To understand the key idea of stalemate, let`s take a look at a simple example: knowing the rules of deadlock is crucial for chess players of all levels. Recognizing possible drag positions can both prevent you from losing and prevent you from winning, so it`s a good idea to keep your eyes open for these situations. A dead end occurs when a player`s turn has no legal moves and the player`s king is not in check. In another match in 1991, Indian legend GM Viswanathan Anand found himself in a bad situation against Russian GM Alexey Dreev. He found a clever way to draw the game by threatening to promote his last two moving pawns and forcing Dreev to capture pawn A. Unfortunately for the Russian Grandmaster, however, this capture led to a stalemate. To learn more about Patt, read our in-depth lesson on Patt here! Patt is a resource that usually appears at the end of the game. The player who defends a worse position can – often by giving material – try to aim for a dead end in certain positions so as not to lose the game. In this case, the king would have fallen into a stalemate and the game would end in a draw. A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often try, in order to avoid defeat, to deceive the opponent by accidentally bringing the player`s king into a dead end (see hoax). Sometimes there are really surprising ways to draw the game on deadlock in chess: deadlock is a common theme in chess compositions. This next composition was conceived by the famous chess composer Leonid Kubbel.

There are particular chess compositions with a double deadlock. The left and the right are double dead ends where neither side has a legal move. A double deadlock is theoretically possible in a hands-on game, although this has never happened. Consider the following position: it does not make sense to assign a value to the king in relation to other coins, because it cannot be conquered or exchanged and must be protected at all costs. In this sense, its value could be considered infinite. As an assessment of the king`s abilities as an offensive figure in the final game, he is often considered slightly stronger than a bishop or knight. Emanuel Lasker gave it the value of one knight plus one pawn (i.e. four points on the scale of the relative value of the chess piece),[1] although other theorists rate it closer to three points. He defends friendly peasants better than the knight, and he is better at attacking enemy pawns than the bishop. In this game between chess master Alfred Ehrhardt Post and famous GM Aron Nimzowitsch, Schwarz is faced with a lost position.[2] Faced with two connected and obsolete pawns, Nimzowitsch decided to draw. Below we see a remarkable raven sacrifice forcing a draw.

In Troitsky-Vogt [full name needed], 1896, the famous composer of the endgame study Alexey Troitsky managed an elegant fraud in the real game. After Troitsky`s 1st Rd1!, Black fell into the trap with the 1st Bh3?, threatened 2…Qg2#. The game ended on 2nd Rxd8+ Kxd8 3rd Qd1+! Impasse Qxd1. White`s bishop, knight, and pawn f are all nailed and cannot move. [14] Patt is a common motif in peasant endings. He is black to move around in the diagram above, but the Black King has no legal square to move to. Due to the fact that the Black King is not in check, we have a dead end on the board. The match ended in a draw. The impasse is a kind of draw that occurs when one party has NO legal action to take. If the king is NOT in check, but no piece can be moved without keeping the king at bay, then the game ends in a dead end! Former world chess champion Vasily Smyslov (1957-1958) had a victorious round final, but he overlooked a stalemate: Now the players have accepted a draw, since 84…Kxb3 or 84…Rxb3 is a dead end, as well as 84…Ra8 85.Rxc3+! Kxc3. In the diagram above, the 1.Qc7 movement looks like a powerful move at first glance as it keeps the black king trapped in the corner.

The problem with this move, however, is that the king is not in check and cannot make moves. Since Black has no other pieces to move on the board, the position is deadlocked. Instead, White Black could have simply paired in two moves starting with 1.Kc6! Kb8 (Black`s only legal move) 2.Qb7#. There is a difference between no choice. and a bad choice. Editorials often speak of a political stalemate when the analogy they probably have in mind is “political pressure to act.” In a stalemate, a player has no legal moves, period. In Zugzwang, he is not pleasant to do.