Drowned king

The black king is drownedYou don't have legal moves, which gives a tie.

In chess, king stalemate —or simply kin stalemate— is a situation that occurs when the player whose turn it is has no legal moves to make and the king is not in a state of check, that is, the king cannot move to other squares because it would be in check or because they are occupied by own pieces or defended pieces by others, and also the player has no other pieces that can move or capture opposing pieces. This is also known as a stalemate king draw.

During endgames, the stalemate king is a resource that can allow for a draw in a lower position. In more complex positions where there are many pieces, there are hardly any situations where a stalemate can occur.

It is also a common theme in composition studies of endgames and other chess problems.

History of the drowning regulations

The rules for the drowned king have been quite controversial throughout history. Although a stalemate is universally accepted as a draw, this has not been the case for much of chess history. In the early days of modern chess, the stalemate was a win for the player whose turn it was to move. This practice persisted in chess until the early 15th century century. However, the drowning was considered an inferior victory, so when playing for money, only half of the stake was received, and this continued in Spain until the end of the century XVI. Rules in England from the 17th century to the XIX considered drowning as a lost game for the player who had to start the game, a game rule that eminent chess historians attribute to Russian chess. This rule disappears in England before 1820, being replaced by the French and Italian rules, where the drowned king is considered a draw.

Assuming that the black is drowned, throughout history it has been considered:

• Victory for white in the centuryX in Arabia and much of medieval Europe.
• Half victory for white in a gambling game, the target wins half of the bet (sixteenth century)XVIII in Spain).
• Victory for Black In the centuryIX in India and in the centuryXVII in Russia and in the center of Europe and since the centuryXVII and XVIII in England. Explaining the reasons for this rule it is said that: "He who puts his adversary king in a drowned, loses the game because he has denaturalized the natural course of the game that should only end with a great checkmate." This rule continued to be published Hoyle's Games Improved until the end of 1866. Murray wrote in 1913: "The rule still appeared in editions after 1857 and I was with people who argued that the rule was in effect."
• Illegal jurisdiction: if the white man made a movement that put the black in a situation of drowning, then he must retract and make a movement different from that (in East Asia until the beginning of the centuryXX.). Murray also wrote in the Indian Chess and Persian Chess, two of the three main ways to play chess there for the year 1913, that a player is not allowed to make a move that places his opponent in a drowned king position. The same rule applies to chess birmano. By those times the drowning was not allowed in most countries of East Asia (specifically in Burma, India, Japan and Siam) until the beginning of the centuryXX..
• Black loses his turn to move in some parts of medieval France.
• A tie: this rule was established in Italy of the centuryXIIIlater in Germany of the centuryXV, although some players gave him a deal equivalent to a checkmate. Finally this rule was adopted throughout Europe, but not in England until the century cameXIX by Jacob Sarratt.