Agreed. And if you’re directing players who can’t always mate with K + Q + Q + R vs K, I don’t think that either of those scenarios are all that far-fetched. I think that we’re assuming a level of competence which isn’t automatic among tournament players.
Alex Relyea
In the lower boards of some of the weaker local scholastic sections the director’s rule of thumb is that K+Q vs K is a draw about 50% of the time while K+2Q vs K is a stalemate about 90% of the time.
Even better when both players in that situation only move the king and the player with mating material just lets it sit on the board.
Of around 7000 sections rated since 1/1/07 with at least one 1800 player in them, less than 100 of them had a section chief TD who was rated under 1200 and only about 250 had a section chief with a rating lower than 1600, and quite a few of those would have had an assistant section chief or another assistant TD around with a higher rating.