Well, I'm not sure if that exact terminology is correct here (though it seems so), but your opponent can't win on time unless he has sufficient material to mate.
Insufficent Losing Chances
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Yep, if there's no sequence of moves possible that leads to a win, then you can't win, it's that easy :p
Oh okay, he couldn't force mate, so he couldn't win. In USCF, if you are in an obvious winning position, but losing on time, you can ask the TD to call it a draw due to insufficent losing chances.
Yep, same thing. Insufficient mating material is clearer though, because you can argue about the meaning of losing 'chances'... For example, if I'm playing K+Q vs. K+P, my losing chances are pretty much 0, but if my flag falls, I still lose on time, because there is a possible (even though unprobable) sequence of moves that lead to me being checkmated.
'Insufficient losing chances, by USCF rules, is a situation where a person is winning but has less than 2 minutes remaining and rather than losing on time, wishes to ask for a draw. "
Not quite true the rest of the post is right. an addition to the point you made is that The idea is if you have a position where a player clearly understands the drawing technique but another player is just trying to win on time then they can make that claim of insufficent losing chances. Its recommended to put a time delay clock on the game and let them play it out or better yet start with delay from the beginning.
for example in this position white just have to shuffle his bishop around. A very easy fortress to understand for any level. So a insufficent losing chances can be claimed here and a time delay clock be requested.
the recommended solution is just put a delay clock on the game and let them play it out.
i would disagree that 10% chance occurs well before that point of material reduction. I would play any computer you want me to in a R vs R endgame as long as i have time to move
Yesterday I was playing and lost everything except the king. My opponent had queen and few more but he ran out of time. I hope I should win on time as he could not complete on time eventhough he had more powers. But it showed "Draw due to insufficient material". I hope this is rubbish because regardless of the powers as time out happened, as it is actually based on time. If it is a draw, then what is the meaning of having time constraint? I have seen many times winning match while the opponent was running out of time... But when we both had powers... But the powers are regardless when one person is taking more time and ends up in timeout...
Likewise, I have seen sometimes when the opponent is not moving for sometime, the game will be aborted... at the same time I have seen the server waiting till timeout... I dont understand the reason...
Sometimes even the automated program allowed a person to move twice continuesly.... This happened for me thrice... Before I could move, the opponent moved twice continuesly...
The admin should come in and take necessary steps to fix these errors...
@ Elangork
Your misinformed about the rules of chess. to claim a win on time you MUST have material on the board the can result in a win.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draw_(chess)
If only one player has exceeded the time limit, but the other player does not have (theoretically) sufficient mating material, the game is still a draw. Law 6.9 of the FIDE Laws of Chess states that: "If a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by the player. However, the game is drawn, if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player's king by any possible series of legal moves, even with the most unskilled counterplay." For example, a player who runs out of time with a king and queen versus a sole king does not lose the game. It is still possible to lose on time in positions where mate is extremely unlikely but not theoretically impossible, as with king and bishop versus king and knight.
So if you have a single pawn you can win on time because it can become a queen. while if you have a bishop left you can not this is why in blitz you will see players grab all the pieces and pawns to ensure the worst case is a draw. its good blitz technique
Games that are aborted:
The system will automatically abort a game after 20 seconds if a player does not make a first move after the 1st move they are locked in and will lose on time. Abort games too often though and a player can lose the right to abort and the game will be lost. this is to avoid abuse.
Thanks for your information. Yes, I had no knowledge about this rule. But regarding games abort, I know about aborting before starting moves. But what I was stating was idle in between games.
In few games when the opponent was idle for sometime, it was aborted. But in some cases, even when he did not move, I had to wait till the complete timeout. In a worst case, my opponent did not move for more than 15 mins, as there was no replies in chat window, I closed. but my rating was reduced for it.
In some games, before I move, my opponent could move continuesly....
it seems like alot of people do no understand this. It is a draw by insufficent material if the player has nothing left or it comes down to say 1 knight vs knight or 1 knight vs 1 bishop. If I have one pawn left and my opponent has just a king and I flag i lose because I have potential mating material as the pawn can become a queen or rook, just the same as bishops of opposite color if I have the pawn and you easily blockade and you flag I still win as the pawn is potential mating material if you screw it up.
This game was drawn after I ran out of time. It says it's because of insufficent material. Is it because of insufficent losing chances?
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=311072371