High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The fifty-move rule in chess states that a player can claim a draw if no capture has been made and no pawn has been moved in the last fifty consecutive moves (fifty moves by each side). The intended reason for the rule is so that a player with no chance to win cannot be obstinate and play on indefinitely (Hooper & Whyld 1992:134), or seek a win purely due to an opponent`s fatigue. All of the basic checkmates can be accomplished in well under fifty moves.