How does stalemate happen in chess

It is a great idea to keep in mind because sometimes you can use it to prevent losing a game or even to stop your opponent from doing so. Confronting two connected and passed pawns , Nimzowitsch decided to go for a draw. Below we see a remarkable rook sacrifice that forces a tie. He found a smart way of drawing the game by threatening to promote his last two moving pawns and forcing Dreev to capture the a-pawn.

Unfortunately for the Russian grandmaster, however, this capture led to a stalemate. Now that you are familiar with the stalemate rule, let's put your skills to the test! In each puzzle below, you have to either avoid or provoke a stalemate. Choose one of the two move options to reach your goal.

Puzzle 1: You have a winning position with a queen against a lonely king. Should you move your queen to the g3-square to restrict Black's king even further, or should you start bringing your king closer to the action by moving it to e1? Puzzle 2: Your opponent has an extra pawn that is close to promoting.

Should you start running away from the corner with your king by playing c1, or should you go to the a1-square?

There are times of course when a stalemate is inevitable, especially in pawns end games. For example, in an end game of a king and a marginal pawn against a king the player in difficulty takes its king to the square where the enemy pawn should be promoted. In the next example the game will end in a draw no matter who moves first. White moves 1. And now the draw is obvious. If White moves the king away from the pawn he will lose it and the game will end in draw. If White moves 2. Kb6-a6 the game ends in a stalemate because Black has no available legal moves both squares b7 and b8 are under the control of the white pieces.

In certain conditions it's sometimes possible for the weak side to execute a number of maneuvers that could lead the game into a stalemate situation. This constitute a tactical procedure you can read about at forcing stalemate. Sep 1, 9. Sep 1, BorgQueen wrote: we all make mistakes. The best thing we can do from mistakes is learn as much as we can from them!!

Sep 2, Log In or Join. Forums Hot Topics. Most Recent. The Crab Opening Nods69 7 min ago. Is it possible never to lose at chess? Covid vs Chess skills?? Actionxpxpxp 11 min ago.