HELP !....Arbiter Decision in Blitz Game

It was a 5-minute blitz game....

Take another look. I had the board setup wrong at first....sorry.

My question is:

Is it required, at times, to physically capture the king ?

'Cuz if so ?....then white wins.

No, but I watched the game. The clock showed Black's flag icon as blinking.

I guess this is a trick question because the position is not actually checkmate. So white wins. (The position given plays out to checkmate in the moves. So I think what follows IS correct).

If the move had actually been checkmate, Black wins. The rules that pertain are:

In the case given no valid claim was made that the flag fell BEFORE the checkmate. Even if the flag HAD fallen, the claim was not made.

Checkmate ends the game, a flag claim would need to be made prior to mate. If it is unclear which action (claim or play) occurred first, legally played checkmate takes the 'tiebreak'.

Out To: Andec25

....a flag claim would need to be made prior to mate.

****

Thanx !....and I hope ur sure about this 'cuz ur not quoting the rulebook like madratter7 has. 

Okay here's what happened. Black played 1...Rg1 and yelled "checkmate". White looked at the clock and yelled "your flag fell".

At that point, everything erupted and I got outta the way.

As it was, Black retained the board and played the next one in line.

Oh !....& btw, White had about 2 seconds on their clock. It was a digital clock and when time is out ?....a little flag thingy display comes on and starts flashing.   

Out To: madratter7

In the case given no valid claim was made that the flag fell BEFORE the checkmate. Even if the flag HAD fallen, the claim was not made.

****

Thanks madratter7  !

My problem with Rule 6.8 is that it doesn't state if the declaration by the losing side MUST occur before of after the winning side's move.

So I feel like I'm still floating in limbo here.

White never wins, because he doesn't have mating material.  Either black win or draw.  In USCF, simultaneous mate and flag is mate and I believe that applies if both players are staring at the board and only after mate realize someone's flag has fallen.  Did someone call flag before mate appeared on the board?  If so, draw, if not, mate.

 Its a draw. Black flagged and white can't win (Insufficient material). 

I don't actually know tournament rules. Do you press the clock after checkmate? If so, then it means black flagged since they didn't press the clock before it hit zero.

The point is that there is a sequence here. After the checkmate occurs, the game ends. The rule is clear. At that point, there is no valid claim that can be made because the game is already over. I think the rules here are actually pretty clear. Ideally with a game this close to ending, they would be playing on a device where the sequence is clear or an arbiter is closing watching the game.

Read the rules, they are above. There is no requirement to press the clock after making the checkmate. The game has ended.

Do you follow FIDE rules or USCF rules in the U.S. Virgin Islands?

Generally, in USCF tournaments, the Tournament Director is also the Arbiter, so I assume you're following FIDE rules and I'll note the 2018 FIDE rule first.  FIDE rule under The Laws of Chess, 5.1.1 says, "The game is won by the player who has checkmated his opponent’s king. This immediately ends the game." (Source: http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=208&view=article)

That means that, on checkmate, the player does NOT have to hit the clock to complete the move. Since the opponent did not claim the flag fell until AFTER the player released the Piece, the checkmate stands and Black wins.

As a former USCF Tournament Director, the USCF rule is that only the players may note the fallen flag - which was true in this case - and the claim the flag fell must occur BEFORE the move is completed.

In agreement with the FIDE rule, USCF rule 13A says: "The player who checkmates the opponent’s king, providing the mating move is legal, wins the game. This immediately ends the game. TD TIP: This means that anything that happens after the checkmate move has been legally determined is irrelevant to the outcome of the game, including the player’s flag falling.

13A1. The clock after checkmate. A player who checkmates the opponent is not obligated to then press or stop the clock, as checkmate takes priority over a subsequent flag fall. A player delivering checkmate may choose to press the clock to minimize the possibility of dispute."

Consequently, I always ruled that a checkmate that occurred before the opponent noted the flag had fallen was a true checkmate - the fallen flag did not change anything.

Both FIDE and USCF rules say Black won the game by checkmate.

I stumbled upon this one afternoon in Miami - earlier this year. I only play online (and too much !) But here ?....I think it's USCF & I heard they meet here in C-Town (Christiansted).

White HAD mating material. I just didn't show it for clarity. There were actually more pawns & pieces on the board (can't remember the setup now).

This is draw if flag fell...

right...