When players face extreme pressure, such as at the World Cup, where one mistake can cause an immediate elimination, crazy things bound to happen. Here are just a few examples by world class players!
Eljanov just played Rd2?? Can you find the right continuation for black?
Amin just played …a3?? Can you find the right continuation for white?
Jones just played Rf8?? Can you find the right continuation for black?
For the first one, I think Black should play Rxd4. If White plays Rxd4 then Black plays Nc2+. For the last one, I think Black should play Rxc7. If White plays Bxc7 then Black plays Kxf8. The middle one is too tough for me to figure out. I might be wrong about the other two anyway.
I think the original idea behind the stalemate rule was based on the idea that resigning a game before you were mated was considered a less serious form of losing and that since you had no option other than resigning if you were on the helpless end of a stalemate situation then that too should be considered a less serious form of losing. And then chess politics decided that resigning a game should count the same as being mated but still insisted that stalemate should be differentiated from mate in scoring terms and we somehow ended up with the completely illogical concept that stalemate is a draw.