Chess rules
Insufficient Material in Chess: When Is It a Draw?
Insufficient material means neither player has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate by any legal sequence of moves, such as king against king, or king and knight against king. The FIDE Laws call this a dead position, and the game ends immediately as a draw.
Example
1... Kxe5
Black captures White's last pawn. With only a king and a knight against a lone king, no sequence of legal moves can produce checkmate, so the game is drawn at once.
Which positions are dead
Under the FIDE Laws, the game is drawn when a position arises in which neither player can checkmate the opposing king by any series of legal moves. This ends the game immediately, with no claim needed.
The standard cases are king against king, king and bishop against king, king and knight against king, and king and bishop against king and bishop with both bishops on squares of the same color.
Positions that are not dead
Two knights against a lone king cannot force mate, but a mate is possible if the defender blunders, so the game goes on. The same is true of king and knight against king and knight, and of bishops on opposite colors.
Any pawn, rook, or queen on the board means mate is still possible. King, bishop, and knight against king is a forced win with correct play.
Insufficient material and the clock
If a player runs out of time, the game is normally lost. Under the FIDE Laws, it is a draw instead if the opponent cannot checkmate by any possible series of legal moves.
So if your flag falls and your opponent has only a king and a knight against your lone king, the game is drawn, because there is no way to mate a bare king with a knight. If your opponent has a king, bishop, and knight, you lose on time, because mate is possible. A lone knight can mate if the defender still has pieces that block their own king, so your extra material can turn a timeout into a loss.
Common questions
Is king and two knights against king a draw?
It cannot be won by force, but it is not an automatic draw, because a mate exists if the defender makes a mistake. The game continues until a draw is agreed, claimed, or reached by another rule.
Can you win on time with just a knight?
Not against a lone king, because no checkmate is possible. Against a king with other pieces, a knight can sometimes mate with help, so under FIDE rules the timeout can count as a win.
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