Draw (chess)

In chess, a draw is one of the possible outcomes of a game, the others being a win for white and a win for black. A draw is the same as a tie. Traditionally, in tournaments wins are worth one point to the victor and none to the loser, while draws are worth a half point to each player.

Introduction

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 FIDE Elo rating of 2500 or above, 55 percent were draws. Roughly 36 percent of games between top computer chess programs are draws (more than are won by White or won by Black) ^[1].

First move advantage

It is generally believed that a perfectly played game of chess will always result in a draw. A rationale for this is that a pawn advantage to one player is often, but by no means always, sufficient for them to win; for example, an endgame with a king and pawn versus a king may result in a win or a draw depending on the position. However, the advantage to White of making the opening move is considered to be worth only a fraction of a pawn; therefore it is plausible that with perfect play on both sides White's advantage is insufficient to force a win. Nonetheless, because in practice chess play is not perfect, moving first gives White enough of an advantage that White wins significantly more often than Black, even at the highest levels of play.

It is sometimes said that whereas the advantage of the first move allows White to make one minor mistake and still draw and requires at least two minor mistakes to lose, if Black makes one minor mistake accurate play by White may be enough to win. Because of this, a draw is sometimes considered a satisfactory outcome for Black, and strong players expect to be likely to win when they are playing White. At lower levels of play, the frequency of draws falls: of around 40,000 games with players both rated between 2300 and 2499 in the same time-frame, only 45 percent ended in a draw, and of around 22,500 games involving players rated between 2100 and 2299 the figure is an even lower 34 percent. The advantage of moving first is also smaller with weaker players since they tend to make multiple mistakes of greater severity in each game.

Draws in all games

Rule 5.2 of the FIDE Laws of Chess detail the ways a game may end in a draw:

Stalemate - if the player on turn has no legal move but is not in check, this is stalemate and the game is a draw.
Mutual agreement - a player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game. If the opponent accepts, the game is a draw.
Threefold repetition - if an identical position has occurred three times, or will occur after the player on turn makes his 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. 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.
Fifty move rule - if at least fifty moves (by each side) have passed with no pawn being moved and no capture being made, a draw may be claimed by either player. Here again, the draw is not automatic and rather must be claimed.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Draw: no sequence of legal moves can lead to checkmate; note that no piece can cross the center line of the board

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. This is usually because there is insufficient material left, but it is possible in other positions too (see the diagram). Combinations with insufficient material to checkmate are:

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.

It is popularly considered that perpetual check—where one player gives a series of checks from which the other player cannot escape—is a draw, but in fact there is no longer a specific rule for this in the laws of chess, because any perpetual check situation will eventually be claimable as a draw under the fifty move rule or by threefold repetition, or (more likely) by agreement.

It should be noted that 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.

Draws in timed games

In games played with a time control, there are other ways a draw can occur.

In a sudden death time control (players have a limited time to play all of their moves), if both players have exceeded their time allotment, the game is a draw. (The game continues if it is not a sudden-death time control.)

In addition to the above ways, 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 by on time. It is up to the arbiter to decide whether such a claim will be granted or not.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Theoretical mating position for Black

When both players have more material than just a bare king the position is more complex. Controversy can arise where a player has insufficient material to force checkmate but his opponent has run out of time. Law 6.10 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." As an example, a player with king and bishop can claim a win on time against an opponent with king and knight, whose clock flag has fallen, because a mating position can be produced by a series of legal moves resulting in the position shown in the diagram.

Grandmaster draw problem

Draws are very common among high-level chess players and the majority of games between grandmasters are drawn. Nunn article has a good summary of the situation and his proposal is to simply not invite players who frequently draw to tournaments. The following is a summary of the other known proposed solutions:

Sophia rules, where draw offers are not allowed before move thirty. Also used by the HB Global tournament. This method does reduce the short draws, but if both players trade off pieces, they can essentially agree to a draw, without a draw offer. FIDE instated this rule in 1962, with the intention of enforcing it. The penalty was a loss of the game by both players. However, players ignored it or got around it by repeating positions. Directors were unable or unwilling to enforce the rule, and it was dropped in 1964 (Just & Burg 2003:xxiv).
Proposed cure for severe acute "drawitis" by FIDE officials Eliminates draws completely by forcing a fast time control game to be played after a draw to ensure there is always a winner and a loser. One potential issue for this proposal is that both players can quickly agree to a draw in the tournament game and then play a speed chess game to decide things. The FIDE 128 player tournament has seen many matches where the two tournament time control games are drawn and advancement is decided by rapid (thirty minutes for a game) or blitz (five minutes) games. This was tried in the 2006 Danish Championship, see gladiator chess.
BAP System makes it undesirable for one or both players to agree to a draw by changing the point value of win/loss/draw based on color played. three points for black win, two points for white win, one point for black draw, no points for white draw or any loss. Only one tournament Bainbridge Slugfest tournament games has been played under BAP, so there is not enough data to make firm conclusions with. However, there were no short draws in the Bainbridge Slugfest and all the draws were fighting draws.
Letting the computer arbitrate it by having a strong computer program evaluate the drawn position. An offshoot of this is the "Prove it" proposal where both players that agreed to a draw play out the game at a fast time control against a strong computer chess program.
Russell Miller proposed a chess skins game, where the points for the draw go to the next round. Draws would not directly be discouraged, but it would not be logical to settle for a draw if there are winning chances.
Adopting new point-scoring rules akin to soccer, where FIFA has adopted a system that gives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. This system discourages draws since they would only be worth ⅔ of their current value. The "3-1-0" system was adopted by FIFA after various soccer leagues around the world had used it to reduce the number of stalling draws.
Other proposals that change the actual rules of chess have little chance of getting widely adopted.

See Draw by agreement for an overview of methods meant to discourage draws.

Notes

^ "CCRL 40/40". Computer Chess Ratings List. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-09-23.

References

Just, Tim; Burg, Daniel B. (2003), U.S. Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess (fifth ed.), McKay, ISBN 0-8129-3559-4

External links

[1] "CCRL 40/40". Computer Chess Ratings List. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-09-23.

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