computer whipped, calls it a stalemate

Stalemate is a basic rules of Chess. You don't" turn it off" any more than you would disallow knight moves. Simply learn to deliver the checkmate.

Stalemates are annoying when you are clearly winning but its a basic rule of chess. You need to just make sure that the king is always in check before you make a move or that you are giving him an out if you are setting up a tactic. If you could turn it off, like in an OTB game, then you just wouldn't be playing by the rules. Works for Monopoly but not so much for this game.

"Stalemate" doesn't simply mean "draw" but a very specific type of draw.

https://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-play-chess

Computer whooped more like it!

Learning all the rules of the game (there are not actually that many, only really castling, stalemate and en-passant that could be considered a little eccentric or surprising) is important when you are starting out.  Getting hit by stalemate is certainly a good way to remember what it means and never do it again though.  If you make the same mistake twice that is when the problems start as it implies you aren't learning, but if you do it once then learn about it all is fine.

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off only some of the rules because then you're not actually playing chess

Stalemate is a part of the game, better to learn about it here than in an actual tournament game.

I still remember one of my first tournaments when I was at school, ~25 years ago when I ended up with a Knight and a pawn against a Queen and 3 pawns.  Goodness knows how I lost my Queen because my opponent was really incompetent.  He allowed me to fork his King and Queen and promote my 1 pawn, then I rushed and stalemated him!

I'm hoping that in time pressure the decisive game 12 of the world championship match will unfold in this fashion.

Never play the computer.   It cheats with engine assistance, and  makes up rules like stalemate,  en passant, castling etc

My chess club has found pain to be a potent deterrent from stalemate. Any time one of our members allows the opponent to stalemate, the rest of us proceed to smash the bungler with wooden chessboards. Suffice it to say, no one stalemates anymore.

"Suffice it to say" hits the pallet, doesn't it?

Anyway, there is a simple way to deal with stalemate, and that's to avoid it. That is if you're on the winning side, of course.

Personally, I believe it's quite the interesting rule. I do not think it should be subject to scorn. The single rule in chess that resonates with strategy in a manner unlike any other, and yet it is often looked down upon.

Stalemate is the hole in the ship. Ignore it to your own peril.

😆

I like to play with the concepts of chess, to relate them to society, and to get a picture of how they were conceived. Stalemate is the one rule I just couldn't work out.

I mean why is it that the game is not lost when in stalemate. Was it born strictly from a technicality by some competitor who refused to lose, and said

"Hey, look, it's my turn to move but I can't, and yet you haven't mated me, this should be a draw, in my opinion. The rules state, clearly, that you either mate me on your move or I continue to play. It seems like neither is now permissible. The game is over. It's a draw."

" ... "

"Bring it before the community on the night of the 'morrow. I will have spoken to the senior members of council, and it is they who will have you an audience granted. Remember, you're only there to beg of their council. That way you'll get your end. And they, their rank."

"I can not thank you enough, my friend. I shall drown the night in savoury and drink. Drink up, gentlemen, drink up. Then, when they've loved me, they'll stand to applaud, but not without their shoes."

"Yes."

"'Tis funny how drunken men cannot tell simple shoes apart. And when they stand, well, my friend, no one man stands to lose."

"Good. Very good. The morrow it is then."

Or, is there more to it?

I mean -- in reality it doesn't matter if you can move or not. Your opponent will proceed to obliterate you.

Or will he(she)?

Is anyone familiar with the concept of stalling things to a halt? Might this be the origin of stalemate, and if so, was is it invented or was it discovered?

Interesting ...

"Stalemate" is the same as "Draw".

I know this is an old forum, but hopefully, someone can reply to help me understand a draw by Stalemate. The way I understand it, a stalemate is when either side does not have a legal move. But, I've had legal moves and still got the draw. Always against the computer when the computer is about to or actually is check mated. (see screen shot below)

Fyi... I just started playing a month ago.

I did have a missed win in this game. I wonder if the computer was punishing me for that...

Yes, the computer was punishing u for it.

The key part of checkmate is the word check.  

This can be a very valuable lesson for u to help ur endgames in the future.  So its a good thing.  The next time ur winning an engame, or are way ahead & think ur winning,  just realize the opponents key idea to get a draw will be to trick u into relaxing & allowing a stalemate, where they aren't in check but have no legal move. Just keep an eye out for it.

Stalemate is when the person on move does not have any legal move but is not in check.  I guess that technically it could be said that neither side has a legal move because the side not on move has to wait until the other side moves before it can move.

A common error is thinking that stalemate is triggered when only the king is unable to make a legal move, but if that were the case the the opening position would be a stalemate.