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Ted Larson Freeman wrote on Thu, Aug 12, 2021 03:57 AM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from Wed Aug 11 11:38 PM:

Okay, let me see if I can explain my thinking here. The terms "turn" and "move" are not interchangeable in this game. The rule for stalemate could be stated most simply as: the game ends in stalemate if at the start of a player's turn he is not in check and cannot complete a legal turn.

To break that down, assume that the player is not in check. At the start of his turn the game is in one of two states:

  1. His opponent has just made a single move. In this case he must make a response move. Since this is just one move, the possibility of stalemate is evaluated exactly as in international chess.
  2. His opponent has not just made a single move, so he may take a two-move turn (if possible) or a single move turn (if possible). Keep in mind that the set of moves that could comprise the first move of a two move turn is disjoint from the set of moves that could be played in a single move turn. If none of the moves in the first set can be followed by a second legal move, and the second set is empty, the game ends in stalemate.

When you ask above, "what if the first move is one that would normally prohibit a second move, such as a check, a promotion, a capture, or a double Pawn move subject to en passant?" you are asking about a possible single move turn. It is not stalemate if any such move is available.

I am trying to be succinct, and yet it seems I need to provide more detail here.


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