Contents
A game ends in a draw when nobody can or should win. Each player gets half a point. Here are all the cases.
1. By agreement
One player offers a draw and the opponent accepts. It is customary to offer a draw after making your move, before pressing the clock. If the opponent declines, the game goes on. Some tournaments forbid agreeing a draw before a certain move.
2. Stalemate
The player to move has no legal moves, and their king is not in check. Details in the article “Stalemate”.
3. Threefold repetition
If the same position occurs three times with the same player to move (and the same possibilities: castling, en passant), a player may claim a draw. The moves do not have to be repeated in a row.
A common case is perpetual check: one side keeps giving check endlessly and the king cannot escape.
4. The 50-move rule
If in the last 50 moves by each side there has been no capture and no pawn move, a draw can be claimed. Details in the article “The 50-move rule”.
5. Insufficient material to mate
If neither side can checkmate by any sequence of moves, the game ends in a draw at once. This happens when only these remain:
- king against king;
- king and knight against king;
- king and bishop against king;
- king and bishop against king and bishop, with the bishops on the same colour.
Two knights cannot force mate either unless the opponent blunders — but mate is formally possible, so the game continues. See the article “Mate with two knights”.
Draw and time
If a player runs out of time while the opponent has no pieces that could deliver mate (for example, only a king is left), the game is also drawn.