The Chess Stalemate occurs when a player is out of legal moves to play and he cannot make a checkmate on the board. Such a situation may be an advantage or disadvantage depending on what point of the chess game you are in and perhaps the type of game you are playing. A stalemate is otherwisely considered as a draw in standard chess, though this draw may bring out different outcomes in different games.
As there are several variations of the standard chess board today, there have also emerged different variations of the stalemate rule. The rule is still the same in all boards; the difference comes in how a draw is handled. In the normal rule, a draw means there is no winner in that match. This may mean either declaring a winner with the accumulated scores or instructing a customized rematch in a bid to produce a winner.
In some chess variants, a stalemate draw may mean each player gets half a point at the end, it may mean the player with a stalemate is out of the game or misses a turn in playing, in other variants the stalemate may not be a draw but a nullified play which has to be re-matched to get a winner. It all depends on which variation you are playing to understand whether a stalemate is good for you or not.
Generally, what many chess players don’t realize is that a stalemate can be a good weapon to avoid a nasty loss. For example, if you find yourself in a weak formation against your opponent and there is no chance to win, you may play the remaining pieces to create a stalemate. This can be a benefit if the overall rule is to give half a point to each player or the game treated as a draw. So many chess players are oriented to winning that they never see the possibilities of a draw saving them. But which one is better, Losing to nothing or drawing with half a point to yourself?
If all half points are added they can contribute to a rise in your scores and thus rank, thus this move can be a lifesaver at times. Though a stalemate may be a bit difficult to achieve, there are possible ways to create one and use it as a weapon to your end game. The first move is to aim in only having the Kings as the remaining pieces on the board. Kings have no way of checkmating on each other thus it created a draw. Another way is by playing the threefold repetition in which you play the same move three times and then call the draw first.
The fifty move rule can also produce a stalemate if by the first 50 moves no one has a check and no pawn has shifted position. The last way to have a draw is if both players have reason enough to mutually declare it. However you will have to be a highly experienced chess player to determine whether there is no other move that can be made on the board.