How to Avoid Stalemate
Suppose you have the following position. Playing Black, moving down the board, you might employ a common technique: give up the queen for White’s last pawn so it doesn’t promote, and push your extra b-pawn.
It’s a good strategy, and one used by higher-rated players all the time. So you play 1. …Qxf7+, expecting White to take, and premove …b4 to save time. But then they play 2. Kh8!?.
Your premove 2. …b4?? goes through, and the game is a draw! You have stalemated your opponent, falling into the Rosen Trap (named after its greatest pioneer, IM Eric Rosen). After 2. Kh8, Black must move the queen again. Almost any square will do; I would play 2. …Qe7, bring up the king, and mate without promoting a second pawn, which would increase the risk of an accidental stalemate. If you can’t mate consistently with king and queen, you should practice!
The vast majority of stalemates come from recklessness. The single best thing you can do to avoid stalemating your opponent is slow down. Of course, in blitz and bullet, that is not always possible, but if you have more than a couple seconds left on your clock — even only 10 or 20 seconds — there is no excuse for something like that. It can help to remember that a check is never stalemate, but be aware that random checks are also very inefficient at checkmating, so they should only be played in special circumstances like when flagging your opponent rather than trying to play out a mate.
Here is a subtler one. Should White play Kc4, or Qc4+?
1. Kc4?? looks like it should mate next move. However, Black plays 1. …Rc5+! and it will be a draw! Either White takes the rook and it is stalemate, or moves the king elsewhere and must give up the queen. This is a common difficulty in the queen vs. rook endgame. 1. Qc4+ Ka3 2. Kc3 avoids that problem, and wins without further issue.
Last one, and much more general. In this endgame, as White, would you go for checkmate immediately, or capture Black’s remaining pawns first?
If you’re playing as Black, your first goal should be to push the pawns until they can’t push anymore; if they can move, you will never be stalemated, so get rid of them! Too many players would just fly back and forth with the king. Consequently, as White, I would rather leave the pawns where they are: 1. Qe7, approach with the king, and you win easily, ignoring the pawns. You do not need to capture them to win, and their presence helps you, so leave them be.
Remember these points the next time you have an extra queen.
