How is this a draw?

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KKingzz

Can someone tell me why this game ended in a draw due to insufficient material? My oppenent ran out of time and clearly still had his rook and queen(quite close to my king) in which he could have easily have had checkmate.

For the last 15 seconds of the game My king, his queen and rook danced around the bottom right quadrant of the board. Like i said he could have easily had checkmate so i am confused. Yes i was lacking material but i garauntee if i would have asked for a draw he would have declined because of how fast and aggressive he was moving towards my king at the end of the game(he knew he had checkmate) not too mention it was checkmate in 2( Re2,Kf1,Qd1 checkmate black wins).

I thought you received this insufficient material draw when both players did not have the material to put one another in checkmate?

rTist21

This is a draw because Black ran out of time, and the White did not have sufficient material to cause a checkmate.

 

If White had ANY piece in this situation, this would be a win for White. Because he has only a king, then due to the time being exhausted, it's a draw.

pentiumjs

Hi KKingzz--the rule actually states that if one player loses on time but the other is so limited in material as to not be able to checkmate, the game is a draw.  In other words the sad fact is that if you'd had even a single pawn on the board anywhere, you would've won instead of drawn when your opponent's clock ran out.

rTist21

Pentiumjs, the material of the opponent gets factored in to determining whether a legal mate can exist; that's what determines whether there's appropriate mating material left. It doesn't matter whether there's a pawn, knight, bishop, rook, or queen left; it's still given as a win for the side with time if the side that runs out has material left on the board.

Of course, because White has no material left, it ended as a draw when Black ran out of time.

KKingzz

Ok, guess i misunderstood what causes that kind of a draw but i know now,for next time. Happy he didnt get the checkmate so i'll take the draw. Laughing

Thanks for the replies.

baddogno

I just got up and now I'm starting the day confused (again Embarassed).  I thought white needed sufficient material to checkmate in order to claim the win.  A pawn plus the king is fine since it could promote to a queen.  A sole bishop or knight is not since it requires cooperation from the opponent to force checkmate; likewise 2 knights.  Two bishops would be fine, a bishop and a knight would be fine.  Rook would be good to go also.  So I get and agree with pentiumjs but not rTist21.  I need coffee.

rTist21

F.I.D.E Laws of Chess

6.10

Except where Articles 5.1 or one of the Articles 5.2 (a), (b) and (c) apply, 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, even with the most unskilled counterplay.

baddogno

Here's a link to another thread on the same topic where it was decided that chess.com followed the USCF rules that talk about "insufficient winning chances".  It's all the kind of petty sh#te that gives chess a bad name among the general public, but there it is...

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/different-chess-rules-on-chesscom-than-in-iceland?page=1

rTist21

Good point, baddogno. And it appears that Chess.com follows the USCF rules of chess and not FIDE here.

Personally, I hate the "insufficient winning chances" rule; its why you play with time delay in order to omit that rule from rated play.

Still, I guess on chess.com, the USCF rule apples.

If you plan on playing in a FIDE rated tournament, though, FIDE rules trump the USCF rules, so keep that in mind when playing in live tournaments.

kleelof

In this position, giving you a draw is the universes' way of punishing your opponent for not checkmating you in 3 seconds with his queen and rook.