Answers.Body: <p>First, Carlsen, despite having only the Bishop, WON that game. So it is not about mating material, but about ANY possible mating position, and there was one here.</p>
  
  <p>The rule at hand is this:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Paragraph 6.9 of the FIDE Laws of Chess state:</p>
    
    <p>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.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>There were positions that white could be mated, even though it required total cooperation, and there is no way that Firouzja would have allowed it. That was irrelevant, so it was a loss.</p>
  
  <p>Also see this related <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/27756/what-exactly-happened-in-the-open-world-blitz-championship-in-game-carlsen-alire/27758#27758">question</a>.</p>
  
  <p>Here are the USCF rules.</p>
  
  <p>14D. Insufficient material to continue.</p>
  
  <p>The game is drawn when one of the following endings exists as of the most recently determined legal move, in which the possibility of a win is excluded for either side. </p>
  
  <p>14D1. King vs. king.</p>
  
  <p>14D2. King vs. king with bishop or knight.</p>
  
  <p>14D3. King and bishop vs. king and bishop, with both bishops on diagonals of the same color. </p>
  
  <p>14D4. No legal moves leading to checkmate by opponent. There are no legal moves that could lead to the player being checkmated by the opponent</p>
  
  <p>So, even these rules are quite specific as to the material for an automatic draw.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-29T22:49:56.847Z
Answers.Text: Do you know if this rule is true in other competitions?
Answers.UserDisplayName: stevec
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Answers.Text: This rule is for ANY FIDE-rated event. Other organizations for a particular country, like the USCF in the United States, may have different rules.
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
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Answers.Text: chess.com appears *not* to abide by the rule (perhaps has its own rules). Do you know which competitions abide by that FIDE rules, and which don't? (or is that a separate question)
Answers.UserDisplayName: stevec
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
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Answers.Text: Chess.com, and others like it, are just websites, and businesses. They can make whatever rules they want, and as far as I know, they all rule that if you just have a minor piece left, it is just a draw. The reason is that it is too hard to program all the possible positions where you MIGHT be able to mate with that lone bishop, so it is easier just to rule it an automatic draw online. Any FIDE event is usually listed on their site, but of course, with COVID-19, just about everything is cancelled right now. https://www.fide.com/calendar
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
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Answers.Text: @PhishMaster On lichess.org,  the above Firouzja-Carlsen game would have been ruled as a Black win - but you are right, they are not able to properly calculate that either. They just use a different set of rules (closer to the FIDE rules than other sites, but still not perfect in every case).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Annatar
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-30T10:33:19.547Z
Answers.Text: The [International Correspondence Chess Federation](https://www.iccf.com/message?message=641), has the rule that in unfinished games with 7 pieces or less, the players could use tablebases to stablish the game result.
Answers.UserDisplayName: djnavas
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-30T15:30:54.477Z
Answers.Text: @djnavasL what's the meaning of "could use" here? When would that be applied? I'm asking because if I understand correctly there are lots of 7-piece endings with forced mates which would be "unfindable" by human players.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Martin Argerami
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Answers.Text: @PhishMaster: If each side has at exactly one piece left, either will be able to help-mate the other in any situation that isn't an immediate stalemate.  As a general pattern, Move the enemy king to a corner, move one's own king to block two escape squares, move the enemy piece next to the enemy king to block off the other escape square, and then move one's own piece to checkmate the opponent.
Answers.UserDisplayName: supercat
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-03-30T00:17:21.243Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-03-30T00:17:21.243Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>Does this rule stand in major Chess tournaments?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>This rule applies in <em>all</em> tournaments where FIDE Laws of Chess take precedence. So, yes, it applies in all major tournaments including USCF and all federations which are affiliated to FIDE.</p>
  
  <p>If it appears to not work on a particular website then that is likely a bug on the platform and it is worth reporting to the platform.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Some (possibly in/correct) answers <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-checkmate-with-a-king-and-a-bishop-how-does-the-strategy-works" rel="noreferrer">here</a> state that the rules of
    chess deem such a situation to not have sufficient mating material. I
    am not sure how reliable they are.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>No, what you say is not correct. The question on the Quora website is not the same. It is asking about <em>forced</em> checkmate. If your flag falls then the opponent does not need enough material to be able to <em>force</em> checkmate. He only needs enough material to checkmate you with you making the worst possible moves. If that is possible then you lose on time. Only if there is no possible sequence of moves leading to checkmate do you get a draw. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-29T23:27:55.773Z
Answers.Text: It would only apply to USCF tournaments that state that they are also FIDE-rated, not every tournament by default because they are "affiliated to FIDE".
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-03-29T23:12:10.637Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Answers.Body: <p>There's no such thing as an insufficient material rule. That's something chess.com made up due to their inability to automatically apply the official rules.</p>
  <p>In FIDE-sanctioned tournaments if a player runs out of time, they lose the game if there is a sequence of legal moves that could lead to them being checkmated.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2024-07-10T06:41:15.893Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-07-10T06:41:15.893Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Answers.Body: <p>Here's an example of a &quot;possible series of moves&quot; from FIDE rules 9.6, so White can technically (despite nearly impossible in reality) be checkmated:</p>
  <pre><code>[FEN &quot;8/4k3/4P3/3B2P1/4P1K1/8/3b4/8 w - - 3 67&quot;]
  [startply &quot;0&quot;]
  
  1. Kh5 Kf8 2. Kh6 Bb4 3. Kh7 Bd6 4. e5 Bxe5 5. Be4 Bd6 6. Kh8 Ba3 7. Bh7 Bb2#
  </code></pre>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-07-07T23:14:29.857Z
Answers.Text: The shortest helpmates are one move quicker, e.g.
  1 Kh5 Kf8 2 Kh6 Kg8 3 e7+ Kh8 4 Bf7 (or 4 e8B) Bc3 5 Bh5 Bb2 6 g6 Bc1#.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Noam D. Elkies
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Answers.UserDisplayName: trolley813
Body: <p>A famous recent example of this ending happened last year <a href="https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1988510" rel="nofollow noreferrer">between</a> Carlsen and Firouzja. </p>
  
  <p>Here, Firouzja time ran out, so Carlsen won</p>
  
  <pre><code>[Title "Alireza Firouzja-Magnus Carlsen, World Blitz Championship, Moscow Russia, 12/30/2019"]
  [FEN ""]
  [startply "132"]
  
  1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. h3 Nf6 9. Bc2 O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nbd2 Qe7 12. Nf1 Qf8 13. Ng3 Bh6 14. Ng5 Nd8 15. Bb3 Ne6 16. h4 Rad8 17. Be3 Bg7 18. h5 Bh6 19. Qc1 Ng4 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Rf1 Nxe3 22. fxe3 Qe7 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Qd2 exd4 25. cxd4 Kg7 26. Rf3 Rf8 27. Raf1 Rxf3 28. Rxf3 Rf8 29. Qc3 c6 30. Nf1 e5 31. Rxf8 Kxf8 32. Qc4 Qf6 33. dxe5 dxe5 34. Qb4+ c5 35. Qxb7 Bb5 36. Qc8+ Ke7 37. Qxc5+ Qd6 38. Qxd6+ Kxd6 39. Bf7 Bxf1 40. Kxf1 g5 41. Ke2 Bf8 42. Kf3 Ke7 43. Bc4 a5 44. Ke2 Kd6 45. Bd5 Be7 46. Kf3 Bd8 47. Kg4 Be7 48. Kf5 Bd8 49. g4 Be7 50. a3 Bd8 51. b4 axb4 52. axb4 Be7 53. b5 Bd8 54. Kg6 Kc5 55. Kf5 Kxb5 56. Kxe5 Kc5 57. Ke6 Ba5 58. e5 Bd2 59. e4 Bc3 60. Kf5 Kb6 61. e6 Kc7 62. Kg6 Kd8 63. Kxg5 Ke7 64. Kh5 Bd2 65. g5 Bf4 66. Kg4 Bd2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In that tournament, the arbiter ruled that Carlsen wins since the he (technically) had sufficient mating material (a King+Bishop, and  Firouzja had >=1 piece in addition to their King). There is a concise explanation <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxKmO0SCNkc&amp;t=642s" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> (from 10m 42s)</p>
  
  <h3>Question</h3>
  
  <p>Does this rule stand in majorchess tournaments? Or is there some special rule to cover this situation and override the idea that King + Bishop is sufficient for checkmate if the opponent has at least one piece in addition to their king?</p>
  
  <h3>Note</h3>
  
  <p>Some (possibly in/correct) answers <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-checkmate-with-a-king-and-a-bishop-how-does-the-strategy-works" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> state that the rules of chess deem such a situation to <strong>not</strong> have sufficient mating material. I am not sure how reliable they are.</p>
  
Tags: <rules><checkmate><fide><claim-draw>
Title: Do the rules of chess state that a Bishop+King can be sufficient mating material?
ThreadText: # Do the rules of chess state that a Bishop+King can be sufficient mating material?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-03-29)
  
  A famous recent example of this ending happened last year between Carlsen and Firouzja. 
  Here, Firouzja time ran out, so Carlsen won
  [Title "Alireza Firouzja-Magnus Carlsen, World Blitz Championship, Moscow Russia, 12/30/2019"]
  [FEN ""]
  [startply "132"]
  
  1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. h3 Nf6 9. Bc2 O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nbd2 Qe7 12. Nf1 Qf8 13. Ng3 Bh6 14. Ng5 Nd8 15. Bb3 Ne6 16. h4 Rad8 17. Be3 Bg7 18. h5 Bh6 19. Qc1 Ng4 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Rf1 Nxe3 22. fxe3 Qe7 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Qd2 exd4 25. cxd4 Kg7 26. Rf3 Rf8 27. Raf1 Rxf3 28. Rxf3 Rf8 29. Qc3 c6 30. Nf1 e5 31. Rxf8 Kxf8 32. Qc4 Qf6 33. dxe5 dxe5 34. Qb4+ c5 35. Qxb7 Bb5 36. Qc8+ Ke7 37. Qxc5+ Qd6 38. Qxd6+ Kxd6 39. Bf7 Bxf1 40. Kxf1 g5 41. Ke2 Bf8 42. Kf3 Ke7 43. Bc4 a5 44. Ke2 Kd6 45. Bd5 Be7 46. Kf3 Bd8 47. Kg4 Be7 48. Kf5 Bd8 49. g4 Be7 50. a3 Bd8 51. b4 axb4 52. axb4 Be7 53. b5 Bd8 54. Kg6 Kc5 55. Kf5 Kxb5 56. Kxe5 Kc5 57. Ke6 Ba5 58. e5 Bd2 59. e4 Bc3 60. Kf5 Kb6 61. e6 Kc7 62. Kg6 Kd8 63. Kxg5 Ke7 64. Kh5 Bd2 65. g5 Bf4 66. Kg4 Bd2
  
  In that tournament, the arbiter ruled that Carlsen wins since the he (technically) had sufficient mating material (a King+Bishop, and  Firouzja had >=1 piece in addition to their King). There is a concise explanation here (from 10m 42s)
  Question
  Does this rule stand in majorchess tournaments? Or is there some special rule to cover this situation and override the idea that King + Bishop is sufficient for checkmate if the opponent has at least one piece in addition to their king?
  Note
  Some (possibly in/correct) answers here state that the rules of chess deem such a situation to not have sufficient mating material. I am not sure how reliable they are.
  
  **Tags:** rules, checkmate, fide, claim-draw
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2020-03-29. Score: 15
  
  First, Carlsen, despite having only the Bishop, WON that game. So it is not about mating material, but about ANY possible mating position, and there was one here.
  
  The rule at hand is this:
  
  > Paragraph 6.9 of the FIDE Laws of Chess state:
  >
  > 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.
  
  There were positions that white could be mated, even though it required total cooperation, and there is no way that Firouzja would have allowed it. That was irrelevant, so it was a loss.
  
  Also see this related [question](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/27756/what-exactly-happened-in-the-open-world-blitz-championship-in-game-carlsen-alire/27758#27758).
  
  Here are the USCF rules.
  
  14D. Insufficient material to continue.
  
  The game is drawn when one of the following endings exists as of the most recently determined legal move, in which the possibility of a win is excluded for either side.
  
  14D1. King vs. king.
  
  14D2. King vs. king with bishop or knight.
  
  14D3. King and bishop vs. king and bishop, with both bishops on diagonals of the same color.
  
  14D4. No legal moves leading to checkmate by opponent. There are no legal moves that could lead to the player being checkmated by the opponent
  
  So, even these rules are quite specific as to the material for an automatic draw.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Do you know if this rule is true in other competitions?  
  > **username_1**: This rule is for ANY FIDE-rated event. Other organizations for a particular country, like the USCF in the United States, may have different rules.  
  > **username_0**: chess.com appears *not* to abide by the rule (perhaps has its own rules). Do you know which competitions abide by that FIDE rules, and which don't? (or is that a separate question)  
  > **username_1**: Chess.com, and others like it, are just websites, and businesses. They can make whatever rules they want, and as far as I know, they all rule that if you just have a minor piece left, it is just a draw. The reason is that it is too hard to program all the possible positions where you MIGHT be able to mate with that lone bishop, so it is easier just to rule it an automatic draw online. Any FIDE event is usually listed on their site, but of course, with COVID-19, just about everything is cancelled right now. https://www.fide.com/calendar  
  > **username_2**: @username_1 On lichess.org,  the above Firouzja-Carlsen game would have been ruled as a Black win - but you are right, they are not able to properly calculate that either. They just use a different set of rules (closer to the FIDE rules than other sites, but still not perfect in every case).  
  > **username_3**: The [International Correspondence Chess Federation](https://www.iccf.com/message?message=641), has the rule that in unfinished games with 7 pieces or less, the players could use tablebases to stablish the game result.  
  > **username_4**: @username_3L what's the meaning of "could use" here? When would that be applied? I'm asking because if I understand correctly there are lots of 7-piece endings with forced mates which would be "unfindable" by human players.  
  > **username_5**: @username_1: If each side has at exactly one piece left, either will be able to help-mate the other in any situation that isn't an immediate stalemate.  As a general pattern, Move the enemy king to a corner, move one's own king to block two escape squares, move the enemy piece next to the enemy king to block off the other escape square, and then move one's own piece to checkmate the opponent.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2020-03-29. Score: 5
  
  > Does this rule stand in major Chess tournaments?
  
  This rule applies in *all* tournaments where FIDE Laws of Chess take precedence. So, yes, it applies in all major tournaments including USCF and all federations which are affiliated to FIDE.
  
  If it appears to not work on a particular website then that is likely a bug on the platform and it is worth reporting to the platform.
  
  > Some (possibly in/correct) answers [here](https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-checkmate-with-a-king-and-a-bishop-how-does-the-strategy-works) state that the rules of
  > chess deem such a situation to not have sufficient mating material. I
  > am not sure how reliable they are.
  
  No, what you say is not correct. The question on the Quora website is not the same. It is asking about *forced* checkmate. If your flag falls then the opponent does not need enough material to be able to *force* checkmate. He only needs enough material to checkmate you with you making the worst possible moves. If that is possible then you lose on time. Only if there is no possible sequence of moves leading to checkmate do you get a draw.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: It would only apply to USCF tournaments that state that they are also FIDE-rated, not every tournament by default because they are "affiliated to FIDE".  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2024-07-10. Score: 3
  
  There's no such thing as an insufficient material rule. That's something chess.com made up due to their inability to automatically apply the official rules.
  
  In FIDE-sanctioned tournaments if a player runs out of time, they lose the game if there is a sequence of legal moves that could lead to them being checkmated.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2020-03-31. Score: 2
  
  Here's an example of a "possible series of moves" from FIDE rules 9.6, so White can technically (despite nearly impossible in reality) be checkmated:
  [FEN "8/4k3/4P3/3B2P1/4P1K1/8/3b4/8 w - - 3 67"]
  [startply "0"]
  
  1. Kh5 Kf8 2. Kh6 Bb4 3. Kh7 Bd6 4. e5 Bxe5 5. Be4 Bd6 6. Kh8 Ba3 7. Bh7 Bb2#
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_9**: The shortest helpmates are one move quicker, e.g. 1 Kh5 Kf8 2 Kh6 Kg8 3 e7+ Kh8 4 Bf7 (or 4 e8B) Bc3 5 Bh5 Bb2 6 g6 Bc1#.  
  
  ---
  
  