Stalemate

opponent is calling our game a stalemate -- he wants me to draw -- he has plenty of moves left -- stalemate would be a condition recognized by the chess software, no? it's not an "agreed upon" condition.

Please affirm.

Presumably it's this game Game 2314800. This is definately not stalemate as defined in the rules of chess, ie there are no legal moves left to play by one side. The site recognises true stalemate and a draw is awarded accordingly. You can continue playing the game if you wish, your opponent cannot make you take the draw.

~corp1131

You are right on the money -- thank you.

I know its not a formal stalemate thats not the question texking misunderstood what I was saying

game ended drawn in the end -- I wanted to play it out -- good tenacious play by opponent

Originally posted by TexKing
game ended drawn in the end -- I wanted to play it out -- good tenacious play by opponent

You missed a win! This was the position on move 69.



Instead of moving the bishop, 69..Kxh6 would have won.

Eg. 70.Kxd5 Kg5 71.Ke4 Kg4 72.Ke3 Kg3 73.Ke2 Kg2 74.Ke3 h5 75.Kf4 h4 76.Kg4 h3 and the pawn cannot be prevented from queening.

Originally posted by corp1131
Presumably it's this game Game 2314800. This is definately not stalemate as defined in the rules of chess, ie there are no legal moves left to play by one side. The site recognises true stalemate and a draw is awarded accordingly. You can continue playing the game if you wish, your opponent cannot make you take the draw.

~corp1131

Althought the site does not recognise that as an automatic draw, if you press "claim draw" with just two kings on the board it should (I'm pretty sure) give you the mate.

Originally posted by Freddie2006
Althought the site does not recognise that as an automatic draw, if you press "claim draw" with just two kings on the board it should (I'm pretty sure) give you the mate.

Never knew that, I thought that in that situation the site would automatically give the draw. You learn something new every day.

Originally posted by Freddie2006
Althought the site does not recognise that as an automatic draw, if you press "claim draw" with just two kings on the board it should (I'm pretty sure) give you the mate.

huh? Mate???

Originally posted by David Tebb
You missed a win! This was the position on move 69.

[fen]8/7p/7N/3bK2k/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 69[/fen]

Instead of moving the bishop, 69..Kxh6 would have won.

Eg. 70.Kxd5 Kg5 71.Ke4 Kg4 72.Ke3 Kg3 73.Ke2 Kg2 74.Ke3 h5 75.Kf4 h4 76.Kg4 h3 and the pawn cannot be prevented from queening.

Are you the same David Tebb that hammered Kasparov?
Well done :o)

I have not looked at the position in any great depth but after kxn, can the opposing king not take the bishop but instead eventualy get in front of the pawn on h2?

Originally posted by Krapsparov
Are you the same David Tebb that hammered Kasparov?
Well done :o)

I have not looked at the position in any great depth but after kxn, can the opposing king not take the bishop but instead eventualy get in front of the pawn on h2?

Yeah, I'm the guy. Although I wouldn't say I 'hammered' him. It was more a case of reluctantly accepting his piece sacrifice and hanging on for dear life until his attack ran out of steam and then mopping up in the endgame.

Coming back to this game, if White doesn't take the bishop then he will easily lose because the bishop is the "right colour". In other words, the bishop controls the queening square of the pawn, so that the defending side cannot just sit in the corner and acheive a draw by stalemate.



For instance in this position (with White to move) White must move his King to g1, allowing ..Kg3, followed by ..h2 and the pawn queening.

If it was Black's move, he would just make a waiting move with either his bishop or King in order to give White the move (putting him in 'zugzwang'😉.

If Black's bishop had been the "wrong colour" then it would have been impossible for him to win (against correct defence). The best he can do is stalemate White, which is only a draw.



For instance in this position, White should just move his King beween g1 and h1 and Black cannot make progress.

Thanks David.
It was the waiting move that I was missing.