Step 4: Special Rules & Draws · about 35 min
Draws and Stalemate
Goal: Kids can tell stalemate from checkmate and know every way a game ends in a draw.
You need: One board and set per pair
📖 Early readers: The draw rules are a lot of words. Teach stalemate with the demo board and the mini-game; read the questions aloud on paper.
1 · Teach it (20 min)
Read these out loud, or put them in your own words. Show each board on screen or set it up on a demo board.
1.“Not every game has a winner. A tie in chess is called a draw. The most important one is stalemate: it's your turn, you are NOT in check, but you have no legal move. That's a draw!”
2.“Compare it with checkmate. Checkmate means in check with no way out, and you lose. Stalemate means not in check but can't move, and it's a draw. Winning players must be careful not to stalemate!”
3.“Other draws: if nobody has enough pieces left to checkmate, like king against king. If the exact same position happens three times. If both players agree to a draw.”
4.“And one for long games: if 50 moves go by for each player with no capture and no pawn move, it's a draw. This mostly matters in tournaments.”
- Calling stalemate a win.
- Grabbing everything with the queen and then stalemating the lone king.
2 · Play it: Checkmate, Don't Stalemate (15 min)
Set up: White: king e1 and queen d1. Black: king e5.
- White tries to checkmate the black king.
- Black just moves the king and tries to survive.
- Stalemate counts as a win for Black! White must be careful.
- Swap roles each game.
🎮 Kids with an iPad can also play this against the computer in student mode.
3 · Practice and pass check
On iPads, kids open Student → Step 4 → Ties and Stalemate. On paper, print the worksheet. A kid passes by getting 2 of 3 on the pass check. The pass code for this lesson is S4-L4-9S.
Practice (4) with answers
1.It's Black's turn. What is this?
- Checkmate
- ✓Stalemate
- Neither
2.It's Black's turn. What is this?
- ✓Checkmate
- Stalemate
- Neither
3.It's Black's turn. What is this?
- Checkmate
- Stalemate
- ✓Neither
4.Only the two kings are left. What happens?
- Whoever moves next wins
- ✓It's a draw
- Keep playing until someone wins
Pass check (3) with answers
1.It's Black's turn. What is this?
- Checkmate
- ✓Stalemate
- Neither
2.White to move. Which queen move is a big mistake, because it's stalemate?
- Qc8
- ✓Qc7
- Qh8
3.Which of these is NOT a draw?
- Stalemate
- The same position three times
- ✓Checkmate
- King against king
Topic order based on: Chess for Children, Part 4 (draws); How to Win at Chess, ch. 6 (every kind of draw). All wording is original.