Originally posted by David Tebb Winning with a bare King is not chess. It's a weird variation of the game. I doubt that this sort of nonsense happens on any other site.
I was at a tournament yesterday where a stronger player than me was up against a weaker player than myself. They were in the endgame and the girl had K+Q+R vs. K. The time controls were 20 mins and here opponent had 5 mins, she had 1. They manouevred about for a couple of moves while the girl was about to win, and then her flag fell. 0 points for her, 1 point to rubbish opponent. I think this sort of thing happens frequently in rapidplay chess (I blundered horribly at the same tournament against the same girl under time pressure. I took a pawn with my bishop which she quickly exploited with a skewer and then took it.)
Originally posted by curseknight I was at a tournament yesterday where a stronger player than me was up against a weaker player than myself. They were in the endgame and the girl had K+Q+R vs. K. The time controls were 20 mins and here opponent had 5 mins, she had 1. They manouevred about for a couple of moves while the girl was about to win, and then her flag fell. 0 points for her, 1 ...[text shortened]... ssure. I took a pawn with my bishop which she quickly exploited with a skewer and then took it.)
If someone only has their King left and their opponent's flag falls, they can claim a draw. The rules of chess state that in order to claim a win, a player must have mating material. The tournament officials should have stepped in and declared the game drawn. Otherwise they're not doing their jobs properly.
Originally posted by David Tebb If someone only has their King left and their opponent's flag falls, they can claim a draw. The rules of chess state that in order to claim a win, a player must have mating material. The tournament officials should have stepped in and declared the game drawn. Otherwise they're not doing their jobs properly.
David is totally correct on this in that a win with a bare King whether here or in an OTB Rapidplay finish is not chess in accordance with the official FIDE rules although this can be varied for individual tournaments.
I think that to be precise the rules state that it is a draw unless your opponent can win with any series of legal moves even against the most inept play. If against inept play a win is not possible in any circumstances the game is a draw. Of course that currently is not the case here so until it is fixed I regret I will need to take advantage of this bug (although to be honest if I were a Q & R down against any half decent opponent, i.e. anyone rated above about 1300 I would have resigned ages ago so this situation is totally improbable).
Originally posted by Dragon Fire David is totally correct on this in that a win with a bare King whether here or in an OTB Rapidplay finish is not chess in accordance with the official FIDE rules although this can be varied for individual tournaments.
I think that to be precise the rules state that it is a draw unless your opponent can win with any series of legal moves even against ...[text shortened]... rated above about 1300 I would have resigned ages ago so this situation is totally improbable).
Yes, a player with a lone king left on the board cannot win the game. He can only draw, even if the opponent's clock runs out. The official rule states:
Rule 6.9
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 by any possible series of legal moves, even with the most unskilled counterplay.
I agree that the game should have been drawn in terms of the FIDE rules, and RHP should at least apply this rule to the simple case where only a king is left.
However, there's a wider issue. RHP is correspondence chess and we use a browser to play, but the FIDE rules are not written in this context. So people use their common sense to determine which FIDE rules are applicable to RHP or not. Plus the RHP TOS adds some detail. But the overall differences are not formally stated anywhere.
e.g. does RHP comply with FIDE 6.10 or not? (the rule regarding: it's a draw if no possible win for opponent when your flag falls). I think it should where possible, but this is not a simple bug in the software to support fully. There are cases of 6.10 with more than just a king left.
I guess RHP should automate the simple cases of 6.10 and document a "report to admin" process for the more involved cases.
Originally posted by DanVM Wrong... in that tournament you can be timed out... I moved and went to sleep... when I woke up 6 hours later the game was timed out...
Not many of us are familiar with this 0/X setting. It's not an option for regular games. There were 21 days to complete a game, and the flag fell.
There has been talk in the past about officiant materials for mate, but you really need a human arbiter to decide. My understanding is there is no set formula to go by in some instances. I doubt RHP will change anything on this topic.
Originally posted by Phlabibit Not many of us are familiar with this 0/X setting. It's not an option for regular games. There were 21 days to complete a game, and the flag fell.
There has been talk in the past about officiant materials for mate, but you really need a human arbiter to decide. My understanding is there is no set formula to go by in some instances. I doubt RHP will change anything on this topic.
P-
Unfortunately, the site championship uses the same type of time control - 0 time-out and 60 day timebank. It's fine for players who move quickly and finish their games in not many moves. But it can be a nightmare for those that have long games.
Anyone who is in favour of this time control should check out the 158 move game between English Tal and Gatecrasher from the 2007 Championship Game 4079590. I don't blame English Tal for taking advantage of the rules and trying to win on time. The fault lies entirely with the time control. It's just not appropriate for such an important tournament.
I suggest that the 2009 Championship adopts a more sensible time control. How about 1 day time-out plus 20 day timebank? An average 40 move game would still finish within 60 days, If games last longer, then the players should have more time.