Dead position

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Example of a dead position

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A dead position is a position in the game of chess in which both players no longer have the opportunity to checkmate the opponent, even with the worst counterplay . Such a position ends the game as a draw (a tie). Dead positions are special cases of positional draws .

The most common dead positions in games are those with insufficient material to checkmate; for example when both players only have their king or the endgame king and a minor piece against a king arises.

Roberts Skuja
Chess 1976
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White to move holds a draw

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A dead position is also reached if all possible moves would stall , as in Skuja's study. There leads first Tc7-c8 + Nc6-b8 second Tc8xb8 + Ka8xb8 3. a6-a7 + Kb8-a8 (3rd ... 4th KC8 A8D + Kd7 5. Dxb7 + Kd8 6. Qc7 + Ke8 7. DC8 #) 4. Ke4-d5 to a dead position, as all 11 possible moves would stall.

Application in chess composition

Andrew Buchanan, The Problemist 2001
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Who drew last?

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The rule, according to which a game ends immediately when a dead position is reached, has stimulated a new class of chess problems. Andrew Buchanan calls this dead reckoning (taking into account the dead-position rule in the calculation). They are related to retroanalysis . So you can show that in the position opposite in a regular tournament game only White can have moved last. All of Black's moves would have led to a dead position beforehand, which would have ended the game.

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