The Everything Chess Basics Book (11 page)

The Black king is checkmated. The rook controls the entire eighth rank, while the pawns control the seventh rank escape squares.

The Black king is checkmated. The knight delivers the check, while the bishop controls the diagonal escape squares.

The Black king is checkmated. The rook delivers the check and covers eighth rank escape squares, while the bishop controls g7.

The White king is checkmated. The Black queen checks and controls all the escape squares except her own b2, which is controlled by the c4-knight.

The Black king is checkmated. The White queen checks and controls all the escape squares except her own b7, which is controlled by the White king.

The White king is checkmated. The knight delivers the check while the rook controls the second rank escape squares.

The Black king is checkmated. The h6-rook delivers the check and controls escape squares. Meanwhile, the g7-pawn cannot capture since that would expose the king to check from the c3-bishop.

Winning and Losing

Although checkmate is the goal of a chess game, it is not the only way to end every game. There are at least three other ways to win or lose a game:

• You can win when your opponent runs out of time.

• You can win when your opponent resigns, giving you the game.

• You can win when your opponent fails to show up for a scheduled game, thus forfeiting.

Winning Without Checkmate

In order to run your opponent out of time you have to be using chess clocks. You will learn about chess clocks in the next chapter.

The next way to win without checkmate is the most common of all. Most experienced players don’t wait for checkmate. They can see it coming, often a long way off. So, rather than fight on in a hopeless situation, they will resign the game, which can be done by tipping over their king or offering to shake their opponent’s hand or simply saying “I resign.”

A great player once jumped up on the top of the table, threw his king across the room, and shouted “Why must I lose to this idiot?” This is not the recommended way of resigning, however. Nor is the unsportsmanlike trick of picking up and leaving the game while your clock is ticking, thus forcing your opponent to wait until your time runs out in order to record his win.

Finally, there is the dreaded forfeit. This is an unavoidable consequence of large tournaments; nevertheless, nobody likes them. The winner never got to play a game. The people he passed by with this unearned victory rather resent being beaten out in the standings by someone who didn’t play all their games. And the tournament director has to explain it all and try to make this seeming nonsense make sense. But what else can you do when a player shows up for a game and her opponent doesn’t show up? So the forfeit has a place in chess and is here to stay.

Nobody Wins or Loses

There is another way to end a chess game altogether. It is possible for a chess game to end in a draw or a tie, with neither player winning or losing.

In a formal tournament or match, each game is recorded as 1 point for the winner and 0 points for the loser. If the game is a draw, the game is recorded as ½ a point for each player. Thus two draws are equivalent to a win and a loss in a tournament or a match.

There are various ways to “split the point” (draw or tie) in a chess game. They range from the opponents simply agreeing to end hostilities to various ways provided for in the rules of chess that cover situations where one player may have an advantage, but cannot or will not push that advantage through to a checkmate. These situations are described below in detail.

Draw by Agreement

The simplest form of draw is the one by agreement. One player offers a draw to his opponent and that player agrees. Anyone can offer a draw at any time during a game, but it is considered bad manners and unsports-manlike conduct to offer repeatedly after being turned down. It is also considered good etiquette to offer a draw on your own time. Naturally, this applies only to timed games.

When offered a draw it is considered courteous to at least acknowledge the offer. You might say “I’ll think about it” if you’re not ready with an immediate “No!” or “You got it!”

Stalemate

This draw is a strange situation. It is a mate and ends the game, but there is no check. In a stalemate, there is nothing one of the players can do. Although her king is not in check, any move she makes will expose her king to check, and that is not allowed. So we know that a stalemate ends the game.

Why is stalemate a draw?
The quick answer is because the rules say it is. There is really no logic behind it, and at various times in the past, stalemate counted as a win for the stronger side or even a win for the weaker side! The only thing sure about a stalemate is that the game cannot continue, since it is against the rules to place your king in check.