It is possible to stalemate in chess when a situation is reached where one of the parties is unable to make a move when its turn comes. At the same time, the king of the indicated side was not declared check.
A stalemate is a kind of tie on the chessboard that can occur in any game. The essence of this situation lies in the impossibility of making a move with the king, any other piece or pawn when the turn of the move of the side to which this king, pawns, or pieces belongs. In this case, an important condition is the absence of a check for the king of the indicated side. In this case, the chess rules speak of the need to fix a draw between opponents. When fixing the described position in the tournament game, each of the opponents gets half a point, which is tantamount to the usual agreement for a draw or other provisions that cause such a result.
What is the difference between stalemate and mate?
The only difference between stalemate and mate is that in case of a checkmate situation, the king of the defending side is in check. At the same time, the king does not have the opportunity to leave for any field, to defend in any other way. The position of other pieces and pawns, the possibility of making a move with them in a mating situation does not matter, since the announcement of a check to the king obliges the player to defend against this check or to withdraw the king. In this case, the victory of the side that announced the checkmate will be recorded on the chessboard. In a tournament game, the specified side will be awarded one point for achieving a positive result, and its opponent will receive zero for a lost game.
How does stalemate occur most often?
The most common stalemate is when the defending side has no pieces. Most often there is one king, sometimes there is a king and several pawns that cannot make a move, because they run into the enemy's pawns and pieces. At the same time, all squares around the king of the defending side are also occupied by some pawns, pieces, are under the control of the opponent, which excludes the possibility of making any move. Getting into such a position is often the main goal of the side that loses in the balance of forces on the chessboard, therefore, it is forced to look for certain ways of its own salvation from defeat. In games of high-level chess players with classical time control, stalemate is extremely rare, however, when playing rapid chess, blitz, as well as in games of players with a low rating, such situations can arise regularly.
