get relaxed from your draw!





During last FIDE Candidates, chess fans suggested some interesting rules against draws. I summarized some of them and wrote this small article.
First of all, draws is one of the biggest problems of modern chess. Draw significantly decrease chess' appeal as popular sport and commercial sport competition. This last tournament brings the problem to new level. Most games were draw, more than half of all matches were resolved in rapid chess and even blitz, and semifinal games were all draw. People start to think about perspectives of chess with so-called classic time control. It is looking like "Draw death of chess" had returned from times of Capablanca to finally overcome the game.
Audience of chess games was a bit upset with series of draws, and a few suggestions against draw were made.
One popular idea is to perform rapid and blitz games before not after classic chess matches. That way one player, who had won rapid, receives an advantage at start. If classic match of, for example, 6 games, is drawn, player with advantage will win. Since leader is known before start of classic games, each draw makes some result, draw is best for leading player. That way loser should try to win every game so no more games without a real fight and tension. This idea is suitable for matches; it actually does not decrease number of draws, but reduce fast draws without a fight. So we can say in news, in match Kramnik - Aronyan Kramnik leads with an advantage; he made a draw and saved his advantage.
Another idea, this one was presented by me, is to award winners of result games with special prize fund. I.e. half of tournament prize is divided among winners of result game. That way a player, who scored +4 -4 =4, gets 4 time more additional money than those who scored +1 -1 =10. This idea is for elite tournaments. Active players would receive more money, so they can create better teams and make better progress. Also, this should increase tension in tournament, as more result games will more quickly change player standings.
And my favorite most radical idea, which could possibly resolve all chess problems, is to treat draw as black victory. So simply no more draws. Just white or black. I give basis of this idea. Today chess is so developed on highest player level that white has significant advantage. Only white could pretend to victory without waiting significant opponent's mistakes. Black try to get position equalization first, and once they get it, a game is often drawn soon. Initial position is either draw or white wins, so black victory has not much sense for science point of view. White just selected wrong variant, they will not play it any more.
Today white tend to seek position with stable advantage without risk of loss. This is especially true in matches. If there would be no difference between loss and draw, white could play risky and select sharp moves. They will search interesting undefined positions instead of boring risk free positions with small advantage as they do now.
Chess is a model of war and white attacks black, black is defending side. That way draw is actually victory of black cause they defend their side. While if one side had an advantage but dif not achieve targets, it is a loss. When a player saves very difficult position, you can say that such a draw costs a victory and now we know initial position is difficult for black.
My idea is especially suitable for matches. For example, 6 game match, each player has 3 white attempts to score, and who had won more games with white color is declared as winner. It is very much like tennis set, where each player should handle his service. But in new rule set, each player should handle black color and try to win with white. So we will not see any boring match like Kramnik-Leko full of draws. And last FIDE tournament would be much much more exiting. Instead of short draws with out a fight, we would see risky attempts to score. We would not see all this bunch of draws of all sorts. Btw, this idea is to work only on elite chess level. And of course, we need special rules for professional high-level competition. Cause in any kind of sport top competitions like NHL, NBA has its own precise set of rules. On such level, every small detail is important and could affect game style. For example, little variations of hokey goalkeeper uniform could bring usual match from zero to tens pucks on average. Rules should be adapted to make competitions exiting for watch and to save chess nature as war on board.
Chess fan Ischukin came to this idea from so-called "Armageddon" blitz game, where white had a bit more time, but should win. It is very sporting.
Also removing draws is very good for advanced chess. Now white lose very seldom in advanced chess, but many games are boring. But if white would have to only think about winning, this would lead to interesting games and attempts to win.
Removing of draws could save modern chess. Once known as conjunction of sport, art and science, now chess is becoming strange sport without competition nature, which is very unattractive to wide audience. And this idea could return sport, art and science components of chess. It is very sporting to eliminate draws, a player will get a freedom to create any possible plan to win, cause he should not care about minimal draw result anymore and it is interesting from scientific point of view to finally know is white wins or draw.
Really, we had already tested this suggestion on highest player level. Sometimes situation dictates that only win is matter. I mean known situations at the end of famous Kasparov-Karpov matches, when one player leaded and only win in last game could save other player. There were a few such decisive games, win or death. Those were interesting games, no short draws, no boring stuff. In one game Kasparov had played very sharp Sicilian defense. In more recent Kramnik-Kasparov match, Kasparov was in a situation at the end of a match where he should only play for win. It was games with tension too. Also, in followed series of tournament Kasparov-Kramnik games, where Kasparov tried to break "Berlin wall" and finally success and won one game, all draws were positively black wins, cause black kept their defense. It was interesting games too with meaningful draws. Cause each draw was some kind win for Kramnik. Kramnik, btw, himself had play for win his last game in match with Leko, and that was not common short draw. So, idea was checked up in some ways on elite competitions and results were good.
Removing draws surely will open various new possibilities for chess promotion and advancement in sport market, without any harm to classical chess nature as other suggestions like short time control do.

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get relaxed from your draw!

During last FIDE Candidates, chess fans suggested some interesting rules against draws. I summarized some of them and wrote this ...

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