Go back
Material Advantage Vs Draw

Material Advantage Vs Draw

Only Chess

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

I wanted to coin this thought about claiming a draw in a specific situation...

Say, your opponent has a HUGE material advantage but somehow you get a chance to satisfy this condition:

Third repetition of a position. If any identical position appears three times during a game, then the game can be claimed as a draw.

Will you claim a draw? I am sure that is NOT cheating. Coming to think of it, how about sportsmanship?

Your thoughts...

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

You would have 'won' half a point, and your opponent would have 'lost' half a point, all fair and square.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Obviously I would claim the draw.

This has nothing to do with sportsmanship. Think about that situuation: somehow your opponent managed to get all your pieces save one rook and you none. You can checkmate him with that rook. Would you take the win? Evidently yes! And it is part of the game to have to watch out for all things and to secure a win by checkmating.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

It would be dumb not to claim the draw.The material superior side should have avoided the repetition.It's just one of the possible problems you must solve in order to win the game.

Clock
1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by ram1977
I wanted to coin this thought about claiming a draw in a specific situation...

Say, your opponent has a HUGE material advantage but somehow you get a chance to satisfy this condition:

Third repetition of a position. If any identical position appears three times during a game, then the game can be claimed as a draw.

Will you claim a draw? I am sure that is NOT cheating. Coming to think of it, how about sportsmanship?

Your thoughts...
Its part of the rules of chess.

Its not cheating and it is not unsportsmanlike.

A draw is a draw, fair and square - I would take it every time unless I thought I could win when I would ensure the repetition did not come up 3 times by making an "inferior" move.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by ram1977
I wanted to coin this thought about claiming a draw in a specific situation...

Say, your opponent has a HUGE material advantage but somehow you get a chance to satisfy this condition:

Third repetition of a position. If any identical position appears three times during a game, then the game can be claimed as a draw.

Will you claim a draw? I am sure that is NOT cheating. Coming to think of it, how about sportsmanship?

Your thoughts...
That's like using a back rank checkmate that your opponent didn't see because he wasn't careful about moving a pawn on front of a castled king. You do it every time if you can. Part of being a good chess player is avoiding blunders and by repeating position with a huge lead, your opponent made a blunder and deserves the draw.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

3 x position is a darn hard draw to get unless it also involves endless checks. You know the position you want and focus on keeping your pieces static and just pray your opponent doesn't notice what you are up to. Also difficult to keep track of if the 3x is spread out over several moves. Of course any nasty enemy pawn moves resets the counter. 😠

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by ram1977
Will you claim a draw?
Of course. Material advantage does not always mean a won game. If their position is truly winning, they ought to be able to avoid the repetition of position. If they've gotten careless and allowed a perpetual check, then they don't deserve a win.

Clock
2 edits
Vote Up
Vote Down

The thing to remember is the position does not have to occur
on consecutuve moves.
ie. if the same positon occours on move 18 and again on move 32 and
again on move 43 then the side making the move that repeats the
position can claim a draw.

An incident like this arose in the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match.
Spassky was wating to make time control but by mistake repeated
twice
a position that had appeared 5-6 moves previously.
Fischer claimed a draw.

I was not there but this game has entered Scottish lore.
I have a friend who swears it happened.

After 2...Qg5 white did not want to sac his g-pawn so
retired his Bishop to get in 3,d4 with a tempo.

Black did not want his Queen on an exposed square, so....

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by greenpawn34
The thing to remember is the position does not have to occur
on consecutuve moves.
ie. if the same positon occours on move 18 and again on move 32 and
again on move 43 then the side making the move that repeats the
position can claim a draw.

An incident like this arose in the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match.
Spassky was wating to make time control b ...[text shortened]... exposed square, so....

[pgn]
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Qg5 3.Bf1 Qd8 4.Bc4 Qg5 5.Bf1 Qd8 6.Bc4 Qg5[/pgn]
That's the part that scares me the most about that rule (falling victim to it if I had an advantage). I'm such a space cadet that I'm afraid that I wouldn't recognize that I was about to create the same situation for a third time!

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

question: What if you claim a draw on RHP because you think it was 3-fold repetition, yet it wasn't, do you loose??? or does it just kick you back and tell you to make a legal move?

Clock
1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Thanks for your replies...

I definitely would claim the draw because it is completely justified and within the rules of chess... 🙂

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by pijun
question: What if you claim a draw on RHP because you think it was 3-fold repetition, yet it wasn't, do you loose??? or does it just kick you back and tell you to make a legal move?
Never happened to me here but you should be able to simply continue the game.There's no penalty for unfounded draw claims.

Clock
1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by greenpawn34
The thing to remember is the position does not have to occur
on consecutuve moves.
ie. if the same positon occours on move 18 and again on move 32 and
again on move 43 then the side making the move that repeats the
position can claim a draw.
I didn't know about this part

I thought the position has to occur on consecutive moves... This definitely might affect the game... Interesting!!!

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by ram1977
I didn't know about this part

I thought the position has to occur on consecutive moves... This definitely might affect the game... Interesting!!!
I've used this position repetitive rule (not the repeted move rule) once. It was awsome. I got the draw, I just have to claim it and the system gave me the draw without further discussions.

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.