Defence
Zugzwang
By Antoine TamanoUpdated
Zugzwang is when every move worsens the position: hand the move over and let them wreck themselves.
Zugzwang is the obligation to move in a position where every move makes things worse. For most of the game a move is a right; in the endgame, with few pieces left, it becomes a duty. The side in zugzwang would be perfectly fine if it could pass, and the rules say it cannot.
What makes it work is the absence of spare moves. Zugzwang needs a position where the pieces that could shuffle harmlessly are gone or fixed: pawns blocked, a king tied to the defence of a square. Then every legal move abandons something, a pawn, a key square, the opposition. The typical shape is king against king with blocked pawns: whoever must move loses the square in front.
To spot it, count spare tempi on both sides. A free pawn move is a tempo; a king with two safe squares to shuffle between has tempi forever. If the opponent has none and you have one, play it and let them move. If neither side has any, the opposition decides: the kings face each other with one square between, and the side NOT to move wins.
At higher level it is triangulation and the reserve tempo: the king that reaches the same square in three moves instead of two, to lose a tempo on purpose; the pawn kept on its starting square for the moment when a spare move is worth the game. And zugzwang is not only for pawn endings: a knight, a bishop, or a mating net can leave the last defender with only moves that let everything collapse.
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Questions
What is zugzwang in chess?
Zugzwang is a position where a player would be fine if they could pass, but every legal move makes their position worse. The obligation to move is itself the problem: it is the one situation in chess where having the move is a disadvantage.
Where does zugzwang usually happen?
In the endgame, and above all in king and pawn endings, where the pieces have few useful moves and the kings must give ground. It is rarer in the middlegame because there is nearly always some harmless move available, though it does occur when a player's pieces are all tied to defending something.
What is the difference between zugzwang and stalemate?
In zugzwang you have legal moves and they are all bad. In stalemate you have no legal move at all and are not in check, which ends the game as a draw. Zugzwang loses; stalemate saves.
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More defence
Before you count a pawn ending as zugzwang, check for one legal move that is easy to miss: capturing en passant.