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Subject: Re: draw by insufficient material

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 17:32:03 11/18/04

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On November 18, 2004 at 19:46:44, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On November 17, 2004 at 16:19:55, Jan K. wrote:
>
>>On November 17, 2004 at 16:02:32, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On November 17, 2004 at 14:04:06, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>
>>>>On November 17, 2004 at 13:35:16, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On November 17, 2004 at 08:39:40, milix wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On November 17, 2004 at 08:27:47, Jan K. wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Under winboard/arena which of the following positions should be claimed(/can be
>>>>>>>claimed) as drawn by insufficient material-KBKN, KBKNN, KNNKNN? I thought that
>>>>>>>KBKN can be claimed as a draw, but once this position happened under Fritz GUI,
>>>>>>>my engine claimed draw and stopped playing but GUI still expected me to move and
>>>>>>>my engine lost on time. Thx.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>[D] knB5/8/1K6/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1
>>>>>>
>>>>>>White to move and mate in one - so this position is not a draw. The king is in
>>>>>>the wrong corner.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Fine, but what was black's last move?
>>>>>
>>>>>Had to be the knight.  Which could only have come from a6 or c6 otherwise it
>>>>>would have captured the white king.  Therefore there was a forced draw one move
>>>>>earlier, where black left the knight on a6/c6 and moved his king instead.
>>>>>
>>>>>It's a draw.
>>>>
>>>>It is not a draw by insufficient material.
>>>>A program may evaluate it as 0.00 but not stop moving.
>>>>
>>>>Uri
>>>
>>>It is a draw by insufficient material so far as I can see.  The definition of
>>>"insufficient material to force checkmate" seems pretty clear.  Neither side can
>>>_force_ checkmate here.
>>
>>
>>Checkmate cannot be forced there, but is this really the right definition of
>>'draw by insufficient material'?
>>
>>This is from (maybe outdated) FIDE chess rules I found:
>>
>>9.6. The game is drawn when a position is reached from which a checkmate cannot
>>occur by any possible series of legal moves, even with the most unskilled play.
>>This immediately ends the game.
>
>Here is the test to use.  You are a TD.  Two players walk up to you with a
>dispute on their game.  It is a KB vs KN position.  The KN side wants to claim a
>draw.  The KB side wants to play on.  You look at the position and verify that
>mate can't be forced.  Do you make them play on?
>
>I don't...
>
>I can't imagine _any_ TD would, either...

I do unless the side with the KN has less than 2 minutes to finish the game and
there is  no increasement (in these cases players have the right to claim a draw
based on the fact that the opponent does not try to win in normal means or that
it is impossible to win in normal means)

I am not against changing the rules but I cannot decide against the chess rules.
The rules decide even if they are not logical.

I can add that I do not know about a case when a player lost KB v KN with no
forced mate but I know about a case when a player lost K vs KNN by blundering
and playing with the king to the corner and it was even between 2 masters.

Uri



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