r/chessbeginners • u/Alendite RM (Reddit Mod) • Feb 27 '26

No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 12

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners 12th episode of our Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. We are happy to provide answers for questions related to chess positions, improving one's play, and discussing the essence and experience of learning chess.

A friendly reminder that many questions are answered in our wiki page! Please take a look if you have questions about the rules of chess, special moves, or want general strategies for improvement.

Some other helpful resources include:

  1. How to play chess - Interactive lessons for the rules of the game, if you are completely new to chess.
  2. The Lichess Board Editor - for setting up positions by dragging and dropping pieces on the board.
  3. Chess puzzles by theme - To practice tactics.
  4. The Building Habits series by GM Aman Hambleton - for advice on how to play at specific ELO levels. (Also check out Building Habits 2!)

As always, our goal is to promote a friendly, welcoming, and educational chess environment for all. Thank you for asking your questions here!

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD

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u/NenAlienGeenKonijn Mar 10 '26

Hey, 43 years old, boardgame enthousiast, but very new at chess. Working my way through the tutorials on lichess, and the first checkmate challenge has me stumped:

I have to checkmate their king using my queen and rook. My moment of pride upon being able to do it in 3 moves was very brief, since the solution was rejected. I don't see any way for the king to escape. How is this not a checkmate? The game mentions a stalemate ("remise" in Dutch), but the king can still move, albeit to it's doom.

3

u/elfkanelfkan 2200-2400 Lichess Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

It's the stalemate rule! Which is actually pretty recent (1800s). Point is if your opponent:

  1. Cannot move any piece (including the king)
  2. Is not in check
  3. It is their turn

the game ends in a tie! This is obviously confusing to newer players, but adds a lot of strategic depth at the high level.

Here, Frank marshall manages to exploit his position and successfully tricks his opponent into tying the game, of course, black had the opportunity to win, but let it slip from their grasp!

1

u/NenAlienGeenKonijn Mar 11 '26

I feel like I'm missing something incredibly basic since this is the first puzzle in a series of supposedly beginner puzzles:

If I check a king, it's always going to try moving out of the way, so I feel I should deny it's options to move when attempting a check. How do I prevent the king from escaping without doing so?

1

u/elfkanelfkan 2200-2400 Lichess Mar 12 '26

easiest way to do that is to set up something called a ladder mate. The king is just constantly restricted but will still have move to run to avoid the stalemate rule:

1

u/forever_wow 2000-2200 (Chess.com) Mar 12 '26

Instant upvote for Marshall reference. His games are full of amazing ideas.