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Subject: Re: An interesting rule of chess...

Author: Pete Galati

Date: 19:37:00 09/30/99

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On September 30, 1999 at 21:51:30, Peter Kappler wrote:

>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

Thanks, those sound like very harsh unfair rules, a bit odd.  I don't really
understand the thinking behind making rules, I'm sure that has allot to do with
my not knowing them.

Pete



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