Dreary Draws

[Jack Maguire]

GM Ben Finegold chimes in on the subject of "Dreary Draws" as well as "The Lost Age Of Chess".

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/chess-dreary-draws-and-lost-age-chess

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Dreary Draws

GM Ben Finegold chimes in on the subject of "Dreary Draws" as well as "The Lost Age Of Chess".

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/...lost-age-chess

Same old same old.

But he does have a good point about players being afraid to lose. And we see that at all levels. From top GMs all the way down to your average club player.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Dreary Draws

Here's a section about the frequency of draws in modern chess, within a wiki. I can live with a 50-60% drawing rate among elite players and top computer programs (even), but the 80+% figure for modern correspondence chess (not clear if computer assistance always allowed, but probably) is a bit disconcerting, though may make sense given that time controls for correspondence are snail's paced. A little more disconcerting was the high percentage of draws in the last world championship, in spite of Magnus often trying hard to win, it seems. If pressing on in rather dull positions doesn't often work, maybe go for sharp positions when allowed, if one wishes for better chances to win than usual. If draws are a turn-off, one can always consider Shogi (Japanese Chess) or other chess variants thought to have higher rates of decisive games (or stick to chess at fast time controls):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draw_(chess)#Frequency_of_draws

[Lucas Davies]

Re: Dreary Draws

Yeah, one time I played in the BC Closed and drew 7/7 games. One of my finer achievements IMO.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Dreary Draws

I usually like sharp openings, or just making the position chaotic in general. I played 25 tournament games so far in 2017. Only one draw. I'm quite happy with such a low rate.

Does anyone know if there's a top GM who's making significantly less draws compared to the usual 50%? Morozevich is one name that comes to mind and he's around 40% (not bad).

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Dreary Draws

In their best days, world championship calibre GMs of past generations such as Fischer and Kasparov had no trouble racking up a high win percentage. It may also be worth bearing in mind that many draws are exciting ones, and others at least played out until all the winning chances are absolutely exhausted.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Dreary Draws

Grandmaster chess is tough and torturous, far more than any of us non GMs know. Modern day GM chess at least usually doesnt allow the notorious grandmaster draws of the past. Having said that I believe Misha Tal had more draws than wins in his career and Magnus also. (just two quick examples)

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Dreary Draws

In their best days, world championship calibre GMs of past generations such as Fischer and Kasparov had no trouble racking up a high win percentage. It may also be worth bearing in mind that many draws are exciting ones, and others at least played out until all the winning chances are absolutely exhausted.

Carlsen certainly changed the mindset in that regard. It feels like he comes at the board with the idea of playing 5 or 6 hours of fighting chess, no matter what the position on the board is. And that is a good thing.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Dreary Draws

Carlsen certainly changed the mindset in that regard. It feels like he comes at the board with the idea of playing 5 or 6 hours of fighting chess, no matter what the position on the board is. And that is a good thing.

I haven't checked if Hans is right when alluding to a high draw rate for Magnus. Defensive technique could be a little better these days, so to get more decisive games in elite chess nowadays it might be best to play sharply often, when allowed, like Fischer and Kasparov did.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Dreary Draws

I usually like sharp openings, or just making the position chaotic in general. I played 25 tournament games so far in 2017. Only one draw. I'm quite happy with such a low rate.

Does anyone know if there's a top GM who's making significantly less draws compared to the usual 50%? Morozevich is one name that comes to mind and he's around 40% (not bad).

I would encourage you to annotate these games of yours and let readers know exactly where you transformed the game from a "normal" continuation to a more "chaotic" one. Especially the games against superior-rated opponents.

Nakamura used to be one of these daring chessplayers, but lately he seems to have regressed into more staid, drawish lines. He is a GM after all, and he seems to be rather enjoying the comfortable life that GMs of his stature can enjoy.

Wayne Komer has several times mentioned Richard Rapport of Hungary as one of the remaining daring elite chessplayers. But Rapport's results have been lacklustre lately, and he might very well go the Nakamura route in the future.