Chess Tactics: Stalemate

Sometimes a chess game can reach a position in which one side doesn't have a single legal move to play, but the king is not put in check. In that case, the game ends in a draw by stalemate.

In some cases, this position can be forced by a losing side to save the game, or a threat of a stalemate can be used to execute certain tactics.

Let's take a look at some examples:

Example #1: Kamikaze Queen

 In this example, the white king and pawn have no legal moves. Black has a big material advantage, so white would be happy if they could make a draw. And they can! The white queen starts sacrificing herself with checks until black is forced to accept the sacrifice and stalemate white.

Example #2: Deadly Pin

Well, the pin in this example is not deadly for a king, but for the winning chances of white. In a completely winning position white played Qf4 that under slightly different circumstances would force a queen trade, leading to a winning king and pawn endgame for white. But with this move white not only pinned black's queen to their king but also pinned their own queen, allowing black to force a draw with this brilliant move Ka8!!.

Example #3: Deadly Fork

This example is very similar to a previous one. The only difference is a fork instead of a pin. Seems like black sacrificed a rook for a bishop. But it couldn't be recaptured! The rook attracted white's queen to the c2 square allowing black to force a draw with a brilliant queen sacrifice that couldn't be declined.

Example #4: Poisoned Piece

This example is not a tactic but a trap. Stalemate is not being forced here, but under time pressure, some players might fall for a trap like this. The black bishop cannot be captured due to the resulting position being a stalemate.

What other stalemate examples do you know? Write in the comments!