Potential position where every move is stalemate
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You tell me. I’ve wondered the same thing
Jalex13 wrote:
You tell me.
VERY HELPFUL THANKS 👍
Your welcome Insert. Always happy to help 😅👍
Jun 5, 2022
0
#6
InsertInterestingNameHere wrote:
Title. Is a position possible (hypothetical, of course) that every legal move you have causes stalemate?
At first I thought "no" because that would entail you moving into stalemate and coming out of stalemate yourself - which wouldn't be legal...
but then I realized this hypothetical might be possible if the long King is restricted and the only move(s) left cause stalemate. This is only me thinking this logically though, let me see if I can engineer a position where Stalemate is forced.
Ah, after some experimenting, I don't think it is possible because my earlier idea of keeping the King corralled would involve putting more pieces/pawns on the board, which would give sides additional moving options.
I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the answer is "No, this isn't possible."
Jun 5, 2022
0
#7
Ooh, clever idea @1_Kxe8_1-0 
I couldn't think of how to get extra pieces/pawns to not have moves (I tried blocking those squares with more forces), but the forcing check would do it!
Seems like this is possible then!
1_Kxe8_1-0 wrote:
White to move
very cool, thank you
I got a “thank you” in caps. I must be greatly appreciated.
Jun 5, 2022
0
#10
KeSetoKaiba wrote:
InsertInterestingNameHere wrote:
Title. Is a position possible (hypothetical, of course) that every legal move you have causes stalemate?
At first I thought "no" because that would entail you moving into stalemate and coming out of stalemate yourself - which wouldn't be legal...
but then I realized this hypothetical might be possible if the long King is restricted and the only move(s) left cause stalemate. This is only me thinking this logically though, let me see if I can engineer a position where Stalemate is forced.
Ah, after some experimenting, I don't think it is possible because my earlier idea of keeping the King corralled would involve putting more pieces/pawns on the board, which would give sides additional moving options.
I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the answer is "No, this isn't possible."
Yeah, originally I had struggled to come up with a position and I tried to use lots of pins, but then I realized a forcing check might work.
Jun 5, 2022
0
#15
This last one with the locked Knights and pawns is illegal though. What could Black's last move have been to make this White to move? This is the concept I originally considered in my first post. The Quadruple pawns one might be legal - albeit very unlikely though.
I believe this idea is also present in many K+QvK+R endgames, where you just check with the rook in a stalemate threat if taken
Jun 5, 2022
0
#17
KeSetoKaiba wrote:
This last one with the locked Knights and pawns is illegal though. What could Black's last move have been to make this White to move? This is the concept I originally considered in my first post. The Quadruple pawns one might be legal - albeit very unlikely though.
Black moved a pawn obviously :>
Rocky64 wrote:
This position (with no promoted units) has 91 legal moves, all causing stalemate. (A promoting P counts as 4 different moves in this kind of construction task.) The record number would be higher.
This is moreso the type of position I had in mind when I created the forum. Thank you as well!
Jun 5, 2022
0
#19
InsertInterestingNameHere wrote:
This is moreso the type of position I had in mind when I created the forum. Thank you as well!
Here's a better position with 94 stalemating moves, and legal too as the black king has a last move from g7.
Title. Is a position possible (hypothetical, of course) that every legal move you have causes stalemate?