MOST STUPID RULE : STALEMATE

Me when I only have a king and get a stalemate

Grandmaster Larry Kaufman wrote: "In my view, calling stalemate a draw is totally illogical, since it represents the ultimate zugzwang, where any move would get your king taken".

But this is the rule...

It is a bit bizarre that this seven year old thread is still going on, even after it has been pointed out that there are common stalemate positions where a lone king stalemates the opponent's king and pawn (making stalemate a win would mean that a lone king would be able to win on time in FIDE rated games as long as the opponent had at least an a pawn or h pawn) and somewhat torturous positions where a lone king can stalemate an entire enemy army where there are no moves of any time without violating the way pieces can move (with the king buried in the corner with no empty squares adjacent to it).

Stalemate is a rule and will remain a rule unless people are willing to change it and allow people to lose on time facing a lone king.

Such infinate (sic) wisdom from an excellent chess player who's not played a single game here but turns up just to post about having a life and whining.

Boohoo

TICCPROW

"What's real? What's not? That's what I do in my act, test how other people deal with reality."

- Andy Kaufman

The reason nobody has compared the stalemate rule in chess to a potential situation in sports is because chess is not a sport. It's a board game. Sports ALL have tie breaking rules that can be chosen if so desired.

Stalemate isn't the only tie in chess. A tie can occur if only the two kings are left, if one or both sides do not have sufficient pieces to force a win, etc. A stalemate is simply a tie condition. Other board games also have conditions that result in ties. Chess simply does not have a tie breaking feature, but it could. You could pick an odd/even number. You could draw straws. You could flip a coin, etc. But most people seem to think the current rules work perfectly well, and just accept that ties are possible in chess.

i think chess would be a lot more interesting if there was no stalemate. a lot of previously drawn endgames would be completely won with no stalemate rule.

get rid of the draws.

The win condition for chess is checkmate. If you take away all the opponents move by your play then you cannot achieve checkmate any more, and therefore you don't get to win.

In english it may be less obvious because the game is called "chess" and attacking the king is called "check", in other languages the game is literally called "check" so it's clear how you win.

No check = no win.

As s side note - stalemate also balances the game, white really needs to use their first move advantage. Also armageddon is a thing.

Getting rid of draws seems like it might be more effort than it's worth. What about when only two kings are left on the board? Or a K vs. KB scenario? Getting rid of draws would change the game so much it might have to be called something else besides chess.

I still don't understand how getting rid of the stalemate rule would work. Would it be a win for the person to move or the person who last moved? Since they are equally responsible (and a score of 1/2-1/2 is supposedly not acceptable) the only outcome I can see that makes sense is a score of 0-0 or 1-1.

This is necessary

White king: “We have you completely surrounded as I have 9 queens”

Black king: And I have nowhere to go without dying!

White king: Can we make this battle a draw?
Black king: Sure

What do you want, then? You can't just skip a turn in Chess. And you can't capture a king.

That is one of the stalemate scenarios. The goal of chess is to checkmate (or kill) the enemy king. Surrounding him doesn't count. Taunting him or threatening him or pressuring him or pretending to attack doesn't count. There has to be an actual checkmate. There has to be an actual attack, where no escape is possible.

But stalemate isn't just about the enemy king. Stalemate can also be where the enemy king is perfectly safe and in no danger whatsoever. In this example it can be hard to decide who should win if stalemate is not a draw.

An exception to every rule for getting rid of stalemate:

Material: