![]() ![]() Murray believes may have been adopted from Russian chess. From about 1600 to 1800, the rule in England was that stalemate was a loss for the player administering it, a rule that the eminent chess historian H. 1497), however, treated stalemate as an inferior form of victory it won only half the stake in games played for money, and this continued to be the case in Spain as late as 1600. This practice persisted in chess as played in early 15th-century Spain. This was changed in shatranj, however, where stalemating was a win. ![]() In the forerunners to modern chess, such as chaturanga, delivering stalemate resulted in a loss. Although stalemate is universally recognized as a draw today, that has not been the case for much of the game's history. The stalemate rule has had a convoluted history. A similar idea occasionally enables the inferior side to save a draw in the ending of bishop, knight, and king versus lone king. The only way to save the bishop is to move it, resulting in stalemate. Kd8! (rightmost diagram) Black is three pieces ahead, but if White is allowed to take the bishop, the two knights are insufficient to force checkmate. Rxb6+ Nxb6+ Moving the king is actually a better try, but the resulting endgame of two knights and a bishop against a rook is a well-established theoretical draw. Not 5.Rxb2+? Bxb2 6.Nc4+ Kb5 7.Nxb2 Bh5! trapping White's knight. Rh6+ Bd6 3.Kb5 4.Rxb6+ Kxb6 5.Nxc4+ also leads to a drawn endgame. An example is the "White to Play and Draw" study at right, composed by the American master Frederick Rhine and published in 2006. Stalemate is a frequent theme in endgame studies and other chess compositions. Incredibly, the possibility of stalemate allows White, three pieces down, to draw. Now the players agreed to a draw, since 84.Kxb3 or 84.Rxb3 is stalemate, as is 84.Ra8 85.Rxc3+! Kxc3.īlack could still have won the game until his critical mistake on move 82. Rc4 Kd3ħ9.Rd3 80.Rxd3+! leaves Black with either insufficient material to win after 80.Nxd3 81.Kxa2 or a standard fortress in a corner draw after 80.Kxd3.Ĩ0. ![]() This would normally be a decisive material advantage, but Black could find no way to make progress because of various stalemate resources available to White. In the game Elijah Williams– Daniel Harrwitz (first diagram), Black was up a knight and a pawn in an endgame. Position after 84.Rb3! If Black takes the rook either way, the result is stalemate. While draws are common, they are rarely the direct result of stalemate. The term "stalemate" is sometimes used incorrectly as a generic term for a draw in chess. Chess writers note that this usage is a misnomer because, unlike in chess, the situation is often a temporary one that is ultimately resolved, even if it seems currently intractable. Stalemate has become a widely used metaphor for other situations where there is a conflict or contest between two parties, such as war or political negotiations, and neither side is able to achieve victory, resulting in what is also called an impasse, a deadlock, or a Mexican standoff. The first recorded use in a figurative sense is in 1885. Stale is probably derived from Anglo-French estale meaning "standstill", a cognate of "stand" and "stall", both ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sta. It is a compounding of Middle English stale and mate (meaning checkmate). The first recorded use of stalemate is from 1765. Stalemate rules vary in other games of the chess family. Before this standardization, its treatment varied widely, including being deemed a win for the stalemating player, a half-win for that player, or a loss for that player not being permitted and resulting in the stalemated player missing a turn. The outcome of a stalemate was standardized as a draw in the 19th century. Stalemate is also a common theme in endgame studies and other chess problems. In more complex positions, stalemate is much rarer, usually taking the form of a swindle that succeeds only if the superior side is inattentive. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position to draw the game rather than lose. Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Black is not in check and has no legal move since every square the king might move to is attacked by White. ![]()
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