had been stalemating

• past perfect progressive

  past perfect progressive

  Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.

  of stalemate.
  stalemate

  noun

  a position of the pieces in which a player cannot move any piece except the king and cannot move the king without putting it in check.

Related Words

• delay
• gridlock
• impasse
• standoff
• standstill