Unfair draw due to do insufficient material?

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PresidentePulga
Hi, I play chess on here every single day many times a day. My favorite gamemode to play is 1 minute speed chess. I have noticed that in a countless amount of games, I am left with only a king but my opponent has many pawns and queens. They can easily put me in checkmate, but their time runs out before mine. It would be assumed that in this case I would win because their time ran out. But in this case, it almost always ends in a “Draw vs insufficient material”. Why???
tygxc

FIDE Laws of Chess:
"6.9 Except where one of the Articles: 5.1.a, 5.1.b, 5.2.a, 5.2.b, 5.2.c applies, if a player does
not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by
the player. However, the game is drawn, if the position is such that the opponent cannot
checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves."
https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf 

EAWallace123
It says “Draw vs insufficient material” because you do not have enough pieces to win if you only have a king.
YuAnDu
It is a draw because of timeout vs insufficient mating material.
mrfreezyiceboy

because you do not have enough material to mate the white king, so even if your clock was endless, you would not be able to checkmate.

Sven-Oliver
tygxc wrote:

FIDE Laws of Chess:
"6.9 Except where one of the Articles: 5.1.a, 5.1.b, 5.2.a, 5.2.b, 5.2.c applies, if a player does
not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by
the player. However, the game is drawn, if the position is such that the opponent cannot
checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves."
https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf 

Be aware the chess.com does not use Fide laws of chess for insuffictiant material. They also count a single Bishop or Knight as insufictioan material, as it cannot mate by itself, even when a mate would still theoreticly possible if your opponent bocks their own king with their piece. Furthermore, two Knight vs a single King count as insufficient material, as they cannot force mate.

TheWyrdfell

u cant mate w/o any pieces

jetoba

Also, Chess.com does not calculate whether or not a mate is possible by legal moves and thus you can lose on time with White Ke1, Ph4, Pf4, Pc4, Pa4, Black Ke8, Ph5, Pf5, Pc5, Pa5 even though there is no legal way for either side to deliver a mate.  Chess.com simply ignores the other pieces/position and looks to see if the unflagged player's material is enough to mate a lone king.  That does mean on Chess.com that even if a K+N are in a position that can force a mate, and the opponent opts to flag instead of play into the mate, then the opponent escapes with a draw (it would be a loss in FIDE and US Chess).

vamsim7

If one player has insufficient material and the player with sufficient material is timed out, the game ends in a draw because it may be 'unfair' to the player with sufficient mating material.

Sred

You don't have material to deliver checkmate, so you can't win. There is nothing unfair about that, the rules are the same for both players.

vamsim7
Sred wrote:

You don't have material to deliver checkmate, so you can't win. There is nothing unfair about that, the rules are the same for both players.

I meant that it might be unfair for the player that can easily put the other player in checkmate. 

jetoba
Sred wrote:

You don't have material to deliver checkmate, so you can't win. There is nothing unfair about that, the rules are the same for both players.

In the following position with Black to move (White Kf2, Nf1, Black Kh1, Ph3) the only legal move Black has is h2, allowing Ng3#.  In FIDE or US rules Black loses upon flagging.  In Chess.com rules Black draws by flagging instead of moving.

There is a legitimate argument that that would be unfair.

However, any possible unfairness is blindly unbiased (everybody is treated the same) and thus a legitimate counter-argument can also be made.

IMKeto
PresidentePulga wrote:
Hi, I play chess on here every single day many times a day. My favorite gamemode to play is 1 minute speed chess. I have noticed that in a countless amount of games, I am left with only a king but my opponent has many pawns and queens. They can easily put me in checkmate, but their time runs out before mine. It would be assumed that in this case I would win because their time ran out. But in this case, it almost always ends in a “Draw vs insufficient material”. Why???

If you can demonstrate how you can win with just a King please do.

vamsim7
IMBacon wrote:
PresidentePulga wrote:
Hi, I play chess on here every single day many times a day. My favorite gamemode to play is 1 minute speed chess. I have noticed that in a countless amount of games, I am left with only a king but my opponent has many pawns and queens. They can easily put me in checkmate, but their time runs out before mine. It would be assumed that in this case I would win because their time ran out. But in this case, it almost always ends in a “Draw vs insufficient material”. Why???

If you can demonstrate how you can win with just a King please do.

You can't 😂
Hello people doing the scavenger hunt

jetoba
vamsimuppala wrote:
IMBacon wrote:
PresidentePulga wrote:
Hi, I play chess on here every single day many times a day. My favorite gamemode to play is 1 minute speed chess. I have noticed that in a countless amount of games, I am left with only a king but my opponent has many pawns and queens. They can easily put me in checkmate, but their time runs out before mine. It would be assumed that in this case I would win because their time ran out. But in this case, it almost always ends in a “Draw vs insufficient material”. Why???

If you can demonstrate how you can win with just a King please do.

You can't 😂

It requires creativity (some would say trickery)

1) cell phone violation

2) point out that an illegal move was recently made and returning to that position brought back the material you needed

3) point out (and prove) that the opponent's coach/parent/sibling/whatever was giving moves to the opponent and thus should be immediately ruled as losing.

4) the opponent resigns (some TDs/arbiters will not accept a resignation in such a position because of potential sandbagging or prize manipulation issues, and would instead rule it a draw anyway).

 

There may be others as well, but none of these are based on continuing play from the current position with only a lone King on your side.

vamsim7
jetoba wrote:
vamsimuppala wrote:
IMBacon wrote:
PresidentePulga wrote:
Hi, I play chess on here every single day many times a day. My favorite gamemode to play is 1 minute speed chess. I have noticed that in a countless amount of games, I am left with only a king but my opponent has many pawns and queens. They can easily put me in checkmate, but their time runs out before mine. It would be assumed that in this case I would win because their time ran out. But in this case, it almost always ends in a “Draw vs insufficient material”. Why???

If you can demonstrate how you can win with just a King please do.

You can't 😂

It requires creativity (some would say trickery)

1) cell phone violation

2) point out that an illegal move was recently made and returning to that position brought back the material you needed

3) point out (and prove) that the opponent's coach/parent/sibling/whatever was giving moves to the opponent and thus should be immediately ruled as losing.

4) the opponent resigns (some TDs/arbiters will not accept a resignation in such a position because of potential sandbagging or prize manipulation issues, and would instead rule it a draw anyway).

There may be others as well, but none of these are based on continuing play from the current position with only a lone King on your side.

I'll remember this next time I go to a tournament, thanks!