Minimum no. of moves for a stalemate in chess?

Hi friends,

Don know if this question has been posted before. We know that the minimum no. of moves to checkmate White and Black is 2 and 3 respectively.But I was wondering what is the minimum no. of moves needed by White or Black to arrive at a legal stalemate position in chess? (Ofcourse, with help from both the sides)

Cheer,

Arun

I've seen this somewhere, hang on, I'll look for the game. Think it was less than 20 moves.

Actually, this game was played in the 1995 Swedish Junior Championships, obviously both players satisfied with a draw and colluding.

Thats a cool game and thanks for the prompt reply Rooperi. But is this the minimum no. of moves required for a stalemate or is anything lesser than 10 moves possible?

Cheers,

Arun

I'd be surprised if anyone can construct a stalemate in fewer moves.

All the moves here are very efficient in completing the stalemate task. I love that rook maneuvre a8-a6-h6, depriving the Knight and Queen of squares.

Forced stalemate as no minimum moves because there are no legal moves possible.

Checking a lone king 50 times is automatically a stalemate.

If the same positions are repeated three times (even if not in succession), call it a draw by three-move repetition.

If the players do not have enough pieces for checkmating, call it a draw.

Otherwise, keep on playing until checkmate or someone's time runs out.

a__a