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I'm playing as Black.

Why was this a draw?

What move I supposed to play to win?

[FEN ""]
[StartPly "104"]

1.e4 d6 2. Bb5+ c6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. c4 Nxe4 6. Qa4 Nf6 7. c5 h6 8. cxd6 exd6 9. d5 Kd7 10. dxc6+ Nxc6 11. a3 Be7 12. b4 Qe8 13. Ra2 g5 14. Rc2 Ke6 15. g4 Nxg4 16. Re2+ Kd5 17. b5 Nxf2 18. Rxf2 Ke5 19. Re2+ Kf5 20. bxc6 Rb8 21. Nc3 Rb1 22. Nxb1 a5 23. Qxa5+ Kg4 24. Qb4+ Kh5 25. a4 Kg6 26. Nc3 Qxc6 27. Qd4 Qxh1 28. Rxe7 Qxg1+ 29. Kd2 Qxd4+ 30. Kc2 Qxa4+ 31. Kd2 Qh4 32. Rxf7 Kxf7 33. Ba3 Ke7 34. Nb5 Qxh2+ 35. Kd3 Qg1 36. Na7 Bg4 37. Nc8+ Rxc8 38. Bxd6+ Kxd6 39. Ke4 Ke6 40. Kd3 Qf1+ 41. Kd4 h5 42. Ke3 Rc5 43. Ke4 h4 44. Ke3 h3 45. Kd4 Rb5 46. Kc3 h2 47. Kd4 h1=R 48. Ke4 Qc4+ 49. Ke3 Bf5 50. Kd2 g4 51. Ke3 Re5+ 52. Kd2 g3  {1/2-1/2}.
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  • 2
    This question is similar to: Why was this a draw?. If you believe it’s different, please edit the question, make it clear how it’s different and/or how the answers on that question are not helpful for your problem.
    – Sören
    Commented Jul 6 at 9:28
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    @Sören Welcome to Chess.SE! The asker posed the question about the specific game and/or position they encountered and how they could have prevented stalemate in this specific game. Seems fine for a smaller site like Chess.SE to allow this question. I see no need for the asker to edit the question, and no need to close this question. The 3 upvotes seem to agree.
    – SecretAgentMan
    Commented Jul 6 at 15:40
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    @SecretAgentMan According to the Stack Exchange duplicates policy/FAQ, the site-wide policy on duplicates is to close it, not to give it a fresh answer. It looks like a duplicate to me, as the only "interesting" feature of the position is that the player to move has no moves - the details aren't important. The upvote count doesn't matter, of course - a good question can be a duplicate.
    – amalloy
    Commented Jul 6 at 16:28
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    I just have one question. What was the need to play g3 in the last move? What was wrong with the Qc1# move?
    – Элси Ринген
    Commented Jul 7 at 14:16
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    As I wrote about Solvia's similar Question 45849: "Always check. It might not be mate, but at least is won't be stalemate."
    – Noam D. Elkies
    Commented Jul 11 at 23:07

2 Answers 2

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After 52. Kd2 the White King has no legal moves. The move 52...g3? does not give a check and results in a stalemate since the White King may not move into check. A stalemate results in a draw; IM Daniel Rensch explains it on video in What is Stalemate in Chess?.

Black has a variety of moves (6) to finish the job:

  • (52...Re2#)
  • (52...Qb4#)
  • (52...Qc1#)
  • (52...Qc2#)
  • (52...Qd3#)
  • (52...Qd4#)
[Title "From White's Perspective"]
[FEN "8/8/4k3/4rb2/2q3p1/8/3K4/7r b - - 0 1"]
[StartFlipped "0"]

1... Re2# (1...Qb4#)(1...Qc1#)(1...Qc2#)(1...Qd3#)(1...Qd4#)

Related:
Why was this a draw?
Why is this position stalemate?
Why was this stalemate?
Why is stalemate a draw?

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    There are 6 checkmates in total. Qc1, Qc2, Qb4, Qd3, Qd4, Re2.
    – Элси Ринген
    Commented Jul 11 at 16:10
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Keeping in mind that it's illegal to make a move that leaves your own king up for capture by an enemy piece:

Stalemate occurs when a player has no legal moves available on his turn but his king isn't in check. The game ends in a draw.

Checkmate occurs when a player has no legal moves available on his turn and his king is in check. The game ends in a loss for the checkmated player.

So as a quick tip if you're playing against a lonely king always make sure to leave him one square available to go or to keep him in check to avoid stalemate.

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  • Simpler than leaving one square after every move is to leave two squares which are never attacked, and from which the enemy king won't be able to do anything annoying. One can then do whatever one likes elsewhere on the board while the enemy king just putters in his little domain, without having to worry about where the king is after each move.
    – supercat
    Commented Jul 7 at 19:33

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