The harmful nature of draws for the improving player - DeGuire's Digest #1
10:53am Monday, February 10th, 2025
The advice here is for the chess players who really want to improve their game. The subjects broached will be painful, introspective and downright repulsive. You've been warned.
“Too much emphasis in competitions is given to ratings, prizes, isolated successes in games against strong opponents and so on. This approach often leads to a prioritization of such successes like taking an easy draw against a strong player, or playing too safe when you are in contention for money. For the sake of momentary success players become cautions. Alas the result sometimes turns out the opposite and, more important, it sharply slows the creative growth of the player. The fostering of a depressing pragmatism from early on cannot be good.” Mark Dvorestky - Secrets of Chess Training.
- Early Draws
Recently I have encountered a massive problem with my chess game. It's nothing to do with endgame technique or tactical prowess but with my own mental fortitude. It's my inability to fight for a win. Everyone has fears and doubts about themselves. This shows when you offer or take an early draw. It's easier to draw then it is to lose.
The problem is that losing is a good thing. Losing is better than drawing because you have significantly more to learn from. When you take an early draw you are hurting your future. You're postponing your learning by taking a draw. Just because a position is deemed equal does not mean you have nothing to learn from it! Draws should really only be offerd when only kings remain!
At our most recent major tournament I took and offered many disgusting and worthless draws.
Here I was black against Vedant Margale. Vedant and Derek Yin were the kids who played premier when I first started up at DCC, i was scared for our first time competing. Vedant was close to flagging for the last couple moves. I could tell he was getting nervous so I offered a draw. He plays a move and suddenly offers a draw himself. I accepted without much consideration. He thought he had played a blunder but in reality it was fine. He would have seen the right continuation. (27... Nc7 28. R5d4 dxe5 29. Bxe5 Rxd4 30. Rxd4 Rxd4 31. Bxd4)
So was it smart to offer a draw and accept his? I don't think so. I think for the sake of short term success against a strong opponent like Vedant I'm hurting my chess game in the long run. I 100% could I have lost that game, but at least i would have learned something about that rich endgame. Here's another example against another rising star Henry Kovacs.
I was white and we agreed to a draw here. I know what you must be thinking, Surely this is a mistake? Nothing has happened yet... Why? I can tell you my reasoning.
I have an unnatural aversion to playing with initiative and don't like having potential weakness in my camp. Notice how white is the only player with doubled/ potentially weak pawns. Black’s king is on d7 but how one could exploit that was not apparent to me at the time. I had visions of Henry continuing to play strong and solid and just whittling down my shaky central pawn structure. These thoughts together led me to the unthinkable. We agreed to a draw.
So how does one stop accepting early draws? Yes it would be nice to just dropkick my fears and insecurities like Earle to Will Wolf at the MLK tournament but I think this is easier said than done. You must turn your weakness into strength! Instead of running from positions I am scared of, I need to jump into them and learn! Maybe I'll lose more games but I'll start to become more comfortable with initiative based attacking positions. This will at least make it easier to resist that tempting poisoned draw-fruit.
Offering Draws
To quote from the article (5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Accept a Draw Offer) by WGM Raluca Sgircea and IM Renier Castellanos “A GM friend of ours whose name we’d rather keep a secret once told us:
If I am better, why would I offer a draw and not try to win?
If I am worse, wouldn’t it be a bit disrespectful towards my opponent to offer a draw?
If it is equal, why not play on? I shouldn’t lose with correct play anyway."
Not only do I always bite the forbidden fruit when offered but I also have a horrible problem with offering them. I am like Oprah, “You get a draw, you get a draw, everyone gets a draws! “ As sad as it is, I often need my opponents to refuse my draw offers in order for me to win a game. Here is my best victory ever against a strong player who i have tons of respect for, Rhett Langseth. I think our record is something like (1W-10L-0D)
During this game I offered Rhett at least 3 draws in equal or slightly better positions. Rhett having beaten me many times over did not want these draws because he has swindled and outplayed thousands of people before me. Everyone has a story about having a winning position and still losing to this monster. I am lucky Rhett is who he is. If he was weak willed like me one of my greatest moments in my chess career would have been nothing but a decent draw! Sometimes you can use your lower elo to your advantage. Strong players will not want a draw and often overpress!
Here is my game against Derek yin at the MLK this year. I was very proud of this game but it could have been one of my greatest regrets if Derek had chosen to accept one of my 3 draw offers.
Here I am in the 4th round of the MLK with white. A funny coincidence that I would have to face both Derek and Vedant for the first time in the same tournament. Thankfully the result was better here than against Vedant but no thanks to me. I offered a draw on moves 14, 16 and 19. I was begging for a draw like in the Rhett game but thankfully Derek could sense my fear and didn't want it.
As shown, I often need my opponents to help me win the game by choosing not to accept my draw offers. Since the MLK I have vowed to not accept or offer any draws. Like the GM quote at the beginning of this section, there is truly never a reason to offer a draw. I have tried to stay true to this but the occasional slip up is inevitable. I have found that reminding myself during the game that I am here to learn is helpful for me in resisting that oh so tempting draw offer. All i can do is think about the potential regret i would have had should Rhett or Derek have taken the draw these games.
The benefits of playing it out
"Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone" Jonathan Rowson - Chess for Zebras
You should always play out your games. A game has never been won by accepting a draw or resigning. Even positions that are theoretically winning or drawn have a lot of bite and danger under the surface for the unsuspecting player. Recently I have been playing a match against Colorado Springs City Champion, Chris Motley. Chris is very strong and good at endgames but I have studied and taught this endgame many times.