that ...
user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
185 views

How many moves is it possible to win in?

I was wondering what is the minimum number of moves it takes to win (checkmate) as I would like to accomplish this in a game of chess.
HybridBird's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
523 views

Discovered check when winning [duplicate]

Is it ok to put your own king in discovered check as you take the other king? (Does the taking of the other king even count as a move, or is the checkmate the last move?) Edit: When thinking about it,...
oyvind's user avatar
  • 115
-2 votes
1 answer
250 views

How is a game of chess won?

My understanding is that there are basically two ways in which a game of chess is won. (1) One side gives (or forces) checkmate, regardless of material situation on the board. He may be in material ...
A. N. Other's user avatar
  • 6,826