Stalemate in chess?

Question

Under what circumstances in Chess is it considered a stalemate?

Answer 1

when the person, who's turn it is to move, has no legal move, then it's a stalemate. also if both sides have no mating material, IE, pawns or major pieces, then it's a stalemate

Answer 2

It is stalemate when the player whose turn it is
(a) is not in check
(b) cannot make a legal move.

When there are only two kings on the board, it's NOT stalemate but it is a draw as neither player can win.

Example position:
1st row: 5 empty, white king, 1 empty, black king.
White moves queen onto the first square of the second row. Black now can't move, but is not in check, so it's stalemate.

Answer 3

Stalemate (which has a precise meaning) is only one way in which a game of chess can be a draw. There are several others. The problem is that people use language sloppily and use the word "stalemate" to refer to a drawn game, in which no stalemate is actually involved.

Stalemate means that the side to move who is not in check, has no legal move for any of his pieces (not just his/her king).

Many other situations get incorrectly described as stalemates but they are not in fact stalematea, they are draws.

CASE ONE

Bare king v bare king is a draw but both players are able to move their kings, so it is not a stalemate. It is a draw because neither side has sufficient material to mate the other,

CASE TWO

If White has pawns on b4, e4 and h4 and a king on e1 and Black has pawns on b5, e5 and h5 and a king on e8, this too is a draw despite each side having 3 pawns which is enough to have mating material.

The problem is that neither side can break through to capture the other's pawns. And the game can be declared drawn, even though a threefold repetition of position has not yet occurred, because it is obvious that one is bound to occur and equally obvious that the only way to delay a threefold repetition is to make 50 meaningless moves and a draw under the 50-move rule would then put everyone out of their misery.

CASE THREE

There is a wholly locked pawn chain with White pawns on a4 b5 c4 d5 e6 f5 g4 and h3 and Black has pawns on a5 b6 c5 d6 e7 f6 g5 and h4, both kings are inside their own half of the board and in addition White has two rooks and a white-squared bishop.

But the extra pieces are of no use to him as they cannot take enemy pawns and break open the position. And the game can be declared drawn as a consequence.

EXAMPLE OF STALEMATE

It doesn't have to just be a bare king which has no moves. Black can have pawns as long as they are all blocked. He can have a rook bishop and knight as long as they are all pinned. eg

Black has a king on h8.

White checks on a8 with a rook and Black puts a knight on g8 to stop the check.

White checks on a1 with a queen and Black puts a rook on g7 to stop the check.

White checks on h1 with a rook and Black puts a bishop on h7 to stop the check.

White fails to relieve any of the pins and moves his king,

Stalemate! Even though Black still has three pieces left.

Answer 4

When the player whose turn it is, is not in check but will be put in check with any move that he or she makes.

For example: It's player 1's turn to move. Player 1 only has a king. Player 1 is not in check. Any move that Player 1 can make will put him in check.

Of course player 1 does not only have to have a king. If Player 1's pawns are all blocked and is forced to move the king; And the King could not move without being put into check then it's a stalemate.

Answer 5

Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move has no legal moves but is not in check.

Answer 6

Like the previous guys said. Generally when you are both down to one or two pieces and are just aimlessly chasing each other around the board.

This is analogous to chasing your girlfriend around and she is not going to give you some. Hence, stalemate.

Answer 7

When it is impossible to win...example: both players only have kings. Or, if you are both just going in circles and want to stop playing and call it a draw.