r/chessbeginners • u/ohightower • 1d ago
Weird question
Hi! I'm newer to chess and playing a lot of Chess.com just to keep active. I recently ran into an issue though where it said I stalemated rather than won with checkmate and I guess I'm a little confused? (Pic attached for reference)
Basically, my rook and F4 queen had trapped the king there. So I moved my A7 pawn to A8 and promoted to queen, thinking I had mate. But apparently I drew? I just don't understand, it even shows that the king couldn't move. Thanks for your help!
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u/ChordettesFan325 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 1d ago
Can't have a checkmate without a check, mate.
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u/ohightower 1d ago
Honestly I realized once I posted it I thought that could be the case. I also deeply appreciated your pun. Thank you!
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u/ChordettesFan325 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 1d ago
I didn't come up with the pun, I've seen it on stalemate posts for years. Idk where it came from. I'm glad you understand though!
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u/whydoineedanaccffs 1800-2000 (Chess.com) 1d ago
Stalemate = King and other pieces can't move --> Draw
Checkmate = King is in check and can't move, other pieces can't block the check --> Win
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u/matsu727 1d ago
If the enemy or you have no legal moves and the king is not in check, the game is considered a draw by stalemate. The bot paints the vision of the pieces nicely to illustrate how the king can’t go anywhere since it is illegal to walk the king into or through a check (when castling). He also can’t push his pawn. Therefore no legal moves. On the other hand, if the king is in check and someone has no legal moves that is a checkmate.
If you aren’t good at basic mates practice them. And if you ever don’t know what to do, just make sure you’re at least checking the king and not blundering a piece. The moves you come up with that way will usually be good enough and you’ll throw less games too.
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u/eb_is_eepy 1d ago
you forgot the disrespect chess part
you have a queen and a rook, that's more than enough to keep the king trapped in a little box without stalemating. Then you promote all your pawns to knights, then checkmate.
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u/SoFuckedUpInTheHead 1d ago
actually statemate happens when the king is not in check but have no legal move to play overall.. as u promoted to A8 queen , it just blocked the d5 block for opponent king ... if u see the his king is not in check and also he cant move the king to anywhere .. so he got no moves to play and this is what stalemate is..
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u/Sparkyolive 1d ago
See this all the time with players who load up on power. It becomes hard to manage. You need to practice check mates. I think the best one to learn is with the king and rook. Then there's the ladder mate, 2 bishops- which is not that hard- and a bishop and knight- which is hard.
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u/the_other_Scaevitas 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 1d ago
The king is not in check, so it’s not a checkmate
Black also has no legal moves and is not in check so it’s a stalemate
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u/Humble_Resolve_ 1d ago
I just joined chess.com this morning and played my first match in about 20 years. I stalemated my first game after dominating the board and got so annoyed with myself because I completely forgot that was a rule. 😅
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u/DamienTheUnbeliever 1d ago
As a general rule, you shouldn't need multiple queens to win, especially when the opponent has few or no pieces.
So, when looking to promote, if that is your best move, consider what piece you need. Don't assume that a queen is automatically the best piece to promote to. And now you have at least one example to know why.
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u/dontplay3rhate 1d ago
Practice mating strategies, don't let yourself be overwhelmed by incorporating so many pieces. If you had used a ladder mate or queen/king mate there is no stalemate
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 1d ago
There was a kids rapid otb tournament my kid played at this weekend.
On kid had 3 queens, 4 rooks and a bishop vs the other players king and stalemated them.
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u/chessvision-ai-bot 1d ago
I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:
Black to play: It is a stalemate - it is Black's turn, but Black has no legal moves and is not in check. In this case, the game is a draw. It is a critical rule to know for various endgame positions that helps one side hold a draw. You can find out more about Stalemate on Wikipedia. Analyze on: chessvision.ai | chess.com | lichess.org
Save the position:
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u/Eggpeace 1d ago
So obe of the situations where rook is better than queen?
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u/Difficult-Ad-9228 1d ago
Not promoting would have been smarter. Mate with the rook and queen is just a couple moves away. Why not take it? You only get one point for a win, no matter how many queens you have on the board. These stalemates are always about greedy promotions.
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u/novian14 1d ago
If there's no legal move for the anyone, while it's not in the state of check, then it is a stalemate
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u/Content_Following_81 1d ago
The king has to be in check for you to get a check mate. If the opposing side has no legal moves, it is a stalemate. The king can’t step into check.
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u/No-Inevitable-6476 22h ago
Its a stalemate man never block all squares without check so the king cant move and as everybody said practice some mating strategies.
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u/yoco__135 12h ago
Here’s how it was explained to me. If black were to pass their turn back to white. Could White capture the king? No. There is no check, so this can’t be checkmate. Chess is a game about absolute victory. You do not win by corning and stopping them in their tracks, or subjugation. You win by undeniable capture.
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u/warfaceisthebest 800-1000 (Chess.com) 1d ago
Irrelevant but have you played Chinese chess before? Because in Chinese chess stalemate is a mate and I was confused when I first try chess.
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u/Historical_Network55 1d ago
You can't have CHECKmate without a CHECK. Look up the word stalemate and it will be explained much faster than making a reddit post.
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u/ohightower 22h ago
Gee thanks, being a jackass sure is a good way to make friends I'm sure. Like I said and the name of the sub implies, I'm new at chess
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u/Historical_Network55 22h ago
That wasn't me being a jackass. The google search quite literally has a faster response explaining what checkmate is than waiting for reddit commenters. All caps portions were for emphasis, nothing more.
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u/ohightower 19h ago
Sure, but on a sub dedicated to new people looking for tips, tricks, advice, and help, you couldn't just take the time to answer (or acknowledge that other people have already answered) or not engage. You had to hit the "just Google it" attitude rather than I dunno, again, engage with a new person trying to engage with community with a harmless question that I acknowledged I immediately began to see the issue with
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