if i can see available, legal chess moves, why stalemate?

Question

i wish i could find a good net article that fully explains stalemate in chess to me. so often when i play my chessmaster gave (virtual opponents), the game is declared a stalemate when i can see that my opponent can make legal moves.

so how come i can't understand this?

i have seen stalemate occur also when i can make moves, not just when my opponent can still make moves. i am not speaking of breaking rules of multiple moves. i am not speaking to draws. i mean stalemate when it makes no sense, i.e., both of us could make a move. maybe i would not be able to get the opponent into checkmate, but i think i could. how can the virtual game know that i could not?

Answer 1

The draw may be due to a "three-fold repetition", meaning the same position has occurred three times with the same player to move. This most often occurs when a player hits his opponent with a series of checks, and often the player does not realize the same position has occurred three times. Sometimes the third occurrence position comes about by a different series of moves, but it is still considered a three-fold repetition.

Another possibility is a draw declared by the "50 move rule". The fifty move rule applies when both players have made 50 consecutive moves without any pawn moves. This one is rare, although it can occur when one side is trying to win a endgame with all the pawns off, but either he doesn't know the mating technique or he is stubbornly try to force mate in a dead drawn position.

* * * * *

Looking at your Additional Details, it sounds like you know the difference between a true stalemate and a draw for some other reason, such as a three-fold repetition. In that case, I'm confused too. It makes me wonder if the software has a program bug, although testing a position for stalemate shouldn't be that hard to program.

Answer 2

There are a three rules for draw- 1)mutual agreement of the players, 2) insufficient material for checkmate, 3)or less often - a completely repeated game position of pieces, for which a player can call a draw (usually a stubborn position where each player just moves a single piece back and forth not wanting to give up the advantage).. But for Stalemate only ONE. It is this: the opponents king has no allowable move possible. For your question it is very clear that the opponents king will never be cut off from any allowable move, and therefore NOT a stalemate. It is a drawn game. Obviously two lone kings, they can move endlessly with no possibility of cutting of the opponents kings movement. The game is without any question- a draw!

Answer 3

A stalemate occurs when there is no possibility of checkmate. If you do not have adequate pieces to checkmate the opponent's king, like only having a bishop or a knight, then it would be a stalemate or draw, because you cannot pin the king. A stalemate also occurs when a checkmate has not occurred after 40 continuous instances of check: If you keep putting the opponent king in check, you cannot do it more than 40 times in a row, because this would indicate that you are incapable of checkmating, either through lack of skill or sufficient pieces.

Answer 4

A lack of legal moves is one reason for a stalemate, but not the only one. Repeating the same exact position three times is another, and when the forces left on the board are inadequate to force a mate (King and two Knights vs. King, for example) that's also a draw.

Answer 5

If the side whose turn it is has no legal moves it's a stalemate. I'm guessing that's what your mistake is. If not, then you're probably missing something like a pin or something that looks like a legal move but isn't

Answer 6

Stalemate is when you can't make any moves, not your opponent.

And also you cannot be in check.

A stalemate counts as a tie.

Answer 7

you must not be seeing something stalemates are always unmoveable positions