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Stalemate[Subject Thread] [Add Response]

H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Oct 12, 2013 03:35 PM EDT:

> That implies it might _not_ be a good rule for chess _variants_, even if
it works out in orthodox chess--would that be your conclusion?

That depends entirely on the variant. In Chu Shogi stalemate is a win. But
with forwardly capturing Shogi Pawns you can never stop promotion anyway,
even with the aid of stalemate. (OTOH +P = Gold has no mating potential on 12x12 anyway!) As soon as you have a FIDE King and
Shatranj Pawns that promote to a piece with mating potential, KPK is much
more interesting with stalemate. And many variants have that..

> how often does the stalemate rule really alter your decision to resign? 

Well, even when badly behind, I certainly would not resign if the opponent
had the wrong color Bishop for his Rook Pawn. I can afford sacrifice myself
down to -4, and still have a draw. You smell the draw, as it were. Even more
so when he has two Knights. Even with just K+R against his K+2N+2P
(nominally 3-4 Pawns behind, as N=3.25, and advanced connected passers
might get a huge bonus, sacrificing my Rook for his two remaining Pawns
will give me an easy draw. Which I would not have without stalemate. Normally being 3 Pawns behind and no Pawns yourself is a pretty good reason for resigning!

Note that no pair of two equal simple (= Betza atomic) leapers has mating
potential against a FIDE King. So situations of this kind are actually
quite universal across Chess variants.