How is this Draw via Insufficient Material?

Can someone please explain to me how this is a draw via insufficient material? 

Here is a link to the game: http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1028773279

It's easy - White lost on time! But Black does not have enough material to checkmate White. Note that if Black had one simple pawn, then he/she would have won the game!

Don

I had a few seconds left on my clock and had auto-move on, so I don't know why I would have ran out of time. 

Regardless, if white did run out of time, wouldn't black still have won?

yes you are correct here.

the main problem is that insufficient material is not working on chess.com.

there are millions of positions where chess.com cannot tell whether to award the draw or not.

in a tournament game, black would have been given the win.

You are giving out incorrect information. I have been playing in professional tournaments for over 40 years as well as writing for Chess Life and other magazines covering events. AND a TD many years ago!

The reason White was given the statement that the game was drawn is because White lost on time and Black does not have sufficient material to create a checkmate. The White opponent thought he had a few seconds left on his clock because he was experiencing LAG!

It is ALWAYS a DRAW when you lose on time IF your opponent does not have enough material to checkmate. Note that in these positions if the Black side had ONE PAWN then he/she would win! So if you are in such a position for White it is better to sac your queen for the remaining pawn. After that - DRAW!  And Chess.com caught this.

Don

Helpmates are ridiculous, I don't even understand why people keep bringing that up in these threads. If you would seriously try to convince the arbiter in a game that you could mate with a lone knight if your opponent cornered itself deliberately and claim your win on that base, there's something wrong in your head.

i don't think anybody here believes you, especially since you do not understand the rules.

in BOTH USCF and FIDE, a position where white has K on f7, B on h6, black has K on h8, pawn on h7 and e7, while would be awarded the win if black ran out of time in that position. however chess.com incorrectly judges that position and gives the draw.

in this particular case, black wins under FIDE rules since there is a possible way for him to checkmate. in this case chess.com is also in the wrong since chess.com uses international rules, ergo FIDE rules.

KirbyCake,

YOU are the person who does not understand the "rules"!

If you are going to play on this site I suggest you start as an amateur and READ them!

arrakis09

Not this again!

It's not hard to find a way for black to mate (e.g. above)

Which is to say, seems the cake turtle is right.

A bare king? That's... not the rule.

Speed chess sometimes has special rules, but that doesn't make sense to me at all. You'll have to give me a link. (Edit, wait, I seem to remember something like this...)

Anyway, I'm mostly posting for the Arrakis09 guy who said in #5 that black couldn't mate.

So that doesn't make sense but ridiculous selfmates do? What common sense would give black a win when he can only win if his opponent makes 7 completely illogical move deliberately losing the game?
Why is this even brought up? WHY?

It seems there is a lot of misinformation and partial information going around in this thread.

According to FIDE rules, the game would be ruled a loss for white when he ran out of time.  This is because a helpmate is possible.  FIDE rules call for any possible mate, even with worst possible play by the opponent.

According to USCF rules, the game would be ruled a draw for white.  USCF does not include helpmates in how it determines the result.

Chess.com's rules most closely resemble USCF rules, but is really their own interpretation which is a result of simplifying the programming.  At chess.com, the game is ruled a draw if the player with time remaining still has: a bare king, a king and a single minor piece, or a king and two knights.

I really don't see a point why wouldn't we use the USCF rule set in these situations. Isn't it simple common sense?
Who on earth would actually stand up and claim it's a draw in real life?
"Well, you see, if my opponent would give up his queen and I underpromoted while he walks into the corner and jumps around the place with his knight, I can mate him."
Seriously?
Where's the dignity?

Omnipaul and Ed_Seedhouse are right. Technically that is a win for black according to FIDE rules, if the white player does not claim the draw. The chess.com handling is wrong. It is irrelevant if it is a helpmate, just if a mate is possible anyhow. However, in a practical tournament game, when it is an obvious draw or a clear win for a player but he is low on time, he can stop the clock and can consult the referee, claiming the draw.

I once had such a situation. I was low on time, my opp and me both had just king and rook. My opp did not accept the draw. So i stopped the clock, consulted the referee, claiming a draw. The referee started the clock again and watched us making a few more moves and when he saw that my opp made no progress he decided that it is a draw.

In extreme situations when a player has just seconds on his clock the referee can also immediately decide that it is a draw.

Gentlemen! Let me make sure I understand what's going on here. The OP supplies a game, and asks how it's a draw. OK, so someone seemed to have provided an answer. That sounds good. Reading further, I can see a flame war over FIDE, USCF, and even where someone had posted a selfmate to show, that it is possible, (and very unlikely) that Black COULD win.

Is this correct?

No.

Oh thank you hunnie! I was ever so curious as to what was going on. The thread looked interesting, so here I am!