Information About

Stalemate




Stalemate is a situation in Chess where the player whose turn it is to move has no legal moves but is not in Check . Stalemate ends the game, with the result a Draw . Stalemate is often sought after during the Endgame by a player with vastly outnumbered pieces to avoid an outright loss.

In certain Chess Variants , such as Suicide Chess , stalemate is not necessarily a draw, and can be deemed a win for either (a) the player with fewer pieces (a draw results if the players have the same number of pieces) or (b) the stalemated player.

Stalemate has become a widely used Metaphor for other situations where there is a conflict or contest between two parties, such as war or Political Negotiation s, and neither side is able to achieve victory, resulting in what is also called a dead heat, standoff, or deadlock. Unlike in chess, this usage allows for the situation to be a temporary one and thus ultimately resolved, even if it seems currently intractable.


STALEMATE IN CHESS


Simple examples




With Black to move, the black King is stalemated in each of the four positions in the diagram at the right. Stalemate is an important factor in the Endgame —the endgame set-up in the top-right of this diagram, for example, quite frequently is relevant in play, and the position in the bottom-left is an example of a Pawn drawing against a queen. Stalemates of this sort can often save a player from losing an apparently hopeless position.

In the bottom left position, even if it were White's move, there is no way to avoid this stalemate without allowing Black's pawn to Promote . (White may be able to win the resulting Queen versus queen ending, however, If The White King Is Close Enough ).


Examples from games


Gelfand-Kramnik







































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  Year 1996
  Title Chess Middlegames: Essential Knowledge
  Publisher Cadogan
  ID ISBN 1-85744-125-7


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  Year 1981
  Title A Short History of Chess (1949)
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  Title The Evolution of Special Draw Rules
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