How long do you suppose chess players have been arguing about abolishing

Stalemate?

I've got a good reason for asking.

Oh, I'd guess since the very day the rule was made.

Politely debating?  Well, probably ever since the rules began to evolve... so from the beginning of chess time.

Arguing?  Even since chess.com forum began.

I asked cause I. A. Horowitz predicted it wiould soon be abolished in his book called Chess for Beginners, copywrited 1950.

so what would be the outcome of perpetual check if not stalemate?

He meant when the king can't move.

so stalemate would not be eliminated then...just one form of it

It's stale, mate!

A least a couple hundred years.

ChefBruce: Not every draw is stalemate.

"At first sight it may seem unfair to you that a player with such a huge lead should be "cheated" out of victory. But the stalemate is historically grounded in the idea of penalizing a player who is clumsy in making his big advantage tell. The stalemate rule imparts a chivalrous note to the game by making it possible for a hopelessly outnumbered player to snatch a last minute draw if his opponent is careless.     In recent years, the stalemate rule has been denounced as an anachronism, and the chances are that in the not too distant future it will be abolished."    So no, he didn't qualify it precisely.

So who's going to abolish it, the chess Supreme Court?

them ?

FIDE. Personally, I don't think they should cause it depends on you opponent being careless.

The point of it is that abolishing stalemate would require a king not under attack to commit suicide.  In the metaphor for life that this is that should never happen.If you consider a king under siege, the stalemate is equivalent to having the castle surrounded with overwhelming force and forgetting to keep track of the whereabouts of the king.  You allow him to slip out of the noose in the confusion.  He plays you for a fool in the endgame and lives to fight another day.

The stalemate should be left alone.  The interesting thing is that to get a stalemate the would be loser has to show utter contempt or lack of respect for his opponent's ability or he would have resigned based on position and numbers.  It is thus the only allowable trash-talking in the game.       

Makes sense.

I'm obviously no expert, but it does indeed seem like it would change the game a lot.

When you say abolish do you mean making it illegal to stalemate your opponent?

No. Some people on here want to make stalemate a win just like checkmate.