claiming a draw

If both sides have insufficient material to win a game (i.e., it's a draw), then either the site should automatically declare the game as a draw, or at least let one or both the players claim a draw. I am not sure how well this is implemented, but I am following a game right now which is going on with one king + bishop vs. a lone king. See Game 882633.

I talked to fhbchess and Kresten about this game using private messages, and fhbchess says he tried to claim a draw but the site didn't let him.

I think it will be a useful feature to have the website take care of theoritical draws. In fact, I would think this feature is basic enough that not having it counts almost as a bug :-) (no, this isn't a flaimbait -- I like playing chess here and would like to see more improvements).

- Alok

It's holding up the tournament too.

One problem with theoretical draws, unless you get down to KvK+B/N or KvK where mate isn't even possible, and KvK+N+N, amongst weaker players, there is still the possibility of a really stupid mistake (I speak from personal experience here.

One other idea would be for a tournament to progress after those progressing are all certain (perhaps with no games left themselves, so they don't have an extra load).