English Chess Forum

In today's game in the World teams, Adams accepted a draw offer in a position where his opponent's previous move was an error according to the engines.

I expect we've all done that, particularly in positions where we've been looking to achieve a drawn outcome.

One of my worse ones is accepting a draw as White to move in this position.

r2r2k1/p4pp1/7p/2Qq4/8/P2b1P2/5BPP/R3R1K1 w - -

Black's last move was Qb3-d5 with a draw offer.

Hi Roger,

(OOPS!)

I have a rule of thumb.

Never resign or accept an offered draw if you have a check in the position.

In deference to the thread-starter, this was my first ever 4NCL game. 36... Nd4 with a draw offer was quite something.

[White "de Coverly, Roger"] [Black "Makepeace, Philip J"] [Result "1-0"] [EventDate "2004.06.19"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 Be7 8. Qa4 a6 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Nd4 Bxd4 11. cxd4 Qb6 12. Rd1 Nge7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. b3 Rac8 15. Ba3 f6 16. Bc5 Qc7 17. Qa3 fxe5 18. Bd6 Qd8 19. dxe5 Rf7 20. Na4 Ng6 21. Qb2 Ncxe5 22. Bxe5 Rc2 23. Qd4 Rxe2 24. Re1 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Qg5 26. Bg3 Be4 27. Nc5 h5 28. Nxe4 dxe4 29. h4 Nxh4 30. Qxe4 Nf5 31. Qxe6 h4 32. Qe8+ Rf8 33. Qe6+ Kh8 34. Be5 h3 35. Bg3 hxg2 36. Kxg2 Nd4 37. Rh1+ 1-0

I had one with a similar theme. It didn't actually involve a draw offer, though the game was eventually drawn. Particularly annoying as my opponent was a FM, so I missed a good scalp. In this position he played ...Ne5?? to which I replied Qf6??

I can see why that happened - easy to miss that after 1....Ne5 2Rd8+ Kg7 the f8 square is no longer covered by Black's R!

It is easy to do though. I offered one opponent a draw and he glared at me and played the winning move. After I resigned, I apologized profusely and said I'd totally missed it! You do get people offering draws where you are material up and/or attacking...

I don't have the position but I distinctly remember a game (though I may be slightly mis-remembering some of the exact details) that a county teammate of mine played in the British Championship (probably under 10 / 11). He'd been struggling after a dodgy opening, got back into it slightly in the middlegame and tactically offered a draw despite being somewhat down on material.

While his opponent was considering the offer, my friend realised that he had mate in 3 and started crying. His opponent thought for a bit longer, then played a move and offered the draw back!

So my friend instantly refused, cheered up, and played his mating sequence... I think the result stood, despite his opponent's protestations.

The first time I played the late George Ellison, doyen of Fylde chess, I was 12 years old. He was a much stronger player than me at that time. Nevertheless, he ending up in a stone-cold lost same-coloured bishop ending a pawn down. I was coasting to victory.

Then he offered a draw! I found the courage to turn the offer down and close the game out.

What do people think of draw offers in a frankly lost position? My feeling is that it was poor etiquette. George was using his reputation to intimidate a young opponent.

All part of the game I suppose...

"What do people think of draw offers in a frankly lost position? My feeling is that it was poor etiquette."

Agreed!

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2019 12:21 pm

What do people think of draw offers in a frankly lost position?

If you are playing without increments and your winning opponent is really short of time, it's a way of indicating that you would accept an "unable to win" claim, were the opponent to make one. With increments, you should probably assume the opponent is good enough to play at 10,15 or 30 seconds a move, and not make such an offer.

A 13 or 14 year old offered me a draw when he stood much worse and had no counter-play. His father got quite annoyed with me when I just laughed.

An adult opponent offered me a draw when I stood much better. After I had won, I asked him why he had offered me a draw in such a poor position. He responded, Wel, some of my opponents are stupid.'

Off topic. I was playing in a weekend Swiss. A player resigned. I was the first to reach the board to show him he had a forced mate in 3. The Alice Mate, 1 Ne7+ Kh8 2 Qxh7+ Kxh7 3 Rh4#

Alice, or Anastasia?

I've forgotten. I first heard of it in French.

Anastasia - I think. I have been trying to get the finish for years in a proper game and finally did it a couple of years ago.

I have known a player offer a draw when a whole queen down, although I think that in this instance the player was well under 100 playing strength and had not taken stock of the position. This season I have seen a player win a game despite being a queen for a minor piece down

I think a few years ago the game Glenn Lambert v Alexander Kotov was discussed on here, where I believe Lambert offered a draw, Kotov refused and was adamant he was winning whereupon Lambert resigned when it was discovered later he had a winning combination which shows that even strong players can misjudge situations.