Running down the opponent's clock on purpose Running out of time is a loss. Two players are both very low on time and quite far from a checkmate. What if one player makes some 'pointless' defensive moves to keep his clock running so that the other player, still trying to win, runs out of time.

I am new and I am asking because I have had opponents moving their king back around while I was there trying to do something and had no time left.

Is there some sort of rule that prevents my opponent from making useless moves while I try to win and run out of time?
That's how it goes. Time management is an important part of tournament chess play.