DRAW VS TIMEOUT VS INSUFFICIENT MATERIAL
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Why does the app end up giving a draw even though at times I win by time control and my opponent runs out of time? Sometimes, even though I am down material but win by time, the system records it as a draw by insufficient material. Why????
Ju1i4nPr4d0 wrote:
Why does the app end up giving a draw even though at times I win by time control and my opponent runs out of time? Sometimes, even though I am down material but win by time, the system records it as a draw by insufficient material. Why????
Because you didn't win. Your opponent used up all his time but you weren't awarded the win because you didn't have enough material left to have won even if your opponent had played his or her worst.
That should not be the case as the whole point of time control becomes redundant. If you lose on time, you lose on time.
Jan 1, 2020
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#4
Ju1i4nPr4d0 wrote:
That should not be the case as the whole point of time control becomes redundant. If you lose on time, you lose on time.
The situation is the same by the official rules of chess. If you don't have sufficient material to mate, when your opponent runs out of time, the game is drawn. FIDE has a more forgiving implementation, where mate has to just be possible, while the site uses a simplified version similar to the US Chess implementation where specific material is considered insufficient.
https://support.chess.com/article/128-what-does-insufficient-mating-material-mean
Ju1i4nPr4d0 wrote:
That should not be the case as the whole point of time control becomes redundant. If you lose on time, you lose on time.
Chess existed long before the clock became part of the game. To keep to the spirit of chess, the rule is that you have to have enough mating material on the board or you can never win.
This does not make the clock irrelevant. A single pawn is enough to get you a win if your opponent flags.