Newby Question on Scoring

Hi - I'm new here and to chess in general. I don't understand how the 10-minute games are awarded. Here I am White and significantly ahead in material, but Black was declared the winner. I know the scoring must be complicated but I don't get it. I have 6 pawns to his 2 and my Rook and Bishop both outrank his 1 Knight. Is it simply because my time expired first?? Thanks for any help.

White lost because white ran out of time.

It's definitely frustrating at times, but whenever a player's clock reaches zero the game immediately ends. Since your clock only counts down with it's your turn, it's fair in the sense that both players have the same amount of time to make their moves.

A 10 minute game means both clocks are set to 10 minutes. In other words it could potentially take about 20 minutes to finish the game. If the time control were 30 minutes, then a game could potentially take about an hour.

Yes, if you run out of time you lose (unless the opponent has not got sufficient material left to checkmate you, then it's a draw). It must be this way - or what is to stop one player winning a pawn +1 and just not moving for the rest of the game? The 'scoring' is a numerical guide to the material position, nothing more. You can be +10 but it counts for nothing if you are getting checkmated next move. 

Thanks - what I suspected. So I know this is unethical, but I guess I could have just made quick pawn moves as my clock was coming down to try to get my opponent's clock to expire first? It's frustrating because of the material advantage and the definite opportunity to get at least 2 passed pawns. It's obvious I was in a winning position except for the clock. I would not feel right about being awarded a win if the situation was reversed.

Yes, when both players get very low on time usually the game becomes a lot of frantic moves with both players hoping the other will lose on time first.

There are time controls that help prevent this though. For example 15|10 means both players start with 15 minutes, and after each move 10 seconds is added to that player's clock. So in that case if you get down to the last part of the game, as long as you never taker longer than 10 second on a move you'll never run out of time.

The clock is part of the game, there is nothing unethical about winning on time. One side has used more time to make more accurate moves, the other has sacrificed accuracy for speed. It's always a trade off. 

Yes, nothing unethical about flagging your opponent, although it is annoying when it happens to you.

Good luck with your games and may the odds be ever in your favor.