Running around the chess board?

I was playing a game against a computer and all it had left was a king and I had a king and a horse. I spent about 20 minutes running around the board trying to trap it to no avail.



Is this always a draw scenario? if so then why don't most chess programs call draw?Running around the chess board?
Yes, this is always a draw. You cannot checkmate with a king and a knight, or a king and a bishop - it's physically impossible.



You can checkmate with a king and two knights, but you can't force it - the opposing king has to help you out by moving to the wrong square.



You can force checkmate with a king, knight, and bishop, a king and two bishops, or anything else stronger.



I can't tell you why the program wouldn't recognize this - it's just a weakness in the software.



Contrary to what was stated above, a stalemate is a draw, not a win.
Just to add to some of the above posters who have all the positive feedback, it is true that just a King and Knight vs lone King is always a draw. To prove it, go ahead and put the pieces any way you want on the board and see if you can mate the lone king with just the knight and king. You will find that it is impossible, as well as with a lone bishop. To add to that, it is nearly impossible to mate with two knights as well. You *can* do it, but the enemy king would have to almost help out to do it.



Note that not all computer programs are intelligent enough to call it a draw. That doesn't mean it's not a draw, only the program was written poorly. In addition, some programs are written to try to not lose at all costs, and sometimes will play a game out to the end regardless of material.Running around the chess board?
Yes, insufficient material



http://www.chesscorner.com/tutorial/basi鈥?/a>

Why doesn't he program say so? Ask the program maker.
nc638 it is such thing as a draw in chess it is called stalemate and you cant trap a king with a knight impossible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Running around the chess board?
there's no draw when you're playing a computer. Yes, I think they should program a draw after 10 or 15 moves without making any progress...
always a draw
is a draw
you cant get check mate with just a knight and a king!!!
this is not a draw because you can trap it. you need to move your king and knight forward together in such a way as to trap him in a corner. you do not have to actually put the king in check just trap him so that if he moves anywhere he will put himself in check. this rather than being called a checkmate is called a stalemate.either way you win



I said you can stalmate the king not that you could checkmate him try it and you will see i have been playing chess a long time and have never ended with a draw
there is no such thing as a draw in chess