What is check?
Here is the surprise in these three words. Being in check is the safest of the three, and having no move at all is the one that throws away a won game.
Check means an enemy piece attacks your king right now.
Check is not the end of the game. You must answer it on your very next move, and you have three ways to do that:
1. Move the king to a square that is not attacked.
2. Block the line by putting one of your pieces in the way.
3. Capture the piece that is giving the check.
You may never leave your king in check, and you may never move into check. If you have none of the three answers, the check is checkmate.
What is checkmate?
Checkmate is a check with no answer. The king cannot move to safety, no piece can block the line, and the attacker cannot be captured.
The game ends at that moment. The player who gave the checkmate wins and scores one point. Nobody actually takes the king off the board.
In notation, checkmate is written with a hash sign, like Rh8#.
What is stalemate?
Stalemate means the player to move has no legal move at all, and is not in check.
That is a draw. The game ends immediately and each player scores half a point, however much material is on the board. A player with a queen and two rooks can draw against a lone king by giving stalemate.
Stalemate is not written with a symbol. The game simply stops and the result is recorded as a draw.
Stalemate vs checkmate vs draw
People search for these three words together because they are easy to mix up. Here is the short version.
- Checkmate: the king is attacked and cannot escape. The game is won and lost.
- Stalemate: the king is not attacked, but the player to move has no legal move. The game is a draw.
- Draw: the whole family of results where nobody wins. Stalemate is one kind of draw.
The other draws are these:
- Both players agree to a draw.
- The same position appears on the board three times.
- Fifty moves pass with no capture and no pawn move.
- Neither side has enough material to give checkmate, such as king and bishop against a lone king.
How to avoid stalemate when you are winning
Most stalemates happen when one player is far ahead and stops paying attention.
Three habits stop it happening to you:
1. Before every move, ask what your opponent will play in reply. If the answer is "nothing", stop and pick another move.
2. Push the enemy king towards an edge with your king, and give check only when the check leads somewhere.
3. When you have a queen against a lone king, keep the queen a knight's move away from the enemy king. Bring your own king up. Only then deliver checkmate.
In our coaching sessions, learners throw away more won endings by giving stalemate than by any other mistake. The fix is the first habit above, and it costs five seconds a move.