It sounds like H.G. Muller is saying there's nothing virtuous in the
abstract about declaring stalemate to be a draw, but in the specific case
of FIDE it just coincidentally happens to work out to a net positive
(mostly because of a couple specific endgames). That implies it might
_not_ be a good rule for chess _variants_, even if it works out in orthodox
chess--would that be your conclusion?
Greg Strong seems to be saying that it's good because it gives the losing
player something to aim for. I'm perhaps not a strong enough player to
judge, but that seems questionable to me; how often does the stalemate rule
really alter your decision to resign? And are those endgames really more
interesting than resigning and starting a new game?
