Author: Peter Kappler
Date: 18:51:30 09/30/99
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On September 30, 1999 at 21:21:18, Pete Galati wrote: >On September 30, 1999 at 20:11:47, Peter Kappler wrote: > >>On September 30, 1999 at 19:44:34, Pete Galati wrote: >> >>>On September 30, 1999 at 18:30:04, Georg v. Zimmermann wrote: >>> >>>>engine-engine match. If say black has no time left but white no material >>>>winboard will still give 1-0 as result. Need to be carefull in automated >>>>matches. >>>> >>>>Regards, >>>> >>>>Tec >>> >>>If I understand what you descibed, white won on time, the flag fell on black's >>>clock. It sounds like it's working properly to me. >>> >>>Pete >> >> >>His point is that you can't claim a win on time if you don't have mating >>material. In this case, a draw is the correct result. >> >>--Peter > >That sounds true to me, I'm not really sure how Chess rules apply to this >situation, because I want to think that even without any material that white can >still win on time because black was not able to checkmate white before black's >flag fell, all of my instinct (questionable) tells me that white won the game on >time. I don't know where to look that up. > >Pete It's definitely a USCF rule, and I'm almost certain that it is a FIDE rule, too. The Internet Chess Club certainly enforces it, for whatever that's worth... Paraphrasing from the USCF's "Official Rules of Chess", 1987: "A game is drawn if one player has insufficient material for a possible checkmate and his opponent's flag falls first." I have always had a problem with the wording of this rule, specifically the phrase "possible checkmate". If my flag falls, and I have just a single rook pawn and you have just a single minor piece, technically it is *possible* for you to checkmate me, but only if I play like a complete idiot. Would the player with the minor piece really be awarded the win here? ICC calls this a draw, and I think any decent tournament director would, too. Here's a trickier example. My flag falls, and I have a pawn against your two knights. This is actually a forced win in many cases, though it requires *extremely* precise play by the side with the knights. Again, ICC will call this a draw, but technically the side with the two knights should get the full point. --Peter
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