In chess, one way a game can be declared a draw is if black, say, has no legal move.  This is called stalemate.  Typically stalemate occurs because white has a material advantage but fails to checkmate and instead leaves the black king with no space to move that does not walk into check.  It is illegal to place your own king in check.

The reason stalemate is an artificial rule is that check is an artificial rule.  Clearly the object in chess is to conquer the opponent’s king. One can imagine that check evolved as a way to prevent dishonorable defeat when you overlook a threat against your king and allow it to be captured even though it could have escaped.  To prevent this, if your king is in check the rules of chess require that you escape from check on the next move and it is illegal to move into check.  This rule means that the only way to win is to checkmate:  place your opponent in a position where his king is threatened and cannot escape the threat.  The game ends there because on the very next move the king will certainly be captured.

This gives rise to stalemate:  it is only because of check that a player can have no legal move.  If we dispensed with checkmate, replacing it with the more transparent and natural objective of capturing the king, and eliminating the requirement that you cannot end your turn in check, then a player would always have a legal move.  (it is easy to prove this.)  Thus, no stalemate.