Winning with Semi-Stalemate

White to play and win, after Marshall vs Reti, New York 1924

Semi-stalemate is a king with no moves at all while its owner still has pawn moves. You do not freeze Black's pawns here, you freeze his king, and then every pawn move he has left drops a pawn.

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Winning with Semi-Stalemate

White to play and win · Win against perfect defense

Waking the engine…

The theory

Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.

Semi-stalemate is the name for a king that is stalemated while its owner still has pawn moves. The result is not a draw, it is a zugzwang, and it is usually fatal.

Freeze the king, not the pawns. The instinct is to lock the enemy pawns. Do the opposite: leave Black four pawn moves and make sure every single one of them loses.

The trap. g4-g5 first. Now f7-f5 is met by gxf6 en passant, h7-h5 by gxh6 en passant, and f6 or h6 are captured straight away.

The squeeze. Your king walks to c6 behind the d-pawn, d7+ drives the black king to d8, and Kd6 leaves him with zero king moves. He has to touch a pawn, and every pawn move drops material.

In this drill the pawn move comes first and the king follows. The squeeze only works because g5 poisons every pawn move Black has left.

Keep going

The Bishop Sacrifice That Buries a King

White to play and win

One Tempo Short: g and h vs the h-Pawn

White to play and draw

Grigoriev 1920: Two Spare Tempi and a Stalemate

White to play and draw

All 62 king & pawn positions Follow the full curriculum (free)