Draw or win position?

This was the position in a bullet chess game and me being Black. He flagged, and I could checkmate him in less than 50 moves. Please help.

Oh yeah it was drawn because of insufficient material

I dont see any possible way to win, unless there is a big mistake made somewhere. But maybe someone else can find a way.

The board was backward lol

That does sometimes make a difference.

there is still mate though

It's always a draw using just the knight if it can reach the square in front of the pawn without being immediately taken, unless that square is the corner square. It's usually enough to just attack the square in front of the pawn as in your position.

 Usually but not always, e.g. Black is lost here:

wa

There are other complications. See for example https://www.chess.com/forum/view/endgames/endgame-knight-vs-pawn (assuming you can see the diagrams - the site software has disappeared them for me). The chapter in the Knight Endings volume  of Averbakh's Comprehensive Chess Endings contains full details of this endgame.

Strictly speaking it was a draw under the FIDE laws prior to 1st. July 2017 but not since as are most erstwhile draws. This is because FIDE has dropped the repetition rule from the basic rules  of chess so best play by both sides will no longer necessarily lead to a draw. In particular Black has no way of forcing a draw.

Sorry - I only just noticed that it's White to move. (It shouldn't be an impossible programming task to display a White or black filled circle to indicate this. It would also tell you if the board is upside down because for some misguided reason the interface gives you this as an option.)

Anyway that means the knight can only block on the corner square if White pushes the pawn immediately, but with the White king where it is that's good enough. Either

or using the king as well

I don't think 50 moves has anything to do with it,. You should win under FIDE rules just if you have a sequence of legal moves giving you a checkmate. The checkmate doesn't have to be forced and neither the 50 move rule nor the 75 move rule is taken into account. 

I think chess.com and USCF still count some endgames as drawn even when there are legal mates for the the opponent of the player that flagged, but this endgame should certainly not be one of them.

This isn't USCF rated

I think 50 moves would not be relevant in most situations. 

Under FIDE rules, the use of clocks is optional for games not played under competition rules. If clocks are used then it's up to the players to agree in advance what should happen if a flag falls. For games played under competition rules (FIDE rated or not) the 50 move rule is not relevant if a flag falls.

USCF apparently publish their own rules which differ from FIDE rules in some details of competition play. I don't know if they claim to set the basic rules of chess as an alternate authority to FIDE but since they don't publish their rules gratis I can't say much about them. Personally I don't see the point.

The rules at chess.com I believe are USCF rules with miscellaneous programming bugs. So far as I can see these aren't published, gratis or non gratis.

There was no forced mate so draw it is.

But indeed there are positions with same material on board which do have forced mate for black, but chess.com would declare it a draw anyway. I think I've once posted such position here.

Black plays Nc8 and white can simply flag his clock, it's a draw

true

that is what is unfair in this non-USCF rated games

Under FIDE rules it would be a win for the opponent of the player that flagged if it was a FIDE rated game  whether there was a forced win or not. What rules did you agree to play under? If it's chess.com how are you supposed to find out what the rules are?

I'm struggling to understand the relevance of it not being a USCF rated game. I could see there might be some relevance if it were a USCF rated game because then presumably whatever rules USCF specifies for games that qualify would apply. (You need only fork out $20 to find out what those are.)

OK I've seen the light. Sorry about the irrelevances in my previous posts.

The topic has come up before and in this endgame both USCF and chess.com rules count it a draw by insufficient material if the flag of the player with the pawn falls, though one contributor said that under USCF rules (but not chess.com rules), if the player with the knight can demonstrate a forced win from the final position he still gets the win. (I think it's not enough just that there is a forced win, the player with the knight has to be able to demonstrate it.)

Assuming that is true you would have drawn under both USCF and chess.com rules because you don't have a forced win, just a helpmate. The 50 move rule probably would apply in demonstrating the win, so I now see the relevance of your 50 move comment.

The situation described by e4_guy is what I referred to earlier as a programming bug in the chess.com rules.

You just had the misfortune to be playing under rules based on the USCF rules instead of FIDE rules.

It seems pretty stupid to me that the knight in KNKP should be deemed insufficient mating material when it obviously isn't, but then it also seems pretty stupid that USCF should want a set of rules that is different from everybody else's rules anyway. 

It is only a win if one side plays incredibly stupidly (if Black lets White run his pawn up the board without stopping it or if White boxes his king in the corner allowing instant mate). But this was a bullet game so who knows what.

no it was a timeout for him, insufficient material

OP's question is not whether the position is theoretically won or drawn; it's about the rules governing time expiration. This also confused me initially.

There are different rules governing time expiration in effect depending on the game. chessmate095 says only that the game was not USCF rated but I would guess it was actually played on chess.com.

Given that OP is from America, the rules under which the game was played would at any rate most likely be one of the following:

1) FIDE laws:  https://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=207&view=article

2) USCF official rules version 1: http://www.uschess.org/content/view/7324/28/#section8

3) USCF official rules version 2: http://www.uschess.org/content/blogcategory/131/369/

4) Rules enforced at chess.com

The rules in 3 don't seem to appear online and are not available free. I haven't found anywhere the rules in 4 are published. So what I know about 3 and 4 is anecdotal and what I say below is subject to that proviso.

None of the sets of rules 1-4 is consistent with any of the others and in particular in relation to OP's query. This applies to the two versions of the USCF official rules even though both are apparently current.

Under 1 there is no specific draw for insufficient material in case of timeout, but the rules governing time are left to agreement between the players unless the game is played under competition rules. If "insufficient material" were taken as in 2 (i.e. king and knight or king and bishop v king) then a game with this material would be a draw as soon as it appeared under the dead position rule (whether or not competition rules were in effect). OP's position is not dead. It would be automatically won by Black  if competition rules were in effect.

Under 2 there is a draw for insufficient material that can be claimed by a player with a lone king in the event he times out when playing against king and knight or king and bishop. He could also have claimed the draw during the game. (This would be automatic under the rules in 1.) This rule doesn't apply in OP's position and Black would win if tournament rules were in effect and he claimed the win before he also timed out or was checkmated. 

Under 3 or 4 there is also a claimable draw by insufficient material in case of timeout, but these include positions which are not insufficient material in any naturat sense. They include a side with king and pawn playing against  king and knight, which presumably is how OP failed to win in the case in question. There is a further proviso that the draw claim fails if the opponent of the person claiming the draw can demonstrate to the TD a forced win for himself from the position on the assumption that the claimant would claim under the 50 move rule whenever possible. This assumes the game is played under tournament rules in the case of rule set 3, otherwise as in 1 the rules governing time are left to agreement between the players. In OP's case Black would draw with correct play by both sides whether or not he claimed the win before he also timed out or was checkmated if his opponent claimed the draw under the insufficient material rule. I think under rule set 4 both claims are automatic.

One related difference between rule sets 1-3 and 4 (which doesn't apply in OP's case) is the situation described by e4_guy above, where, under rule set 4, White can draw in a lost position by refusing to move.

Whether or not there is a forced win from OP's position within the 50 move rule is relevant, if competition or tournament rules apply, only under rule set 3. I would guess that this is the set that would be in operation in what OP calls a USCF rated game.

how do u write comments half a page long?