How a Chess Game Is Drawn
Five ways a game ends with no winner
Not every chess game has a winner. A draw counts as half a point each in a tournament, and there are five ways to reach one. La Reina ends a game as a draw by itself whenever one of the first four happens, so you never have to claim one.
1. Stalemate
The player to move is not in check and has no legal move. The game ends at once, as a draw. It is the trap that turns won games into draws, and it has a page of its own: check, checkmate and stalemate.
2. Not enough pieces to checkmate
If neither player can possibly checkmate, whatever moves are played, the game is drawn at once. That is always the case with:
- king against king
- king and bishop against king
- king and knight against king
- king and bishop against king and bishop, with both bishops on squares of the same colour
Mind the last one: with the bishops on opposite colours, a checkmate is still possible, even though nobody can force it, so the game goes on. The same is true of king and two knights against a lone king: the mate cannot be forced, but the defender could blunder into it.
The FIDE rule is wider still: any position where checkmate has become impossible for both sides is a draw, such as a board completely locked by pawns. La Reina ends the game by itself in the cases listed above.
3. Threefold repetition
If the same position appears three times, the game can be drawn. It only counts as the same position when the same player is to move, every piece stands on the same square, and both sides have the same moves available, which includes the right to castle and any en passant capture. The three times do not need to come in a row, and the moves in between do not matter.
Under FIDE rules a player has to claim this draw. If nobody does, the game carries on, and it is drawn automatically when the same position appears for the fifth time. On La Reina's board the game ends as a draw the third time the position appears.
4. The fifty-move rule
If fifty moves have been played by each player, one hundred in all, without a single capture and without any pawn moving, the game can be drawn. The count starts again after every capture and every pawn move. The rule stops a game from going on forever when neither side can make progress.
Under FIDE rules this draw is claimed too, and at seventy-five moves each it becomes automatic. If the move that completes the count is checkmate, the checkmate stands. On La Reina's board the game ends as a draw as soon as fifty moves each have been played.
5. Agreement
The players can agree to a draw at any time after each of them has made at least one move. At a tournament board you offer a draw just after making your move, and your opponent accepts or plays on.
In La Reina, open the game menu and choose Offer a draw on your turn. The machine says yes only when it sees nothing better, for instance when it is losing, or when a long game is dead level. Against a friend on the same device, the two of you agree.
The draw rules side by side
| Rule | FIDE Laws, in tournaments | On La Reina's board |
|---|---|---|
| Stalemate | Drawn at once | Drawn at once |
| Not enough material | Drawn at once, in any position where checkmate is impossible | Drawn at once, in the cases listed above |
| Threefold repetition | Drawn when a player claims it; automatic at the fifth time | Drawn at once, the third time |
| Fifty-move rule | Drawn when a player claims it; automatic at seventy-five moves each | Drawn at once, at fifty moves each |
| Agreement | Both players agree | Offer a draw from the game menu |
Resigning is not a draw: the player who resigns loses. The full wording of every draw rule is in the FIDE Laws of Chess, articles 5 and 9.
La Reina's School · Unit 3: Check, checkmate, stalemate · Free Lesson: Stalemate The trap that turns a win into a draw. Learn it on the board with La Reina: open the game and tap La Reina's School.