Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.

Enter Your Reply

The Comment You're Replying To
Jeremy Lennert wrote on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 06:30 PM UTC:
The sort of situation you describe generally results in a draw by one of two rules:

The first is the threefold repetition rule, which applies when the exact same game position is repeated three times.  For example, if you and your opponent are each moving back and forth between the same two spaces, once you have come back to your starting position after two full loops, the game can be declared a draw.

The second is the 50-move rule, which applies when there have been no captures or pawn advances (irreversible moves) for at least 50 consecutive moves of white and black.  This is invoked mostly in endgames where the board is very open and so it can take a very long time for (and be difficult to notice when) an exact position is repeated three times.

Of course, the game can end in a draw immediately if both players agree, which may cut these conditions short if it is obvious (for example) that the game is going to end in a perpetual check.

Edit Form

Comment on the page Rules of Chess: Check, Mate, and Stalemate

Quick Markdown Guide

By default, new comments may be entered as Markdown, simple markup syntax designed to be readable and not look like markup. Comments stored as Markdown will be converted to HTML by Parsedown before displaying them. This follows the Github Flavored Markdown Spec with support for Markdown Extra. For a good overview of Markdown in general, check out the Markdown Guide. Here is a quick comparison of some commonly used Markdown with the rendered result:

Top level header: <H1>

Block quote

Second paragraph in block quote

First Paragraph of response. Italics, bold, and bold italics.

Second Paragraph after blank line. Here is some HTML code mixed in with the Markdown, and here is the same <U>HTML code</U> enclosed by backticks.

Secondary Header: <H2>

  • Unordered list item
  • Second unordered list item
  • New unordered list
    • Nested list item

Third Level header <H3>

  1. An ordered list item.
  2. A second ordered list item with the same number.
  3. A third ordered list item.
Here is some preformatted text.
  This line begins with some indentation.
    This begins with even more indentation.
And this line has no indentation.

Alt text for a graphic image

A definition list
A list of terms, each with one or more definitions following it.
An HTML construct using the tags <DL>, <DT> and <DD>.
A term
Its definition after a colon.
A second definition.
A third definition.
Another term following a blank line
The definition of that term.