In chess, there are a number of ways that a game can end in a draw, neither player winning. Draws are codified by various rules of chess including stalemate (when the player to move is not in check but has no legal move), threefold repetition (when the same position occurs three times with the same player to move), and the fifty-move rule (when the last fifty successive moves made by both players contain no capture or pawn move). Under the standard FIDE rules, a draw also occurs in a dead position (when no sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate), most commonly when neither player has sufficient material to checkmate the opponent.
Example of a draw
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Draw by insufficient material. A king and one bishop versus a king cannot create a checkmate on either player.
Unless specific tournament rules forbid it, players may agree to a draw at any time. Ethical considerations may make a draw uncustomary in situations where at least one player has a reasonable chance of winning. For example, a draw could be called after a move or two, but this would likely be thought unsporting.
In the 19th century, some tournaments, notably London 1883, required that drawn games be replayed; however, this was found to cause organizational problems due to the backlog. It is now standard practice to score a decisive game as one point to the winner, and a draw as a half point to each player.
The rules allow for several types of draws: stalemate, threefold or fivefold repetition of a position, if there has been no capture or a pawn being moved in the last fifty or seventy five moves, if checkmate is impossible, or if the players agree to a draw. In games played under time control, a draw may result under additional conditions.[1] A stalemate is an automatic draw, as is a draw due to impossibility of checkmate. A draw by threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule may be claimed by one of the players with the arbiter (normally using his score sheet), and claiming it is optional. The draw by fivefold repetition or the seventy-five-move rule is mandatory by the arbiter.
A claim of a draw first counts as an offer of a draw, and the opponent may accept the draw without the arbiter examining the claim. Once a claim or draw offer has been made, it cannot be withdrawn. If the claim is verified or the draw offer accepted, the game is over. Otherwise, the offer or claim is nullified and the game continues; the draw offer is no longer in effect.
The correct procedure for an offer of a draw is to first make a move, verbally offer the draw, then press the clock. The other player may decline the draw offer by making a move, in which case the draw offer is no longer in effect, or else indicate acceptance. The offer of a draw should be recorded by each player in their score sheet using the symbol (=) as per Appendix C.12 of FIDELaws of Chess.
Scoring
In early tournaments, draws were often replayed until one of the players won; however, this was found to be impractical and caused organizational difficulties. The 1867 Paris tournament even ignored draws altogether, effectively treating them as double losses. The 1867 Dundee tournament initiated the awarding of a half point for draws,[2] which is now standard practice. A minority of tournaments use a different scoring scheme, such as "football scoring" where 3 points are awarded to the winner and 1 point to each in the event of a draw. For the purpose of calculating Elo rating, these tournaments are treated as if they were using standard scoring.
Draws in all games
Article 5 of the 2018 FIDELaws of Chess gives the basic ways a game may end in a draw; more complicated ways are detailed in Article 9:[3]
Stalemate – if the player on turn has no legal move but is not in check, this is stalemate and the game is automatically a draw.
Threefold repetition rule – if an identical position has occurred at least three times during the course of the game with the same player to move each time, and is the current position on the board or will occur after the player on turn makes their move, the player on move may claim a draw (to the arbiter). In such a case the draw is not automatic – a player must claim it if they want the draw. When the position occurs for the third time after the player's intended next move, they write the move on their score sheet but does not make the move on the board and claims the draw. Article 9.2 states that a position is considered identical to another if the same player is on move, the same types of pieces of the same colors occupy the same squares, and the same moves are available to each player; in particular, each player has the same castling and en passant capturing rights. (A player may lose their right to castle; and an en passant capture is available only at the first opportunity.) If the claim is not made on the move in which the repetition occurs, the player forfeits the right to make the claim. Of course, the opportunity may present itself again.
Fifty-move rule – if in the previous 50 moves by each side, no pawn has moved and no capture has been made, a draw may be claimed by either player. Here again, the draw is not automatic and must be claimed if the player wants the draw. If the player whose turn it is to move has made only 49 such moves, they may write their next move on the scoresheet and claim a draw. As with the threefold repetition, the right to claim the draw is forfeited if it is not used on that move, but the opportunity may occur again.
Fivefold repetition – If the same position occurs five times during the course of the game, the game is automatically a draw (i.e. a player does not have to claim it).
Seventy-five-move rule – If no capture or no pawn move has occurred in the last 75 moves (by both players), the game is automatically a draw (i.e. a player does not have to claim it). If the last move was a checkmate, the checkmate stands.
Impossibility of checkmate – if a position arises in which neither player could possibly give checkmate by a series of legal moves, the game is a draw. Such a position is called a dead position. This is usually because there is insufficient material left, but it is possible in other positions too, such as a blocked king and pawn ending where it is impossible for either king to capture the pawns. Combinations with insufficient material to checkmate include:
king and bishop versus king and bishop with the bishops on the same color.
Mutual agreement – a player may offer a draw to their opponent at any stage of a game. If the opponent accepts, the game is a draw.
There is no longer a rule defining perpetual check—a situation in which one player gives a series of checks from which the other player cannot escape—as a draw. Any perpetual check situation will eventually be claimable as or end in a draw under the threefold repetition rule, the fifty-move rule, or (most likely) by agreement.[4] By 1965, perpetual check was no longer in the rules.[5]
Although these are the laws as laid down by FIDE and, as such, are used at almost all top-level tournaments, at lower levels different rules may operate, particularly with regard to rapid play finish provisions.
In games played with a time control, there are other ways a draw can occur.[12][13]
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Possible checkmate positions for Black. If White runs out of time with one of these combinations of material, Black wins because of the possible checkmate. In a sudden death time control, however, if White can convince the arbiter before the time is up that Black is merely stalling to win on time, the game is nevertheless declared a draw.
In a sudden death time control (players have a limited time to play all of their moves), if it is discovered that both players have exceeded their time allotment, the game is a draw. (The game continues if it is not a sudden-death time control.)
If only one player has exceeded the time limit, but the other player does not have (theoretically) sufficient mating material, the game is still a draw. Law 6.9 of the FIDE Laws of Chess states that: "If a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by the player. However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player's king by any possible series of legal moves, even with the most unskilled counterplay." For example, a player who runs out of time with a sole king versus king and bishop does not lose the game. It is still possible to lose on time in positions where mate is extremely unlikely but not theoretically impossible, as with king and bishop versus king and knight. (Under USCF rules, king and bishop, king and knight, or king and 2 knights with no pawns on the board is not considered sufficient mating material, unless the opponent has a forced win, even though it is theoretically possible to mate (but extremely unlikely to happen) in situations such as K+B vs. K+N).
Because of this last possibility, article 10 of the FIDE laws of chess states that when a player has less than two minutes left on their clock during a rapid play finish (the end of a game when all remaining moves must be completed within a limited amount of time), they may claim a draw if their opponent is not attempting to win the game by "normal means" or cannot win the game by "normal means". "Normal means" can be taken to mean the delivery of checkmate or the winning of material. In other words, a draw is claimable if the opponent is merely attempting to win on time, or cannot possibly win except on time. It is up to the arbiter to decide whether such a claim will be granted or not.
Frequency of draws
In chess games played at the top level, a draw is the most common outcome of a game: of around 22,000 games published in The Week in Chess played between 1999 and 2002 by players with a FIDEElo rating of 2500 or above, 55 percent were draws. According to chess analyst Jeff Sonas, although an upward draw rate trend can be observed in general master-level play since the beginning of the 20th century, it is currently "holding pretty steady around 50%, and is only increasing at a very slow rate".[14] Draw rate of elite grandmasters, rated more than 2750 Elo, is, however, significantly higher, surpassing 70% in 2017 and 2018.[15]
In top-level correspondence chess under ICCF, where computer assistance is allowed, the draw rate is much higher than in the over-the-board chess: of 1512 games played in the World Championship finals and the Candidates' sections between 2010 and 2013, 82.3% ended in a draw.[16] Since that time, draw rate in top-level correspondence play has been rising steadily, reaching 97% in 2019.[17]
Drawing combinations
Yuri Averbakh gives these combinations for the weaker side to draw:
A grandmaster draw is a game in which the players quickly agree to a draw after making little or no effort to win (see draw by agreement#Grandmaster draw).
Andy Soltis discusses the vagueness of the terms "draw", "drawish", "drawable", "book draw", "easy draw", and "dead draw". In books and chess theory a position is considered to be a draw if best play leads to a draw – the difficulty of the defence is not taken into account. Soltis calls these positions "drawable". For instance, under that criterion the rook and bishop versus rook endgame is usually a theoretical draw or book draw, but the side with the bishop often wins in practice. In this position from an actual game, the only move to draw is 124.Rf8! White actually played 124.Rd8?? and lost after 124...Re3, with the winning threat of 125...Bh3+ 126.Kg1 Re1#.[19]
draw, chess, chess, there, number, ways, that, game, draw, neither, player, winning, draws, codified, various, rules, chess, including, stalemate, when, player, move, check, legal, move, threefold, repetition, when, same, position, occurs, three, times, with, . In chess there are a number of ways that a game can end in a draw neither player winning Draws are codified by various rules of chess including stalemate when the player to move is not in check but has no legal move threefold repetition when the same position occurs three times with the same player to move and the fifty move rule when the last fifty successive moves made by both players contain no capture or pawn move Under the standard FIDE rules a draw also occurs in a dead position when no sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate most commonly when neither player has sufficient material to checkmate the opponent Example of a drawabcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghDraw by insufficient material A king and one bishop versus a king cannot create a checkmate on either player Unless specific tournament rules forbid it players may agree to a draw at any time Ethical considerations may make a draw uncustomary in situations where at least one player has a reasonable chance of winning For example a draw could be called after a move or two but this would likely be thought unsporting In the 19th century some tournaments notably London 1883 required that drawn games be replayed however this was found to cause organizational problems due to the backlog It is now standard practice to score a decisive game as one point to the winner and a draw as a half point to each player Contents 1 Draw rules 1 1 Scoring 2 Draws in all games 2 1 Examples 3 Draws in timed games 4 Frequency of draws 5 Drawing combinations 6 Terminology 7 See also 7 1 Articles on draw rules 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksThis article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves Draw rules EditThe rules allow for several types of draws stalemate threefold or fivefold repetition of a position if there has been no capture or a pawn being moved in the last fifty or seventy five moves if checkmate is impossible or if the players agree to a draw In games played under time control a draw may result under additional conditions 1 A stalemate is an automatic draw as is a draw due to impossibility of checkmate A draw by threefold repetition or the fifty move rule may be claimed by one of the players with the arbiter normally using his score sheet and claiming it is optional The draw by fivefold repetition or the seventy five move rule is mandatory by the arbiter A claim of a draw first counts as an offer of a draw and the opponent may accept the draw without the arbiter examining the claim Once a claim or draw offer has been made it cannot be withdrawn If the claim is verified or the draw offer accepted the game is over Otherwise the offer or claim is nullified and the game continues the draw offer is no longer in effect The correct procedure for an offer of a draw is to first make a move verbally offer the draw then press the clock The other player may decline the draw offer by making a move in which case the draw offer is no longer in effect or else indicate acceptance The offer of a draw should be recorded by each player in their score sheet using the symbol as per Appendix C 12 of FIDE Laws of Chess Scoring Edit In early tournaments draws were often replayed until one of the players won however this was found to be impractical and caused organizational difficulties The 1867 Paris tournament even ignored draws altogether effectively treating them as double losses The 1867 Dundee tournament initiated the awarding of a half point for draws 2 which is now standard practice A minority of tournaments use a different scoring scheme such as football scoring where 3 points are awarded to the winner and 1 point to each in the event of a draw For the purpose of calculating Elo rating these tournaments are treated as if they were using standard scoring Draws in all games EditArticle 5 of the 2018 FIDE Laws of Chess gives the basic ways a game may end in a draw more complicated ways are detailed in Article 9 3 Stalemate if the player on turn has no legal move but is not in check this is stalemate and the game is automatically a draw Threefold repetition rule if an identical position has occurred at least three times during the course of the game with the same player to move each time and is the current position on the board or will occur after the player on turn makes their move the player on move may claim a draw to the arbiter In such a case the draw is not automatic a player must claim it if they want the draw When the position occurs for the third time after the player s intended next move they write the move on their score sheet but does not make the move on the board and claims the draw Article 9 2 states that a position is considered identical to another if the same player is on move the same types of pieces of the same colors occupy the same squares and the same moves are available to each player in particular each player has the same castling and en passant capturing rights A player may lose their right to castle and an en passant capture is available only at the first opportunity If the claim is not made on the move in which the repetition occurs the player forfeits the right to make the claim Of course the opportunity may present itself again Fifty move rule if in the previous 50 moves by each side no pawn has moved and no capture has been made a draw may be claimed by either player Here again the draw is not automatic and must be claimed if the player wants the draw If the player whose turn it is to move has made only 49 such moves they may write their next move on the scoresheet and claim a draw As with the threefold repetition the right to claim the draw is forfeited if it is not used on that move but the opportunity may occur again Fivefold repetition If the same position occurs five times during the course of the game the game is automatically a draw i e a player does not have to claim it Seventy five move rule If no capture or no pawn move has occurred in the last 75 moves by both players the game is automatically a draw i e a player does not have to claim it If the last move was a checkmate the checkmate stands Impossibility of checkmate if a position arises in which neither player could possibly give checkmate by a series of legal moves the game is a draw Such a position is called a dead position This is usually because there is insufficient material left but it is possible in other positions too such as a blocked king and pawn ending where it is impossible for either king to capture the pawns Combinations with insufficient material to checkmate include king versus king king and bishop versus king king and knight versus king king and bishop versus king and bishop with the bishops on the same color Mutual agreement a player may offer a draw to their opponent at any stage of a game If the opponent accepts the game is a draw There is no longer a rule defining perpetual check a situation in which one player gives a series of checks from which the other player cannot escape as a draw Any perpetual check situation will eventually be claimable as or end in a draw under the threefold repetition rule the fifty move rule or most likely by agreement 4 By 1965 perpetual check was no longer in the rules 5 Although these are the laws as laid down by FIDE and as such are used at almost all top level tournaments at lower levels different rules may operate particularly with regard to rapid play finish provisions Examples Edit Korchnoi vs Karpov 1978abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 124 Bg7 Black is stalemated 6 Fischer vs Petrosian 1971abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 30 Qe2 after 32 Qe2 and after 34 Qe2 the game is drawn by threefold repetition 7 Timman vs Lutz 1995abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 121 Rb5 the game is drawn by fifty move rule 8 Vidmar vs Maroczy 1932abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghDraw by insufficient material No sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate 9 Mednis 1990 10 abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghDraw No sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate Petrosian vs Fischer 1958abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 67 f7 draw agreed 11 Draws in timed games EditIn games played with a time control there are other ways a draw can occur 12 13 abcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghPossible checkmate positions for Black If White runs out of time with one of these combinations of material Black wins because of the possible checkmate In a sudden death time control however if White can convince the arbiter before the time is up that Black is merely stalling to win on time the game is nevertheless declared a draw In a sudden death time control players have a limited time to play all of their moves if it is discovered that both players have exceeded their time allotment the game is a draw The game continues if it is not a sudden death time control If only one player has exceeded the time limit but the other player does not have theoretically sufficient mating material the game is still a draw Law 6 9 of the FIDE Laws of Chess states that If a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time the game is lost by the player However the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player s king by any possible series of legal moves even with the most unskilled counterplay For example a player who runs out of time with a sole king versus king and bishop does not lose the game It is still possible to lose on time in positions where mate is extremely unlikely but not theoretically impossible as with king and bishop versus king and knight Under USCF rules king and bishop king and knight or king and 2 knights with no pawns on the board is not considered sufficient mating material unless the opponent has a forced win even though it is theoretically possible to mate but extremely unlikely to happen in situations such as K B vs K N Because of this last possibility article 10 of the FIDE laws of chess states that when a player has less than two minutes left on their clock during a rapid play finish the end of a game when all remaining moves must be completed within a limited amount of time they may claim a draw if their opponent is not attempting to win the game by normal means or cannot win the game by normal means Normal means can be taken to mean the delivery of checkmate or the winning of material In other words a draw is claimable if the opponent is merely attempting to win on time or cannot possibly win except on time It is up to the arbiter to decide whether such a claim will be granted or not Frequency of draws EditIn chess games played at the top level a draw is the most common outcome of a game of around 22 000 games published in The Week in Chess played between 1999 and 2002 by players with a FIDE Elo rating of 2500 or above 55 percent were draws According to chess analyst Jeff Sonas although an upward draw rate trend can be observed in general master level play since the beginning of the 20th century it is currently holding pretty steady around 50 and is only increasing at a very slow rate 14 Draw rate of elite grandmasters rated more than 2750 Elo is however significantly higher surpassing 70 in 2017 and 2018 15 In top level correspondence chess under ICCF where computer assistance is allowed the draw rate is much higher than in the over the board chess of 1512 games played in the World Championship finals and the Candidates sections between 2010 and 2013 82 3 ended in a draw 16 Since that time draw rate in top level correspondence play has been rising steadily reaching 97 in 2019 17 Drawing combinations EditYuri Averbakh gives these combinations for the weaker side to draw perpetual check stalemate blockade perpetual pursuit fortress drawing balance of forces 18 Terminology Editabcdefgh8 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 123 Kg3 only 124 Rf8 draws A book draw or a theoretical draw is a position that is known to result in a draw if both sides play optimally A positional draw is an impasse other than stalemate where a draw is salvaged despite a big material disadvantage see fortress chess Positional draw A grandmaster draw is a game in which the players quickly agree to a draw after making little or no effort to win see draw by agreement Grandmaster draw Andy Soltis discusses the vagueness of the terms draw drawish drawable book draw easy draw and dead draw In books and chess theory a position is considered to be a draw if best play leads to a draw the difficulty of the defence is not taken into account Soltis calls these positions drawable For instance under that criterion the rook and bishop versus rook endgame is usually a theoretical draw or book draw but the side with the bishop often wins in practice In this position from an actual game the only move to draw is 124 Rf8 White actually played 124 Rd8 and lost after 124 Re3 with the winning threat of 125 Bh3 126 Kg1 Re1 19 See also EditRules of chess Tie draw Articles on draw rules Edit Draw by agreement Fifty move rule and Seventy five move rule Stalemate Threefold repetition and Fivefold repetitionReferences Edit Schiller 2003 26 29 Sunnucks 1970 100 Schiller 2003 26 29 Hooper amp Whyld 1992 Harkness 1967 Karpov vs Korchnoi Fischer vs Petrosian 1971 Timman vs Lutz Vidmar vs Maroczy Mednis 1990 43 Petrosian vs Fischer 1958 Schiller 2003 29 Just amp Burg 2003 Sonas Jeff September 6 2011 Sonas what exactly is the problem en chesbase com Chessbase Retrieved 2015 10 09 Is Classical Chess Dead From Draws Chess com January 8 2019 Retrieved August 18 2020 Nickel Arno June 20 2015 Correspondence Chess the draw problem en chessbase com Chessbase Retrieved 2015 10 09 Ljubicic Leonardo LeoLjubicic66 August 1 2020 Draw rate through years on ICCF by rating groups Tweet Retrieved August 18 2020 via Twitter Averbakh 1996 79 86 Soltis 2010 12 13 Bibliography Averbakh Yuri 1996 Chess Middlegames Essential Knowledge Cadogan ISBN 1 85744 125 7 Just Tim Burg Daniel B 2003 U S Chess Federation s Official Rules of Chess fifth ed McKay ISBN 0 8129 3559 4 Harkness Kenneth 1967 Official Chess Handbook McKay Mednis Edmar 1990 Practical Bishop Endings Chess Enterprises ISBN 0 945470 04 5 Schiller Eric 2003 Official Rules of Chess 2nd ed Cardoza ISBN 978 1 58042 092 1 Soltis Andy August 2010 Chess to Enjoy Draw Drawish Drawable Chess Life 12 13 Sunnucks Anne 1970 drawn games The Encyclopaedia of Chess St Martins Press ISBN 978 0 7091 4697 1Further reading EditGolombek Harry 1977 Golombek s Encyclopedia of Chess Crown Publishing ISBN 0 517 53146 1 Hooper David Whyld Kenneth 1992 The Oxford Companion to Chess second ed Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 280049 3 McCrary John 2004 The Evolution of Special Draw Rules Chess Life November 26 27External links EditFIDE Laws of Chess article by International Grandmaster Joel Benjamin ChessGames article on some interesting draws Chessbase article on draw debate Chess Draws by Edward Winter Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Draw chess amp oldid 1121995344, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
