Half moves since last capture/pawn move??

what does the Half moves since last capture/pawn move number mean?
I've searched all of the help and cannot find anything.
Thankyou in advance

it's importnat to the 50-moves rule: if you make 50 moves and there is no caputre or pawnmove, the game is drawn.
look for 50-moves rule here in the forums (chess and thisone) or in the web.
th

So basically if a white rook and king are left against a black king white has 50 moves to check mate if the last move was the white king taking blacks pawn?

If this is so isnt 50 moves a bit much?


EDIT: and oh yeh cheers for the help.

So basically if a white rook and king are left against a black king white has 50 moves to check mate if the last move was the white king taking blacks pawn?

If this is so isnt 50 moves a bit much?

Originally posted by danthechessman
So basically if a white rook and king are left against a black king white has 50 moves to check mate if the last move was the white king taking blacks pawn?

If this is so isnt 50 moves a bit much?

You're right that 50 moves is a lot for trying to mate with a rook. But the rule was really designed for much trickier endings that might be won, such as bishop and knight versus king, or rook and bishop (or knight) versus rook. A lot of these endings are draws with best play, but in practice they're often won. For instance, I believe that the side with rook and bishop wins against a rook in about 70% of cases, although this ending is a theoretical draw. However it takes close to 50 moves to create a mating net.

yeh good point, just wish it was lower at the moment cos most of my games in are those types of positions at the mo with me on the back foot.

Originally posted by danthechessman
...
If this is so isnt 50 moves a bit much?

for K against K+R yes, but there are other difficult endgames (even for GMs)! read this (in german):
http://freenet.meome.de/app/fn/artcont_portal_news_article.jsp/89369.html
K against K+B+N can take 35 moves... if you do not make a single mistake!! 😉
th

ps: It was not easy to find this information. can anyone confirm this?