Draws in chess: every way a game is drawn

About half of top-level games are drawn, and a surprising number of beginner games too, usually by accident. There are more ways to draw than people think: stalemate, the same position three times, fifty moves without a capture or pawn move, not enough material to mate, a dead position, perpetual check, or simply shaking hands. Each has a precise rule, and two of them (the seventy-five-move rule and fivefold repetition) happen automatically whether anyone claims them or not. The pages here explain each one, how you claim it at the board, and the one every beginner should learn first: how not to stalemate an opponent you have already beaten.

1. What is a draw in chess?

   A draw is a tied game.

2. Threefold repetition rule explained

   If the same position appears three times, with the same player to move, the same pieces on the same squares and the same castling and en passant rights, either player may claim a draw.

3. The fifty-move rule explained

   If fifty moves by each player have been played with no capture and no pawn move, the player to move may claim a draw (Art.

4. Insufficient material: when nobody can mate

   Four endings cannot produce checkmate at all: king against king, king and bishop against king, king and knight against king, and king and bishop against king and bishop with both bishops on the same colour.

5. What is a dead position in chess?

   A dead position is one in which neither player can checkmate the other by any possible series of legal moves, no matter how badly both sides play.

6. Draw by agreement: how and when

   Make your move on the board, offer the draw out loud, then press the clock.

7. What is perpetual check?

   Perpetual check is a series of checks the opponent can never get out of, usually a queen bouncing between two squares while the enemy king shuttles between two others.

8. Can you win with only a king?

   No.

9. The 75-move and fivefold repetition rules

   If the same position appears five times, or 75 moves by each player go by with no capture and no pawn move, the game is drawn without anybody claiming: the arbiter simply ends it (Art.

10. How are draws scored in chess?

    Each player scores half a point, written ½-½.

11. Should you accept a draw offer?

    Play on if the position still has an extra pawn, a pawn break or pieces to manoeuvre with, and you have time on the clock.