Stalemate!

In this lesson, we’re diving into the difference between stalemate and checkmate.

Topic 1

When a king has nowhere to go, but is not in check, it is stalemate! A stalemate is a draw or a tie. If you have a big advantage in points, you don’t want this to happen!

At first, everything seems fine for Black. But Black forgot one important thing: the White king isn’t in check! And since it’s not check, it’s a stalemate. Black definitely should have won this game, and White is happy to escape with a draw.

Topic 2

Pay close attention, because White is about to make a very common mistake, which turns this winning position into a draw! First, think what move you would make here, and then click “continue” to see White’s mistake.

This move looks good: the king steps up aggressively, and now the black king has nowhere to run. The only problem is that Black is also not in check. It’s a stalemate! Instead, White should have moved Qd7 and then played Kg6. Checkmate would happen soon after! 

Topic 3

When you have a lot of pieces and your opponent only has a king, you have to be extra careful. This is exactly the time when you need to be on the lookout for stalemate! Click “continue” to see.

Oops! This just took away e4, Black’s last free square. But it’s also not check. So it’s stalemate! White is winning and should have found a way to win.  

Topic 4

Stalemate usually happens when one side only has a king left. But sometimes it can happen even when there are other pieces on the board. If those pieces can’t move, and the king also can’t move but is not in check, the position is still stalemate! 

The queen swoops in and threatens the bishop on e1. White’s bishop now can’t move because the white king would be in check. The problem is that this move leaves White with no moves at all. Look at each of White’s pieces. None of them can move, and White’s king isn’t in check! So it’s stalemate.  

Topic 5

Would playing Qf7 be a bad move, causing stalemate? Think about whether Qf7 is OK or not, and then click “continue”.

There is nothing wrong with Qf7 here! It’s one of the fastest ways to checkmate Black in this position. Remember that it’s only stalemate if there are no legal moves. Here Black can’t move his king. But he still can move his knight or pawn. White can then deliver checkmate on the next move!

Black has no choice but to move the knight or pawn. He would actually prefer that the pawn and knight were gone from the board, since it would be stalemate!

Now it’s your turn. You learned about checkmate in the last lesson, so look for a way to checkmate the black king. There are four different checkmating moves. Try to find all of them, and then play one of them.

Great! This is checkmate. White’s earlier Qf7 was good because it sets up checkmate on the next move.  It would have been a bad move if Black didn’t have the knight and pawn!

Topic 6

Black is losing, and played the very tricky move Rxh2+. White is in check – how should he capture the rook? Choose carefully…

Good! This was much better than capturing with the king, which would have been stalemate. White is winning, so go for the win, not the stalemate!