Draws in chess: all six ways a game can end level

Two of them - stalemate and insufficient material - take effect automatically: the game is over the moment they occur. The others have to be claimed, and that distinction matters at a tournament.

The side to move has no legal move available, yet its king is not attacked. The game ends immediately in a draw - regardless of material.

This is the most painful rule for beginners: a player with an extra queen takes away every square from the enemy king, forgets to give check, and half a point evaporates.

From the other side, stalemate is a defensive resource: in a hopeless position it is often the only thing to play for, and studies are full of it.

Some material simply cannot force mate, so the game is drawn the moment it arises. The combinations are:

• King against king.
• King and bishop against king.
• King and knight against king.
• King and bishop against king and bishop of the same colour.

Two knights against a lone king are a special case: mate is theoretically possible but cannot be forced, so play normally continues until the fifty-move rule settles it.

The practical lesson for the endgame: when simplifying with a material edge, do not end up with a single minor piece. An extra pawn is worth more than an extra bishop in that situation.

If the same position occurs three times, a draw may be claimed. Three conditions have to match, and people forget them:

• The same side to move each time.
• The same pieces on the same squares.
• The same available options - castling rights and en passant possibilities included.

The repetitions do not have to be consecutive: positions occurring at different points in the game count too. In practice the claim usually comes from perpetual check, where the same position returns every two moves.

Important: this is a right, not an automatic result. If nobody claims, the game continues.

If fifty consecutive moves by each side pass with no capture and no pawn move, either player may claim a draw.

The logic is simple: if nothing has changed irreversibly in fifty moves, neither side is making progress. Any capture or pawn move resets the count to zero.

In practice the rule matters in technical endgames - bishop and knight against a king, or rook and bishop against rook - where the winning method runs long and the count becomes a real constraint. It also has to be claimed, and at an event with notation the players track it from their own scoresheets.

A series of checks from which the king cannot escape. Formally there is no separate «perpetual check» rule - the draw arrives through threefold repetition - but every player uses the term.

It is the most common practical saving resource: a player who is losing gives check after check, the position repeats, and the game ends level. Which is why in a winning position it is worth spending a move to remove the possibility of endless checks before it appears.

The players may agree at any moment. The correct procedure: make your move, then offer the draw, then press the clock. Offering before moving hands your opponent extra information for free.

• Offer once. Repeated offers are a form of distraction and can be penalised.
• An offer cannot be withdrawn. Once made, it stands until the opponent replies.
• Silence is not acceptance. The reply is either a word or a move - a move means refusal.
• Some events restrict it. Regulations sometimes forbid agreed draws before a set move number, to prevent short non-games.

For repetition and the fifty-move rule the procedure is formal, and getting it wrong costs you the claim:

1. 1Stop the clock and call the arbiter - do not simply announce it to your opponent
2. 2State the claim before making the move that would create the repetition, not after
3. 3Show the position on your scoresheet: the claim is checked against the record
4. 4Accept the arbiter's decision; if the claim is wrong, play continues and you may lose time

Which is another reason to keep an accurate scoresheet: without it a repetition claim cannot be verified - other formal situations.

A draw gives each player half a point. That is simple; what is less obvious is how it affects the table.

• Tie-breaks decide places. With many draws, players finish level on points and the order is settled by Buchholz or Sonneborn-Berger - about tie-breaks.
• A draw with a strong opponent is worth more. Not in points but in tie-break: your opponents' scores are what the Buchholz sums.
• Pairings change. Half a point moves you into a different score group, so the next opponent will be different.
• Some events use football-style scoring. Three points for a win and one for a draw, precisely to discourage quick agreed draws - the 3-1-0 system.