Stalemates in History - The Longest Game to End in a Stalemate

Submitted by qtsii on Fri, 02/13/2009 at 1:44pm.

An intentional stalemate occurred on the 124th move of the fifth game of the 1978 World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. The game had been a theoretical draw for many moves (Karolyi & Aplin 2007:170), (Griffiths 1993:43-46). (Even if White wins the black pawn, the black king can get to the a8 corner and set up a fortress. However the players were not on speaking terms so neither would offer a draw by agreement. Korchnoi said that it gave him pleasure to stalemate Karpov and that it was slightly humiliating (Kasparov 2006:120). (Incidentally, as of 2008 this is the longest game played in a World Chess Championship final match, and also the only World Championship game to end in stalemate (Fox & James 1993:236).)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

information combined from wikipedia and chessgames.com

» posted in The Q Factor
 

Comments:

by Wildcard - 9 months ago
Charlotte, NC United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 1253

It would have been a stalemate if black had pushed his king back into the a8 corner. Easiest rule to remember is that if the pawn is on the h column or the a column then the game is a stalemate. If it had been a light squared bishop I think white could have pulled it off though.

by qtsii - 9 months ago
Machiavelli United States
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 4481

Please do - I am interested in some of the why as well...

by mcdonald0688 - 9 months ago
Easton PA United States
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 5

this puzzled me too, but play it out.  if blacks king tucks himself into the a8 corner, like the description said, its impossible to win... i think.  i'll look at this tommorow some more

by jrcolonial98 - 9 months ago
Newtown, Connecticut United States
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 1861

in the last 20 moves the white king couldve killed the black a4 pawn and promoted his a pawn

by Niven42 - 9 months ago
West Lafayette, Indiana United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 1159

Why didn't Korchnoi take the pawn on 107?  I know that the answer "he wanted to draw it out in order to spite Karpov" has already been given, but doesn't KxP, KxB lead to a win by escorting the remaining pawn up the a-file to promote?

edit: Ahh, I see...  the bishop can't attack the queening square.  Wow, that's harsh.

by THEWHITEFOX - 9 months ago
I don't know Canada
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 748

Never saw a game that long that ended as Stalemate. Never saw a game that was that long at all!

by qtsii - 9 months ago
Machiavelli United States
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 4481

Yes, sorry I didn't see it either - good stuff either way. Wish I had that kind of mental prowess.

by chess_kebabs - 9 months ago
Australia
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 23798

I loooooove getting Stalemates! More so than checkmates sometimes, especially if opponent is so sure of winning and the game has been long, and he or she shows a "well it's all over for you" attitude!!  

Then Pow..... oh the glory!!

by fischeryouth - 9 months ago
Autorive France
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 173

this was pretty cool i love long games i have gotten over the 400th move. (this was semi-intentional)

by uritbon - 9 months ago
tel aviv Israel
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 1000

it's more like agreeing to a draw... is it possilbe that they played that far only to make it the longest game to end in stalemate... at first you might argue that Korchnoi might have thought he saw something or got confused all teh sudden, but there were some moved that were clearly whasted.

by Dozy - 9 months ago
Blue Mountains Australia
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 2141

Thanks, q.  Enjoyable.  I hadn't run across that game. 

(Sorry, Saccadic, I didn't see yours so it's certainly a valid post for those of us who missed out.)

 

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