Class 2 Problems Death by Stalemate Class 2 problems involve stalemate lines. This class of problems is not restricted in the types of unit which may appear, but those units may be much more constrained in their movements than in Class 1 or Class 3 problems. There is great diversity in the kinds of problem which appear here and, for whatever reason, the Class2 problems that we have composed to date are numerous than the other Classes put together. Different control mechanisms are exercised, both forwards and retro, to ensure that stalemate is attained all or almost all the time. We categorize the Class 2 positions accordingly. If you prefer to be surprised by the ideas a problem contains (and that's not a bad approach), then I might suggest that you click & explore the problems before you read the associated text in which they are embedded. The different categories are as follows. Firstly, some problems involve a check in the diagram. That is a strong forward and retro constraint, and the problems are very characteristic. Next, there are problems which are also Class 1 or Class 3 positions. Those tend to be dominated by features of those other classes; their involvement in class 2 is accidental. Following on from this, we see diagrams which are stalemate as soon as White has played (stalemate in 1) or even are already in stalemate for White (stalemate in 0). They have very different characteristics and limitations. Longer stalemates are classed in the "clock" category, although strictly we should split them by odd and even parity as the pat in 0 and pat in 1. There are rarer problems which involve a retro-clock, to avoid some looming retro-stalemate. Finally, there are problems which have forward play contingent on A1.3. We class them all together, although in fact each could perhaps be allocated to one of the earlier categories, although perhaps the taxonomy could be more accurate at this point. Nevertheless, we felt that readers might want to see all of that type of problem in one place. Check Class 1 also Class 3 also Stalemate in 1 Stalemate in 0 Clock Retroclock Forward