Article 5 of the 2018
FIDE Laws of Chess gives the basic ways a game may end in a draw; more complicated ways are detailed in Article 9: •
Stalemate – if the player on turn has no legal move but is not in
check, this is stalemate and the game is automatically a draw. •
Threefold repetition rule – if an identical position has occurred at least three times during the course of the game with the same player to move each time, and is the current position on the board or will occur after the player on turn makes their move, the player on move may claim a draw (to the ). In such a case the draw is not automatic – a player must claim it if they want the draw. When the position occurs for the third time after the player's intended next move, they write the move on their but does not make the move on the board and claims the draw. Article 9.2 states that a position is considered identical to another if the same player is on move, the same types of pieces of the same colors occupy the same squares, and the same moves are available to each player; in particular, each player has the same
castling and
en passant capturing rights. (A player may lose their right to castle; and an
en passant capture is available only at the first opportunity.) If the claim is not made on the move in which the repetition occurs, the player forfeits the right to make the claim. Of course, the opportunity may present itself again. •
Fivefold repetition – If the same position occurs five times during the course of the game, the game is automatically a draw (i.e. a player does not have to claim it). •
Fifty-move rule – if in the previous 50 moves by each side, no
pawn has moved and no has been made, a draw may be claimed by either player. Here again, the draw is not automatic and must be claimed if the player wants the draw. If the player whose turn it is to move has made only 49 such moves, they may write their next move on the scoresheet and claim a draw. As with the threefold repetition, the right to claim the draw is forfeited if it is not used on that move, but the opportunity may occur again. •
Seventy-five-move rule – If no capture or no pawn move has occurred in the last 75 moves (by both players), the game is automatically a draw (i.e. a player does not have to claim it). If the last move was a checkmate, the checkmate stands. • Impossibility of
checkmate – if a position arises in which neither player could possibly give checkmate by a series of legal moves, the game is a draw. Such a position is called a
dead position. This is usually because there is insufficient material left, but it is possible in other positions too, such as a blocked king and pawn ending where it is impossible for either king to capture the pawns. Combinations with insufficient material to checkmate include: •
king versus king • king and
bishop versus king • king and
knight versus king • king and bishop versus king and bishop with the bishops on the same color. •
Mutual agreement – a player may offer a draw to their opponent at any stage of a game. If the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. There is no longer a rule defining
perpetual check—a situation in which one player gives a series of checks from which the other player cannot escape—as a draw. Any perpetual check situation will eventually be claimable as a draw under the threefold repetition rule or the fifty-move rule; more commonly the players will simply agree a draw. By 1965, perpetual check was no longer in the rules. Although these are the laws as laid down by FIDE and, as such, are used at almost all top-level tournaments, at lower levels different rules may operate, particularly with regard to
rapid play finish provisions.
Examples ==Draws in timed games==