Stalemate To Whose Favor?

The question stated in the title seems a bit strange, doesn't it?

Everybody nowadays knows that stalemate is an equal ending from which no side gains or loses. A half point to me, a half point to you.

And here we are asked: "to whose favor?". To nobody's!

Below is an endgame position that was reached in a game played in Moscow 1961, the chess players being one of the strongest that the Soviet Union once had at the time - grandmaster David Bronstein (white pieces) against grandmaster Ratmir Kholmov.

White to move:

As shown in the diagram, a draw is forced after 52. Rc2+ Kb3 53. Rc3+ Kb2 54. Rc2+ or the also more aggressive line of cleaning the board as fast as possible - 52. Rb7 a2 53. Rxb5+ Ka1 54. Ra5 Kb2 55. Rxa2+.

Sources

ChessGames Chess Database & Community. <http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1034134>.

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