Losing on time when opponent has insufficient mating material

For every game that there is a knight against pawn and king stuck in its own corner, there are 10,000 games of a lone minor piece against an armada of pieces.

So the old rule, while "less consistent", got it right in the majority of cases. The new rule gets it wrong in almost every instance.

I played a game where the only way for my opponent to win was for me to promote one of my pawns to bishop (!) and trap myself behind my other pawn. Ie white pawn c8=b, pawn on d7, king on d8, black king on f7 and Bb6 mate. Happily my opponent wasn't counting on such stupidity and just took my pawns off the board for a draw.

Also, Lone knight beats lone bishop? Really? Thats the rule you want? Pffft why dont we get rid of stalemate while we're at it?

Chess philistines!! Do You know chess was played without a clock for over a thousand years??? It's a beautiful game of skill and of the mind. You guys want it to be about pushing wood.

Shame on all of you

Well, then play without a clock or use increment.

I am happy that there is a consistent rule set. If I lose on time I'll take it as a man.

#21 You are implying that the current rule is wrong. But you wouldn't complain in the slightest if K+P won on time against K+QRRBBNN, even with the pawn blockaded. Why should some possible checkmates be favored over others?

If consistency is what you are after, then the time control should be the absolute determiner of the result. What does it matter what material is on the board if you overstep the time? If your flag falls, You should lose. Period.

The current rule is wrong because a knight should not suddenly become more powerful than a bishop, because you cannot judge at a glance what is mating material, because you should not have a game adjudicated as a loss because you have too much material, and because chess games should be decided on the board wherever possible, and not by the clock and imaginary mating positions.

Eliminating pawns is a simple chess task that adds something to the game. Having your opponent eliminate your pawns for you is not simple and adds nothing to the game. The new rule just encourages woodpushing. There is no beauty in it.

Caissa is weeping. Lichess is breaking her heart.

8/3N3k/4K3/7r/8/6Rp/8/8 b - - 0 1
White: Ke6, Rg3, Nd7
Black: Kh7, Rh5, h3
Black to play and draw.
Having white eliminate the black pawn adds to the game.
There is beauty in it.

If your flag falls, then you lose.
Only exception: if your opponent cannot mate you by any legal series of moves, then it is a draw.
The exception is exactly there to prevent some stupidity like kings with bishops of the same colour.

Agreed the rule still has some twisted consequences like K+N vs. K+N playing on to win on time.
The solution to that is to play with increment.