If it's black to play and he has no legal move then it's a stalemate.
Is this an actual draw?
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YES. Black has no legal moves.
People sometimes post why some players will play with a lone king, not including blocked pawns, against insurmountable odds. The reason is that the more pieces a player has against a lone king, the more likely it is that the player that's trying to win loses track of escape squares for the opponent's king if they can't mate the opponent.
And with too many pieces, a player can stumble into an unretractable stalemate. For example, moving a pawn to try and mate, but it doesn't mate, and suddenly, there is no way to mate the opponent's king, because the recent pawn move made it impossible, and the only piece the opponent has to move is his king.
Couple years ago, was in this strange situation where my opponent had a lone king (and some blocked pawns), and get managed to get a stalemate. In post analysis, I had to go back like 7 moves to see where I went wrong. That was probably a once-in-a-lifetime position, but still interesting. Essentially, the opponent's king was dancing around his back rank, so I could never nail it down. I had to actually prevent the king from actually getting to the back rank to prevent the stalemate, 7 moves earlier.
Edit: I suppose technically, I could have prevented a stalemate, which I didn't see, but the game would have eventually been a draw, due to 3 fold repetion, or the 50 move rule.
Alright thanks everybody, especially Caesar for the very detailed answer 
May 7, 2020
0
#5
@thomsonbeckery You're not the only one who has mixed feelings about stalemate being a draw. In fact, during the history of chess, it hasn't always been this way (IIRC). But the rules have settled this way for some centuries.
yeah
these situations are best learned via the bitter pill of experience
if you have enough time always be wary/cautious if opponent has no other moves besides king moves (especially if you try to set up a mating net)
sometimes it helps to give back material to further simplify
welcome to the club
these situations are best learned via the bitter pill of experience
if you have enough time always be wary/cautious if opponent has no other moves besides king moves (especially if you try to set up a mating net)
sometimes it helps to give back material to further simplify
welcome to the club
Stalemates & draws are one of the three reasons why I never resign. 1. as long as the opponent can make a mistake such as create a draw or stalemate, I don't quit. 2. I can learn as much trying to defend an against overwhelming odds as I could learn trying to win with the odds in my favor. 3. When I am winning I would rather get to an actual checkmate instead of receiving the opponent's resignation.
May 7, 2020
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#8
Sred wrote:
@thomsonbeckery You're not the only one who has mixed feelings about stalemate being a draw. In fact, during the history of chess, it hasn't always been this way (IIRC). But the rules have settled this way for some centuries.
Yeah, sometimes the stalemating player lost, sometimes they won and sometimes they drew. Based on all the other rules of chess, a draw is the most logical result, in my opinion, and when a player can force a stalemate, that is a very interesting thing.
It is stalemate if one player cannot make a move the game ends.
May 8, 2020
0
#10
Martin_Stahl wrote:
Sred wrote:
@thomsonbeckery You're not the only one who has mixed feelings about stalemate being a draw. In fact, during the history of chess, it hasn't always been this way (IIRC). But the rules have settled this way for some centuries.
Yeah, sometimes the stalemating player lost, sometimes they won and sometimes they drew. Based on all the other rules of chess, a draw is the most logical result, in my opinion, and when a player can force a stalemate, that is a very interesting thing.
Yes, I also like the rules as they are. Endgame theory is much more interesting this way.
You clearly cannot take a win. In this position , neither you or the player can make progress , therefore it must be a draw. In a real- life war , for example world war 1 , germany was invading france , but they ended up in stalemate and stayed in stalemate for years. stalemate is when you cannot make any progress ,therefore there is NO winner. Chess is a game of war , and many real-life war tactics are in the game of chess , and of course there is stalemate.
Stalemate.
Read up on the rules of chess.