Draw (chess)

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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 ½ point to each player.

1 Introduction
2 Grandmaster draw problem
3 Alternative scoring
4 External links

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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% were draws. It is generally believed that a perfectly played game of chess will always result in a draw. Despite this, moving first gives White enough of a practical advantage that White wins a significantly more often than Black 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 but most strong players try 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% ended in a draw, and of around 22,500 games involving players rated between 2100 and 2299 the figure is an even lower 34%. The advantage of moving first is also smaller with weaker players since they tend to make multiple mistakes of greater severity in each game.

Rule 5.2 of the official FIDE laws of chess detail the ways a game may end in a draw: Template:Chess diagram

Stalemate - if the player on turn has no legal move but is not in check, this is stalemate and the game is a draw.
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:
1. king versus king
2. king and bishop versus king
3. king and knight against king
4. king and bishop versus king and bishop with the bishops on the same color.
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 (note that in this 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 pieces of the same colour occupy the same squares, and the same moves are available to each player (that is, each player has the same castling and en passant pawn capturing rights).
Fifty move rule - if fifty moves (by each side) have passed with no pawn being moved and no capture being made, a draw may be claimed (again, the draw is not automatic).

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 specific provision for this in the laws of chess. However, any perpetual check situation will eventually be claimable as a draw either under the fifty move rule or by three-fold repetition.

In addition to the above five 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 rapidplay 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.

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 rapidplay finish provisions.

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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 draw a lot to tournaments. The following is a summary of the other known proposed solutions:

Sophia rules, where draw offers are not allowed before move 30. 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.
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 (30 minutes for a game) or blitz (5 minutes) games.
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. 3 points for black win, 2 points for white win, 1 point for black draw, 0 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.
10 move rule is also practiced in various parts of the world where a match is determined a draw if a lone king, "on the table," is not placed in check mate by the opponent within 10 moves.
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 Chess Skins Proposal 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. Please update this section if you know of a tournament that used this method.
Other proposals that change the actual rules of chess have little chance of getting widely adopted.

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Alternative scoring

There are several proposals to use different point values for draws in tournaments; see Draw by mutual agreement for an overview of methods meant to discourage draws.

The BAP System, developed in 2005, assigns 3 points for a black win, 2 points for a white win, 1 point for a black draw and no points for white draw or any loss.