Stalemate
Stale bread is awful. But a stalemate can be even harder to swallow! Do you know what that word means in chess? Let's learn everything about it.
What Is Stalemate In Chess?
Stalemate sounds very exciting because it sounds a little like checkmate. But in reality, stalemating is something that you never want to do to your opponent when you are winning.
A stalemate happens in chess when it is a player's turn to move, but they have no legal moves left to make. When that happens, the game ends immediately in a draw.
In the position above, you can see that White only has their king left. It is White's turn to move, but the black pieces are guarding all of the squares that the white king can move to. Since the king is not in check (otherwise, this would be a checkmate), this is a stalemate and the game ends in a tie.
Why Does The Stalemate Matter?
Stalemate is one of those things that can be very frustrating. Can you imagine if you were winning but made one wrong move and stalemated your opponent? It's awful just thinking about it.
One of the most common stalemate types happens when a player is trying to checkmate using the queen and king. To checkmate with those pieces, you have to push the opposing king to the board's edge. But, if you are not careful, you can end up giving a stalemate and miss the opportunity to win an easy endgame.
But don't be fooled! Stalemates can also feel great if you are the one who is losing. In this other common king and pawn endgame, you can hold a draw even if you are a pawn down.
In that situation, all you have to do is move your king to the board's corner where the enemy pawn would promote. Your opponent will not be able to get you out of there and will eventually have to stalemate you or lose the pawn.
As you can see, avoiding a stalemate when you are winning is as important as trying to cause it when you are losing.
Wrapping Up
You now know what a stalemate is and how you can avoid it or use it during your games. Head over to our Lessons page to learn other essential chess concepts to improve your game!