Rule 14E, Insufficient material

[timjust]

@dive2depth

@rfeditor

@dive2depth

In the last scholastic tournament I directed, I encountered not less than 3 games settled by time in which the “winner” did not have winning material but the “loser” had overwhelming winning material. None of the losers made a 14E claim, so I painfully let the time results stand.

I’ve since researched and I am strongly considering invoking 14J, Draw declared by director, in the future even without a player’s claim. 14J doesn’t say it can be used for 14E, but it doesn’t exclude it, either.

Am I wrong?

I don’t believe your ruling was correct. 14E does not require a claim (though in practice it usually arises from one). “The game is drawn even when a player exceeds the time limit when one of the following conditions exists …” It doesn’t say “a player may claim a draw,” just that “the game is drawn.”

Well, being ‘not correct’ for the very first time in my life didn’t turn out too bad. ;^)

'Cause I know I had the right instinct; it didn’t feel right at the time. Although . . . you didn’t continue quoting the TD TIP: “. . . a 14E draw claim [emphasis added] is first a draw offer . . .”

Though, I’m guessing you mean they may claim the draw, they just don’t have to claim it to get it. Yes?

Yep. And the Tip is there to just remind everyone that if the claim is made it is also a draw offer. Hindsight is 20/20 and the Tip could have been worded better.

[rfeditor]

@Tim Just

@dive2depth

@rfeditor

@dive2depth

In the last scholastic tournament I directed, I encountered not less than 3 games settled by time in which the “winner” did not have winning material but the “loser” had overwhelming winning material. None of the losers made a 14E claim, so I painfully let the time results stand.

I’ve since researched and I am strongly considering invoking 14J, Draw declared by director, in the future even without a player’s claim. 14J doesn’t say it can be used for 14E, but it doesn’t exclude it, either.

Am I wrong?

I don’t believe your ruling was correct. 14E does not require a claim (though in practice it usually arises from one). “The game is drawn even when a player exceeds the time limit when one of the following conditions exists …” It doesn’t say “a player may claim a draw,” just that “the game is drawn.”

Well, being ‘not correct’ for the very first time in my life didn’t turn out too bad. ;^)

'Cause I know I had the right instinct; it didn’t feel right at the time. Although . . . you didn’t continue quoting the TD TIP: “. . . a 14E draw claim [emphasis added] is first a draw offer . . .”

Though, I’m guessing you mean they may claim the draw, they just don’t have to claim it to get it. Yes?

Yep. And the Tip is there to just remind everyone that if the claim is made it is also a draw offer. Hindsight is 20/20 and the Tip could have been worded better.

Certainly you can make a 14E claim. 90+ percent of the time, that’s the only way it’s going to come up, since TDs do not generally watch all the games. I don’t read that as meaning that a player may always win on time with insufficient material if the opponent does not make a claim. The situation is quite similar to the one in which both players’ flags are down in sudden death. If neither player makes a claim, no TD is watching, and the players post a result other than 1/2-1/2, it will probably stand. If the TD is watching and sees that both flags are down, he should declare the game a draw. Likewise here: if the TD knows that player A had insufficient material to win on time, and player A posts a result indicating that he won on time, the TD should disallow it and score the game a draw.