How can a chess player run out of time, and still play?

Question

The reason I ask. Is the guy that I was playing ran out of time, was still playing with no time left, and I still had 4 minute. Yet I ran out of time and lost!!!!

Answer 1

Here is how. if you are playing with a slow connection, there will be a time lag between when you make your move and when it actually gets recognised, processed and the feedback screened on your monitor. There will be another time lag applying to when your opponent makes his move. So, if that lag is say 5 seconds on your side, you will lose 5 secs for every move you make and more five for every move your opponent makes. Now, you will not easily see it on your side that you have lost time, coz your clock will be late by the accumulated time you have lost over all moves played. Probably, the four minutes you saw against yourself were the accumualted lost minutes against you..

And if you opponent hasa much faster connection, he gains against you the time that you lose. So in this case, he will have the four minutes to his advantage.

So, next time you see your connection slowed, do not play timed games, or even, do not play at that time. You can see this by how long it takes for your move to be relayed on your screen

I hope that helps you.

Answer 2

That's a mistake. Your opponent has every right to keep on playing without time if you don't make a claim. However, if both players run out of time the game should be a draw. The only way to lose a game playing an opponent that ran out of time is to let yourself be mated before you claim your win. That site you were playing on doesn't work right or your opponent didn't know the rules (if it was a real game).

Answer 3

It depends on where you play chess. If it's on yahoo, I'm not sure. It could be a huge lag. But if you were playing somewhere like FICS or something like it, it could have been because you didn't claim a win after his time ran out. Some internet sites can be like that.

Answer 4

It is probably something called lag meaning your opponet has a bad server and it takes a long time to send the moves to the playing server who then sends it to you. And, the server is so advanced that it corrects the lag! Or, you have not set the autoclaim function on. This way you have to claim that you have won on time by pushing a button.

Answer 5

I think the computer time is not working