Draw
Do you realize that a game of chess doesn’t have to result in a win or a loss? A game can actually end in a tie, unlike many other sports that have an overtime session, extra periods, or a shoot-out.
While a chess match usually needs to end with a winner and can use tiebreak points or extra games to determine the winning player, each game itself can end in a tie. Let’s learn how that happens and what it is called.
Every chess game can end in a tie.
What Is A Draw In Chess?
Sometimes the result of a chess game is a tie; neither player wins. Draw is a special word in chess that means a tie.
In a tournament, when a draw happens, each player typically receives a half point because the outcome of a game is usually worth one point. Otherwise, the winner generally receives the full point, and the loser earns nothing. In chess notation, a draw is indicated by an equal sign (=).
In most cases, a player has to propose or claim a draw, but in games played online a draw can happen automatically.
Learning to play chess is more than knowing how pieces move — knowing the ways to draw is also important.
Ways To Draw In Chess
There is more than one way to draw a chess game. In fact, there are five ways. How many do you know? Let’s understand each one.
Agreed Draws
Players frequently agree to end a game as a draw. To draw by mutual agreement, one player proposes a draw, and the other player accepts. If the other player refuses or keeps playing, the game is not tied. To offer your opponent a draw, first make your move and then make the offer verbally. If you are playing with a chess clock, don’t press it before making the offer; otherwise, your move has ended, and it’s your opponent's move. Your opponent has until they make their next move to accept or decline your offer. (To understand how chess pieces move, see the article “How to Play Chess.”) Some tournaments occasionally require a minimum number of moves, such as 20 or 30, before a draw by mutual agreement is permitted.
Sometimes a wise grandparent with a won game accepts a draw offer when a grandchild is beginning to learn how to play chess.
Avoid offering or accepting a draw too early in a game. Maybe your opponent is about to make a blunder, and then the game is yours to win. Beginning players should avoid a draw very early in a game so that they continue to play and develop their chess skills. For them, draws are better limited to when it’s very clearly a tie game near the end.
If a player who has a losing position offers you a draw, you do not have to accept the offer. Keep playing for the win.
Threefold Repetition
If an identical position has occurred on the chessboard (or is about to occur) three times with the same player to move each time and it is the current position or will be the position on the board after that player moves, the player who has the next move may claim a draw. Another requirement is that all possible moves are also the same; therefore, if capturing en passant was previously an option that is no longer available, the position is not considered identical. Some tournaments occasionally extend this rule to a fivefold repetition.
This type of a draw sometimes surprises the players when they play online and are not careful to avoid moves that repeat a board position. Only in online games is a draw automatic with threefold repetition. In over-the-board games, a player must make a claim if they want a draw. If the player does not make the claim on the move when the repetition occurs, they forfeit the right to claim a draw. However, the opportunity to make the claim may occur again. This type of a draw is often seen when one player is losing and finds a perpetual check to save their game.
At over-the-board tournaments, a chess notation sheet is helpful to document that a chessboard position has been repeated three times. For games played on ChessKid, keeping track of the moves is no problem — moves are recorded for you, you are alerted if a threefold repetition has occurred, and the game ends automatically in a draw.
A game played on ChessKid automatically ends in a draw with a threefold repetition.
Stalemate
Stalemate is another draw that is also sometimes a surprise when a player is not careful to make sure that their opponent can make a legal move when not in check.
The diagram below illustrates an example of a stalemate that is explained in the video at the end. In this example, it is White’s move. However, the white king cannot move from the h-1 square because the black pawn, which is protected by the bishop, controls the g-1 square, and the rook at d2 prevents the white king from moving onto the second rank. (Do you understand how squares on the chessboard are identified? Learn more in the "How to Play Chess" article.) In this example, because the white king cannot move and is not in check, the game ends in a stalemate, a draw.
If it is White's turn to move, do you understand why this game ends in a draw? Watch the video at the end to understand more.
Insufficient Checkmating Material
To checkmate your opponent’s king, you need a player to place it in check and then keep it from getting out of check. With your king, a bishop or a knight alone is usually insufficient to win a game. However, one pawn is considered sufficient material because it can always be promoted to a piece that can force a checkmate.
Keeping a pawn, which can be promoted to a valuable piece such as a queen, on the board can help to avoid a draw caused by insufficient checkmating material.
The diagram below illustrates this type of a draw that is explained in the video at the end. In the board position, neither player can win. Because each player lacks sufficient material to checkmate the opponent’s king, the game is a draw.
Neither White nor Black can win this game.
In this circumstance, also known as a dead position, neither player can legally checkmate the opponent's king. These piece combinations typically lead to a draw by insufficient material:
- King vs. king
- King and bishop vs. king
- King and knight vs. king
- King and bishop vs. king and bishop (bishops have to be on the same color)
In a game played with a time control, the result is a draw when just one player exceeds the time limit and the other player does not have sufficient checkmating material.
Although a knight can move up to eight squares, it alone is insufficient to deliver a checkmate.
Even if your opponent has adequate material, they may not know how to deliver a checkmate to end the game. In this case, they may keep making moves, and making moves, and making moves. Be ready to declare a draw when you can apply the 50-rule move, which is discussed next.
50-Rule Move
The most infrequent type of a draw occurs with the 50-rule move. If neither player advances a pawn or makes a capture in 50 consecutive moves, the game is a draw. Any player can ask for a draw when it is their turn to play. (Imagine how boring a game could be without this rule.) To avoid a draw with this rule, make sure you know the basic checkmating patterns. (See the article “Basic Checkmates” with links to a video series to learn them.) Some tournaments occasionally extend this rule to 75 moves.
Because these conditions need to be proven at over-the-board tournaments, a chess notation sheet is again helpful to document the moves that have been played. For games played on ChessKid, moves are recorded for you, you are alerted if the requirements for the 50-move rule have been met, and the game ends automatically in a draw, similar to the explanation for a threefold repetition above.
Look at the next board diagram. Do you think that Black has an overwhelming advantage, and White should resign? Yes, Black does have two rooks and a bishop, but they are useless if White avoids any potential capture, such as if Black moves a rook to the fifth rank where a white pawn can capture it. If White plays carefully, the game should end in a draw by applying the 50-rule move because all pawns are blocked and cannot advance. Watch the video at the end to understand more.
White needs to play carefully for the game to end in a draw with the 50-move rule.
Frequency of Draws
How often do amateur players draw? Stalemates, which should be avoided (unless they prevent you from losing), and insufficient material occur more often than you may believe. Among top players, draws are even more common but for a different reason. Many games at the grandmaster level end in draws by agreement because neither player thinks that the game can be won.
The most important chess match is the FIDE World Chess Championship. In 2021, GM Magnus Carlsen defended his title by defeating GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Although the match could have consisted of 14 games, the rules specified that the first player to gain 7½ points would be the winner. After 11 games, Carlsen was declared the winner, but how many games did he actually win? Only four. Seven games ended in a draw as the image below illustrates.
Seven of 11 games played in the 2021 World Chess Championship match were draws.
When top players compete, it’s not unusual for their games to end that way. In fact, more than half of games at that level end in a draw.
Wrap Up
You know now what a draw in chess is and how it can occur. As a player, your goal is always to win. Only accept a draw if doing so is to your advantage, and make sure that you avoid draws when you have a winning position.