chess question-50 move draw?

Question

So, if no pieces are taken and no pawns moved after 50 moves, a draw is called right? Can this happen at any point in the game? Or if a pawn is moved at any point during the game, does this rule no longer apply? What I was picturing is 50 moves in which only the knights are moving, but that seems extremely crazy to me. So, how does this work?

Answer 1

The exact wording of the rule (9.3) is:

The game is drawn, upon a correct claim by the player having the move, if (a) he writes on his scoresheet, and declares to the arbiter his intention to make a move which shall result in the last 50 moves having been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without the capture of any piece, or (b) the last 50 consecutive moves have been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without the capture of any piece.

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So, the move count can start at any time. This prevents games from lasting forever when a player does not know how or has forgotten how to achieve a checkmate in a situation in which checkmate is still possible (For example, 1 black rook and the black king against a lone white king). These 50 moves are 50 white and 50 black, but realize that if a pawn is moved or any piece is captured at any time, the count restarts.

Answer 2

A fifty move draw is a rule, and it usually occurs in the endgame of a game of chess when only there are two kings and a rook or a queen is present.

If after fifty moves there have been no pieces taken, or no pawns have moved after 50 moves, then the game is considered a draw.

To go into more detail about this rule: http://www.chessvariants.org/d.chess/50moves.html

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_move_rule

there is a wikki of the rule you have stated,

the rule sounds like a knight battle and someone mirroring maybe? a pointless waste of time imho, but it is not an automatic draw, it needs to be arbitrated, so if someone does this to you in a friendly, after 20 moves just upend the board and walk away :p
here is an exerpt from the wikki ...

In 1928 FIDE enacted rules that in the rook and bishop versus rook endgame, 132 moves were allowed, since it was twice the sixty-six moves that were thought to be required at that time (it is actually 115 moves for some positions). In 1952 FIDE revised the law, requiring that players agree to an extension for these positions before the first move is made (Whitaker and Hartleb 1960). FIDE rules allowed seventy-five moves for the rook and bishop versus rook (Müller and Lamprecht 2001:299). Apparently at some point, the rule was changed to one hundred moves for such positions [citation needed]. Later more such positions were found, and in 1992 the rule was changed back to fifty moves for all positions. Many of the longest games on record involve the rook and bishop versus rook endgame, when the rule for more moves was in effect. [1]


so it actually can happen at endgame, but most people doing a repeating move would take a 3 move stalemate