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
How the Chess Pieces Move
This is the fifth article in my series for the absolute chess beginner. This article (and the video) is about how the pieces move.
Again, I’m assuming no prior chess knowledge. If you don’t know how to set up the board or pieces, look at my previous blog post entitled “How to set up the chessboard.” In this article, we will review how the pieces move and capture. In future posts, we will see how the pawns move and capture, and review the concepts of check, checkmate, castling, and some of the special rules.
In all of these blog posts, I’m using both video and text. This will allow you the choice to learn in whichever way suits you best. Some people learn better from reading, and some from seeing or hearing. Hopefully we’ve got you covered.
Now on to how the pieces move!
In general
Generally, the pieces move and capture in a straight line. The only exception is the Knight. The pieces never move over or through their own or enemy pieces, again except the Knight, which is allowed to “jump over” both friendly and enemy pieces. The pieces cannot change direction in the middle of the move, again except for the Knight, which makes an “L” shaped move.
In most cases, your piece can not move through your own pieces. Your pieces will block the movement of your own pieces. The enemy pieces block the movement of your pieces as well; though if an enemy piece blocks your movement, you can capture it (with one exception, which I’ll cover in a future article).
How to capture
A word about capturing. You can only capture the enemy pieces, never your own. In every instance (with one exception … the mysterious en passant capture by the pawn), a capture is made by moving your piece to the square where the enemy piece stands, removing the enemy piece, and replacing it with your own. You can only capture one enemy piece per turn.
How does the King move?
Let’s start with the King, which is the simplest. The King can make move (or capture) one square in any direction. If you put your King in the center of an empty board, you can see that he can move to eight different squares. If an enemy piece were standing on any of those squares, the King could capture that piece by moving onto the square where the piece is standing. The captured piece is removed and the King replaces it where it stood.
The King can also make a special move called “castling.” I have another article on the special moves, which includes a section on castling … which is a combined move of the King and Rook. (Coming soon!)
How does the Rook move?
The Rook moves vertically or horizontally in a straight line. It can move forward or backward, left or right. Again, like the King, the Rook can capture any enemy piece that is in its line of movement. In capturing, the Rook replaces the enemy piece, which is removed from the board.
How does the Knight move?
The Knight’s move is “L” shaped. It can move up two and over one, or up one and over two. It can also move back two and over one, or back one and over two. Watch the video to see the Knight move demonstrated. The Knight is unique among the pieces in that it can “jump over” friendly or enemy pieces. Thus, in the starting position, all the other pieces require the pawns to move to get out of the way. The Knight can move regardless of the blocking pawns and pieces. The Knight captures only pieces that are on the square it would land on; it doesn’t capture any enemy pieces that it can “jump over.” None of the other pieces are allowed to make this “jumping” move … well … except for castling, which we’ll cover in another article.
How does the Bishop move?
The Bishop moves diagonally any number of unobstructed squares. It can move either forward or backward. And it can capture any enemy piece that is obstructing its movement. You should note that a Bishop always moves on the same colored squares. White’s Queen-side Bishop, which starts on a dark square (the c1 square), remains on the dark squares for the entire game. This goes for all the Bishops.
How does the Queen move?
I’ve saved the best for last! The Queen is the most powerful piece on the board, and perhaps the simplest to explain its movement. It can move any number of spaces in a straight line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. It can move either forward or backward, and captures any enemy piece that would block its movement.
How does the Pawn move and capture?
I’ll have another article soon about how the Pawn moves and captures.
The Chess Rule book!
If you want to get a good book to explain the rules of chess from a practical standpoint, you can’t do better than Learn Chess: A Complete Course. And if you want the official version of the rules from the U.S. Chess Federation, get the chess rule book. If you have any questions, leave a comment and I (or some friendly visitor) will try to answer your question. Be sure to read the rest of the blog posts about how the pieces move.
Tags: chess rules, how chess pieces move
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