From: Adam Atkinson <ghira <at> MISTRAL <dot> CO <dot> UK>
Date: 9 oct 1995
Subject: Re: King in check

Uh, Pieter... in chess "stalemate" is exactly the same as having no moves.
Really. Honestly.

It is not legal to move the king into check in chess, so whether or not
such a "move" is apparently available makes no difference. If there are no
moves available for the player whose turn it is, the position is
"stalemate" (and the game is a draw - it's felt that actualling
checkmating someone is better than leaving them with no moves). In Chinese
Chess leaving your opponent with no moves is just as good as checkmating
him/her.

Things COULD be different in shogi, which is what we are discussing. If
moving the king into check is legal in shogi, then stalemate positions are
quite rare since a lot of quasi-stalemate positions would exist in which
you would be FORCED to move your own king into check. (You'd probably
really resign, of course). So the King has to be completely blocked off by
the sides of the board and his own pieces. If moving the king into check is
NOT legal then shogi stalemates will be like chess ones, in general terms
(and it should be possible to think of much more varied ones).

Of course, a player with no moves has to have no pieces in hand, or some
pawns in hand and 9 unpromoted pawns on the board.

Adam