Draw by Insufficient Material

If you (i.e the player with material) run out of time when your opponent has no material besides a king, the game is declared drawn since, obviously, one cannot checkmate with just a king. You'll notice that the game ended after your opponent made their move, stopping his/her clock and starting yours. You ran out of time, the other person had no way to win, so it was declared drawn.

EDIT: I type too slowly...

OmniPaul, SindouHikaru, thanks. I was unaware that time had run out. I am impressed that you could work that out. It is the only simple conclusion to draw, so it's good to know if this was in fact the case.

In the position below black ran out of time and chess.com said remis due to insufficient material. But with the most unskilled counterplay one could end up in a position like above which is checkmate. So the postition where black ran out of time should be won for white.

@d4samuel, the position you posted is a result of chess.com's attempt to include rules similar to FIDE's "not trying or cannot win by normal means."  In an official FIDE game, if it is obvious that your opponent is simply trying to win on the clock, you can call an arbiter over to declare a draw so long as you still have time on your clock.

As there is no arbiter on chess.com, a person will be awarded with a draw sometimes even if a mate is possible.  The site will still call it "Insufficient Material" instead of "Insufficient Losing Chances," though, as they merged the two rules into one - presumably to simplify their programming.

Just when am ready to go in for the kill, are you kidding me? That rule sux,end of story.

But..isn't "running out the clock" on an opponent a stragety also?

Playing within the alloted time is part of the game...if you can't do that....you lose. 

d4samuel, I do not get your point. How can Black run out of time in the first diagram you have posted?? If it was check (even if it is mate in 2) the clock is running, but in the position you have posted it is White's turn, and White plays Be5 checkmate. The clock is not running when it is checkmate, but the game is over. How can Black's clock still run after been checkmated, even if there is 0.0001 second left??

riuryk

read his post again. He says the first diagram shows checkmate. The position where the clock ran out was the second illustration.

Oh, it was due to the format. I think he was talking about the first one. Thanks.

Sort of.  The rules I mentioned basically say that you can't win purely on the clock.  But the person making the claim for a draw by those rules still has to have time on their clock to make the claim, at least in official games.  Since there's no arbiter here, the chess.com system approximates one when time runs out for one player.  It's an imperfect solution, certainly, but there isn't really a perfect one out there.  Every website handles things their own way.  This one handles them differently than most, but it is done with the aim to try to approximate the official rules better than most other sites (for example, having to claim draws by threefold repetition or the fifty move rule instead of having them automatically done).

 iagree that  'insufficient material ' should notend a game

I don't get your logic. If one player runs out of time, the game has ended. The insufficient material rule then determines if the result is a win or a draw.

If neither player has mating material during normal play the game is also adjudicated a draw.

I just played a game where I had a knight vs bishop and knight,  and my opponent lost on time.  I think it is possible for there to be a checkmate with knight vs bishop,  eg black: Na1, Ba2, Kg8 white:  Nh4,  where black plays Bg8 and white plays Ng6 mate.  This is highly unrealistic, but I thought that this would count as a win!?

Under FIDE rules, yes. Under USCF rules, no.

Under chess.com rules, no.

I think it's a glitch. It has happened to me too many times, too. Neither of us ran out on time and I had more than enough pieces to win the game. Yet, it was drawn by insufficient material when all my opponent had left was his King. Makes no sense. 

Either:

1. you ran out of time and a draw declared because your opponent had insufficient material.

or

2. a position arose where neither of you had sufficient mating material, and the game is declared an immediate draw.

Post a link to some games where you think this was otherwise.

They were all live games (really all I play).  

Can you not post a link to some games where you think there was a "glitch" ?

There are enough of these dull threads from people who don't know the rules without bumping old ones.

No, there isn't a glitch.