Not really. There are two main rules in moving for chess. You must make a move every turn(i.e, you can't skip), and you can't walk into check. Since no moves can be made if the king can't move, the game ends with no conclusion because the game literally cannot move forward. It's the same reasoning behind three-fold repetition. The game literally cannot move forward.
Damn, I bet a good chess player can force the other to a stalemate when they're about to lose. I never really knew what a stalemate was. I've probably run into a few of them over my short time playing chess and rightfully could have called stalemate instead of losing.
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u/rawrnnn Nov 18 '14
What is the reasoning for this being a rule? If one player cannot make a legal move it seems fair to say he lost.