Lesson Plan 8: Special Rules & Unit 2 Assessment
En Passant, Stalemate, and the Draws
Prerequisites
Lessons 1-7
Learning Objectives
- Students will execute an en passant capture
- Students will distinguish stalemate from checkmate
- Students will name at least three ways a game can be drawn
- Students will complete the Unit 2 assessment
Materials Needed
- Chess sets (1 per 2 students)
- Demonstration board
- Unit 2 assessment sheets
- Counters for the draw-spotting game
The Rules to Teach
- En passant: if a pawn moves two squares and lands beside an enemy pawn, that pawn may capture it as if it had moved one — and only on the very next move
- Stalemate: no legal move and NOT in check — the game is drawn, however much material one side has
- Threefold repetition: the same position three times is a draw
- Fifty-move rule: fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move is a draw
- Insufficient material: king against king, or king and one knight or bishop, cannot checkmate
Lesson Timeline
5 min
Review & Hook
"There are three rules left that catch everybody out. One of them has cost grandmasters whole games."
12 min
En Passant
- Set up a white pawn on e5 and play ...d7-d5 beside it
- Show the capture: exd6, landing behind the pawn it takes
- Stress the timing: this move only, not later
- Have every pair set it up and do it twice
- Name why it exists: without it, the two-square rule would let pawns run past each other
10 min
Stalemate
- Set up king on a8, white queen on c7, white king on c6 — and ask for Black's legal moves
- There are none, and Black is not in check, so the game is drawn
- Say the lesson out loud: being a queen ahead is not the same as winning
- Show the fix: a queen on b6 instead of c7 and it is checkmate next move
8 min
The Other Draws
- Repetition, fifty moves, insufficient material — one example of each
- Agree a class rule for recording them in club games
8 min
Unit 2 Assessment
Students complete the assessment sheet individually. Circulate but do not prompt.
2 min
Wrap-Up
Ask what the difference between stalemate and checkmate is, in one sentence.
Unit 2 Assessment Contents
- Four positions: is it check, checkmate, stalemate, or none of them?
- Two positions: is castling legal, and which condition decides it?
- One en passant position: show the capture and the square the pawn lands on
- Material count: who is ahead, and by how much?
- One written question: name two ways a game can end in a draw
Teacher Tip: When a child stalemates a lone king while a queen ahead, resist the urge to call it a mistake and ask instead what the king's legal moves were before the last move. They usually find the answer themselves, and they rarely do it twice.
Assessment
- Unit 2 sheet: collected and marked
- Observation: during the en passant drill, watch for the pawn landing on the wrong square
- Exit question: "You have a queen and a king against a lone king. What must you avoid?"
Common Mistakes to Address
- Taking en passant a move too late
- Landing the capturing pawn on the captured pawn's square instead of behind it
- Calling stalemate a win
- Claiming a draw by repetition without the position actually repeating
Differentiation
- Support: Give the stalemate position as a physical puzzle: ask the child to find a legal black move, and let the search itself make the point.
- Challenge: Ask for a position where a player who is losing badly should try to force stalemate on purpose.