stalemate

English

Etymology

stale +‎ mate

Noun

stalemate (plural stalemates)

1. (chess) The state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves, resulting in a draw.
2. (by extension) Any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but involves no personal loss.
   • 2020 September 8, Jeffrey Gettleman, “Shots Fired Along India-China Border for First Time in Years”, in The New York Times‎^[1], ISSN 0362-4331:

     Indian military analysts said the situation was heading into a dangerous stalemate. Neither side wants to start a war. But neither side wants to back down either.

3. Any kind of match in which neither contestant laid claim to victory; a draw.

Related terms

• checkmate
• mate
• stale

Translations

chess term

• Armenian: պատ (hy) (pat)
• Bulgarian: пат m (pat)
• Catalan: taules (ca) f pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 欠行 (qiànxíng), 困斃, 困毙 (kùnbì), 無子可動, 無子可動 (wúzĭ kědòng)

• Czech: pat (cs) m
• Danish: pat
• Dutch: pat (nl) m, patstelling (nl) m
• Estonian: patt (et)
• Finnish: patti (fi)
• French: pat (fr) m
• German: Patt (de) n, Pattstellung f
• Greek: πατ (el) n (pat), αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo)
• Hungarian: patt (hu), patthelyzet (hu)
• Ido: pato (io)

• Irish: leamhsháinn f
• Italian: stallo (it) m
• Japanese: ステイルメイト (suteirumeito)
• Korean: 교착상태 (gyochaksangtae)
• Latin: (Classical) matum stabilis, (Modern) stancamentum
• Macedonian: пат m (pat)
• Polish: pat (pl) m
• Portuguese: afogamento (pt) m
• Russian: пат (ru) m (pat)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пат m

  Roman: pat (sh) m

• Slovak: pat m
• Spanish: ahogado (es) m
• Swedish: patt (sv) c
• Welsh: methmat m

blocked situation without personal loss

• Arabic: طريق مسدود‎, مأزق‎ (ar)
• Armenian: պատ (hy) (pat)
• Bulgarian: безизходица (bg) f (bezizhodica)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僵局 (zh) (jiāngjú), 對峙 (zh), 对峙 (zh) (duìzhì)

• Estonian: patiseis
• Finnish: pattitilanne (fi)
• French: impasse (fr) f
• German: Stillstand (de) m, Stocken n, verfahrene Lage f, festgefahrene Lage f, Pattsituation f, Sackgasse (de) f
• Greek: αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo)

• Hungarian: patthelyzet (hu)
• Italian: punto morto m, vicolo cieco m, impasse (it) f, stallo (it) m
• Japanese: 行き詰り (ゆきづまり, yukizumari)
• Macedonian: ќор-сока́к m (ḱor-sokák)
• Maori: whakamārari
• Polish: pat (pl) m, sytuacja patowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: beco sem saída m, impasse m
• Russian: тупи́к (ru) m (tupík), пат (ru) m (pat), безвы́ходное положе́ние (ru) n (bezvýxodnoje položénije)
• Spanish: punto muerto (es) m, estancamiento (es) m
• Telugu: ప్రతిష్టంభన (te) (pratiṣṭambhana)
• Welsh: anghytundeb llwyr m

Verb

stalemate (third-person singular simple present stalemates, present participle stalemating, simple past and past participle stalemated)

1. (chess, transitive) To bring about a state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To bring about a stalemate, in which no advance in an argument is achieved.
   • 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes[2]

     The North Korean nuclear issue, stalemated for the past three years, is now back in play again - not before time.

See also

• check

Anagrams

• metalates