Draw on time

The flag is the clock indicator showing that a player's allotted time has expired. A player who fails to complete the required moves before the flag falls normally loses.

The exception is a draw on time: the game is drawn if the opponent cannot checkmate by any possible series of legal moves. The clearest case is an opponent who has only a king. The rules question is not whether mate is likely or whether a skilled player could force it, but whether any legal sequence can end in checkmate.

This test makes simple piece-count shortcuts unreliable. Some material combinations that cannot normally force mate can still take part in a legal mating position with cooperation from both sides. The arbiter must judge the actual position.

This result is also different from simultaneous flag-fall, where both displays show expired time and it may be impossible to establish which flag fell first. The applicable rule then depends on the playing period and competition format.