Can you lose a game when the opponent has insufficient mating material but you have a pawn left? Annoying that we have bishops of opposite colour, but I have a pawn which will never promote, so when I flag I still lose.
What If the black king is on a8
Black Bishop on b8
White Bishop on f3
White King on b6
If black king gets trapped black can move with the pawn so it will be stalemate
Black Bishop on b8
White Bishop on f3
White King on b6
If black king gets trapped black can move with the pawn so it will be stalemate
5.Ke3Kh656.Ke4Kh757.Kf5Kh858.Ke6Kg859.Kd5Kf860.Kc6Ke761.Kb6Kd862.Kc6Kc863.Kb6Kb864.Kc6Ka865.Bxf3Bb866.Kb6#
what I said above is a mating possibility
#1 If your king were on f1, bishop on e1, pawn on f2, and White king on h1, then Bd3# is possible without promotion.
hmmm so there is some minuscule chance I could get self mated. Thanks for sharing.
Glad to help. Thankfully, Lichess rules aren't based upon probabilities:
It‘s an easy mate in 5 in the corner without the pawn. Now what?
Hello.
The concept of "insufficient mating material" doesen't exist in the laws of chess, but is an useful easy-to-learn simplification of the more complex concept of "series of legal moves to checkmate the opponent" that appears in the following rules:
5.2.2 The game is drawn when a position has arisen in which neither player can checkmate the opponent’s king with any series of legal moves. The game is said to end in a ‘dead position’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.
6.9
Except where one of Articles 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3 applies, if a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by that 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.
As SteadyAntelope pointed before, in the given position there is a series of legal moves that leads to checkmate for white, therefore black loses on time.
Let's see a nice example
http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/5iol9le4vvq1.png
fen=1R6/6q1/5b2/8/8/p7/PQkB1N2/KR6
Here, if black runs out of time the game ends in a draw, because there isn't any series of legal moves to checkmate the black king, as the only two legal moves available lead to checkmate in 3 for black.
The concept of "insufficient mating material" doesen't exist in the laws of chess, but is an useful easy-to-learn simplification of the more complex concept of "series of legal moves to checkmate the opponent" that appears in the following rules:
5.2.2 The game is drawn when a position has arisen in which neither player can checkmate the opponent’s king with any series of legal moves. The game is said to end in a ‘dead position’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.
6.9
Except where one of Articles 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3 applies, if a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by that 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.
As SteadyAntelope pointed before, in the given position there is a series of legal moves that leads to checkmate for white, therefore black loses on time.
Let's see a nice example
http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/5iol9le4vvq1.png
fen=1R6/6q1/5b2/8/8/p7/PQkB1N2/KR6
Here, if black runs out of time the game ends in a draw, because there isn't any series of legal moves to checkmate the black king, as the only two legal moves available lead to checkmate in 3 for black.
"Insufficient mating material" actually is how Lichess handles these situations, because it's much easier to determine than "series of legal moves to checkmate the opponent".
Sometimes there are situations where e.g. 4 pawn pairs are locked and the kings cannot possibly cross, which are draws by FIDE rules, but timeout wins here, because "At least one pawn left = sufficient mating material", case closed. Calculating all series of legal moves is unfortunately too impractical.
It's a much better approximation to the official rules than what some other sites do (completely arbitrary sets of material constellations where a win is "too improbable", without any attention to actual probabilities), though.
Rule of thumb: As long as there is ANY pawn left, any side with more than a naked king can still win.
Sometimes there are situations where e.g. 4 pawn pairs are locked and the kings cannot possibly cross, which are draws by FIDE rules, but timeout wins here, because "At least one pawn left = sufficient mating material", case closed. Calculating all series of legal moves is unfortunately too impractical.
It's a much better approximation to the official rules than what some other sites do (completely arbitrary sets of material constellations where a win is "too improbable", without any attention to actual probabilities), though.
Rule of thumb: As long as there is ANY pawn left, any side with more than a naked king can still win.
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