blitz stalemate
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I keep getting an automatic stalemate when I am up in blitz. It is not because of the 3 same move rule. Any ideas
All stalemates are draws, but not all draws are stalemates. If it says "Game drawn by stalemate," that is a specific type of draw. Repetition draws, draws by insufficient material, and draws by agreement are some other types of draws.
A stalemate occurs when the following conditions are all true:
1.) It is player A's turn to move.
2.) Player A has no legal move available.
3.) Player A's king is *NOT* in check.
Note that the difference between this definition and that of checkmate is in #3. With checkmate, the king *IS* in check.
If you're winning, you must make sure that your opponent is either in check or has at least one legal move available to them. If not, you could accidentally stalemate them and get a draw instead of a win.
For example, in your game against rainboww, you should not have played 40. ... a2, as white's king has nowhere he could legally move to but he is not in check. Instead, 40. ... Qb2 is checkmate. The king still has nowhere he could legally move to, but this time he is in check.
Similarly, in your game against nyel555, black's king has nowhere he could legally move. Your king covers d2, and your queen covers every other square. Instead of 40. Ke2, you could have played 40. Qa2, followed by Ke3, and then checkmate would have followed shortly thereafter.