English Chess Forum

In the Hampshire EJCOA U10 tournament today a player with bishop and knight offered his opponent with a lone king a draw.

The player with the lone king turned down the draw offer.

Because he was ahead on time?

I've certainly had "But I'm winning on time!" in junior games. I hope you ordered the game to continue and counted until 75 moves were played

I've even witnessed K+Q v K where the player with the Q was so frustrated with his own inability to win that he tried to resign,

Was it explained to them that it would be a draw anyway even if their opponents flag fell?

Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 7:14 pm

Was it explained to them that it would be a draw anyway even if their opponents flag fell?

Eventually yes, and I demonstrated some mating patterns of bishop and knight versus king.

Alex McFarlane wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 4:34 pm

I've even witnessed K+Q v K where the player with the Q was so frustrated with his own inability to win that he tried to resign,

Better that for the draw than having to wait for 75 moves.

I recall a junior game when I was arbiter which reached KQ vs K, so I looked at other games, then noticed the first one was still going. The player with Q was playing dozens of checks and never moving the king. After a while, the player looked at me and asked if they could offer a draw. I said that was reasonable and the players went off happily chatting to each other.

In the case outlined above, you just declare a draw.