How to Draw a Chess Game
This article is about the rules for how to draw a chess game.
A draw is a tie … neither player wins. Though a draw against a very strong player can feel very much like a win. You will often hear chess players brag of their draws … (“I got a draw against such and such grandmaster”).
How a chess game ends in a draw
There are five ways to end a chess game in a draw:
- Insufficient material to mate
- Stalemate
- Threefold repetition of position
- The fifty-move rule
- By agreement
Insufficient material to mate
In order to win the game, one side must have at least two minor pieces (the Bishop and the Knight are referred to as “minor” pieces; the Queen and Rooks are called “major” pieces), a Rook, or a Queen. Keep in mind, however, that if there is a Pawn on the board, there is always sufficient material for a mate because the Pawn could be promoted to a Queen. Bare Kings, King and Bishop against King, or King and Knight against King is a draw because there is not sufficient mating material. The stronger side must have at least King and Queen; King and Rook; King and two Bishops; or King, Bishop, and Knight. (King and two Knights against King is not enough to force mate, but that subject is beyond the scope of this article.)
Stalemate
The game is a draw if either King is stalemated. A stalemate occurs when the King is not in check, but has no legal moves. In the diagram below, if it is Black’s move, he has no legal move; Black is stalemated and the game is a draw. If it is White’s move, however, the game is not a draw, because Qe2 would be checkmate.
Threefold repetition of position
If the same position occurs three times on the chessboard with the same player to move (and the same castling and capturing privileges [the en passant capture might be a factor]), the game is a draw. “Perpetual check,” where one side repeatedly checks the enemy king over and over in an endless cycle, is a draw because of the threefold repetition rule.
The fifty move rule
If the players have made 50 moves without moving a Pawn, capturing a piece, or either side delivering checkmate, the game is a draw. This might occur in the more difficult checkmates (Bishop and Knight against King or King and Queen against King and Rook). It doesn’t occur very often.
By agreement of the players
By far the most common way of drawing a game is where the players agree to a draw. This occurs because the players foresee that the game will inevitably end in a draw by one of the other methods. In such a situation the rules allow the players to end the game as a draw by agreement.
How should I offer a draw?
The proper way to offer a draw to your opponent is to say, “I offer a draw,” then make your move, and punch your clock. The opponent then has as much time as he wishes to consider your draw offer … as long as his flag hasn’t fallen! Some players will offer a draw on their move and look at their opponent, expecting an answer. If you are going to wait for an answer, wait for it with your opponent’s clock running! And if you offer a draw, you have to wait for an answer. 
If you have offered a draw and your opponent makes a move without responding, he has rejected the draw offer and it’s off the table. He can’t “accept” your draw offer two moves later.
Be sure to visit my chess store, Shop For Chess, for my recommended chess books and equipment!
Tags: chess beginner, chess draw, chess for beginners, chess rules, how to play chess
Special Chess Moves – Rules of Castling
This is the seventh in my series of articles for the absolute chess beginner. In this article, we will cover the whys and wherefores of castling.
But first … let me mention that you should never refer to a Rook as a “castle.” You castle when you move your King and Rook in the same move. “Castle” is a move, not a chess piece.
Castling
Castling is a special move of the King and one of his Rooks (it could be either one) in which the King moves two squares toward the corner, and the Rook toward which it moves jumps over the King and lands in the adjacent square. There are several reasons for making this move … besides it being cool.
Is castling for cowards?
Your King needs to be safe! (If you want to win the game, that is.) The first and most important reason to castle is to move your King away from the center of the board. The center is generally where all the action is and you want your King away from the center of activity. If the King is in the corner, the other pieces have a much easier job of defending the King, and it’s much harder for the enemy pieces to attack in the corner than in the center.
Get your Rook out of the corner!
The second reason to castle is because your Rook starts its life in the corner of the board. The Rook can work perfectly well from the corner (it’s the only piece that isn’t hampered by being in the corner), but castling helps your Rooks for two reasons: in the center, there are more likely to be pawn exchanges, and thus open files for your Rooks to travel on. Although the Rook is equally powerful on any square on an empty board, the board is usually not empty! Since center pawns get exchanged more quickly than the other pawns (usually), the Rook should get to the center to protect your center pawns and to benefit from the lines that open up when the center pawns are exchanged. And second, if you get all your pieces except the King off the first rank (where all your “officers” start the game), the King is the only piece preventing the Rooks from protecting one another. If you castle, the King goes toward the corner and the Rooks are suddenly mutually protecting one another.
Make two moves in one!
Castling is the only move that allows you to move two pieces in one move. If your object is to mobilize your forces more quickly than your opponent (and that should be your objective), then the ability to move two pieces in fell swoop has got to be appealing.
Castling Rules
Once during a game, a player may move his King two squares to the right or left and move the Rook on that side (the Rook toward which the King moved) over the King to the square adjacent to the King.
There are five conditions that must be met in order to castle:
- The squares between the King and the Rook used for castling must be empty. You can’t castle over your own or enemy pieces!
- The King may not castle into or through check. If the King would be in check at the end of the castling move, or if the square that the King passes over is guarded by an enemy piece, then castling is not allowed.
- The King may not castle out of check.
- The King may not have made a previous move. If the King has moved (even if it subsequently moved back to its home square), castling is not permitted.
- If one of the Rooks has moved, castling is prohibited with that Rook. Castling would still be permitted with the other Rook, provided it has not moved and the other conditions are met.
My next article will cover questions about castling that many beginners (and even some advanced players) might misunderstand.
Tags: Castling, chess beginner, chess for beginners, chess rules
How the Chess Pawn Moves
This is the sixth in my series of articles for the absolute chess beginner. In this article, we’ll see how the chess pawns move and capture.
The Pawn in Chess
The pawn is the foot-soldier of chess. Each side has 8 pawns, and they start the game lined up in front of the more powerful “officers” of the chessboard. Although the pawn is the “weakest” of the chess pieces, each pawn is very important; the loss of even a single pawn without compensation may mean the loss of the game! And by advancing to the other side of the chessboard, the pawn may become the most powerful piece on the board! (See my article on pawn promotion.)
Normal pawn movement
The pawn normally moves one space vertically, i.e., “up” the board, toward your opponent’s first rank. The pawn never moves horizontally (i.e., from side to side) and never moves backward. If the pawn moves forward and meets another pawn or piece, it’s movement is blocked until the other piece is moved or captured.
Very often one pawn from each side will meet in the middle of the board and block each other’s movement. Unlike the other chess pieces, the pawn does not capture enemy pawns or pieces that obstruct its normal movement; if the pawn’s normal movement is obstructed, the pawn is effectively stopped in its tracks.
Normal pawn captures
Although the pawn does not capture if its normal movement is blocked, it can capture. The pawn captures ahead one square diagonally.
(The pawn never captures “backward” diagonally.) The pawn may capture any enemy piece (even the Queen!) that dares to stand one square diagonally from the pawn.
The initial two-square move
The first time that you move each of your pawns, you may move it ahead two square instead of one. This is optional; you may also move your pawns ahead one square on its initial move. This option only applies to the first move of each of your pawns, but it does apply to the first move of each of your pawns. Thus, you may make 8 two-square moves, one for each pawn.
If you’re interested in learning the basics of chess, I recommend Learn Chess: A Complete Course, which will teach you all about the fundamentals of good chess play. If you’re interested in some more advanced material on the pawn, I highly recommend Pawn Power in Chess, one of the great classic books on chess strategy! It will teach you about pawn structure in chess and how the other pieces depend on and use the pawns to their advantage.
Look for the next article in this series, about the “special” chess moves, including pawn promotion and the “en passant” pawn capture.
Tags: chess beginner, chess for beginners, chess pawn, chess rules
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