Draw By Agreement - Etiquette

Etiquette

Although draws may be offered at any time, those not made as outlined in article 9.1 run the risk of falling under article 12.6 which states: "It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner whatsoever. This includes unreasonable claims or offers of a draw." This rule is applied with the arbiter's discretion: a player loudly offering a draw while his opponent is thinking may well suffer a time penalty or even forfeit the game, but it is unlikely that a player would be penalized for, say, offering a draw in a lifeless position when it is not their turn to move (Schiller 2003:26–27,30).

At one time chess players considered it bad manners to play out a superior but theoretically drawn endgame. In such cases, the superior side was expected to offer a draw (Mednis 1990:61,68).

There are certain behavioural norms relating to draw offers not codified in the FIDE laws of chess, but widely observed. For example, many consider it bad manners for a player who has offered a draw once to do so again before their opponent has offered a draw. Such repeated offers of a draw have also sometimes been considered distracting enough to warrant the arbiter taking action under article 12.5.

Reshevsky vs. Mastichiadis, 1950

	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

Position before 24.Nd2

It is bad etiquette to offer a draw in a clearly lost position (Benjamin 2006:30), (Krush 2011:54), or even when one has no winning chances but the opponent still has winning chances (Burgess 2000:461). Garry Kasparov regularly criticizes grandmasters who offer a draw when their position is worse (Peterson 2009:36). But such offers are sometimes used as psychological tricks. The position in the diagram on the right arose in the game Samuel Reshevsky versus Fotis Mastichiadis, Dubrovnik 1950. Reshevsky played 24.Nd2?, and saw at once that he is put into a very bad situation with 24...Nxf2. Thinking quickly, he offered his opponent a draw, who was busy writing down the move in his scoresheet. Mastichiadis, a minor master, was so happy to get half a point against his illustrious opponent that he did not pause to examine the position before accepting the offer.

The rule about the procedure of offering a draw was violated in a 1981 game between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov moved 17. Ra2 and offered a draw. Karpov instantly replied 17... Be7 and then said "Make a move!", which is a violation of the rule. Kasparov moved 18. b5 and then Karpov accepted the draw (Kasparov 2008:32).

Petrosian vs. Fischer, 1958

	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

Final position after 67.f7, draw agreed

In the 1958 game between Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer, Fisher offered a draw without making a move first, which was accepted by Petrosian. He explains in his book My 60 Memorable Games:

I offered a draw, not realizing it was bad etiquette. It was Petrosian's place to extend the draw offer after 67...Rxg6+ 68.Kxg6 Kb1 69.f8=Q c2 with a book draw (Fischer 2008:31). (See queen versus pawn endgame.)