Re: Problem with draws

(A lot of material snipped for readability --- we can always restore it
later if necessary)

"The idea that the hard fought draw has to be rewarded for some
aesthetic reason is quaint but counterproductive."

That's apparently our point of disagreement. From my point of view,
there's absolutely no reason to think of a hard-fought draw as an
unsatisfactory result. I can see, of course, why people don't like
short, bloodless draws, but I've never been able to understand why any
chess buff should dislike _all_ draws.

At the top levels, there are many players now (for example Anand,
Kramnik, and Kamsky) who are extremely good at holding slightly
disadvantageous endgames. When Anand, say, succeeds in defending a
pawn-down endgame against Topalov, are we supposed to be disappointed
by the result? It would have been better for chess and its fans if
Anand had cracked under the pressure and lost?

But why start looking at this point in the game?
How did Anand let himself get into a pawn
down endgame without winning chances?
Maybe he would have played differently
(i.e. more interestingly) if the draw weren't
treated so favorably. Maybe Topalov
would have tried to press his advantage
more decisively if he didn't have the
"at worst I split the point" in the back of
his mind. Maybe they'd both have
developed riskier opening repertoires.
Maybe if chess fans *knew* that when
Topalov and Anand face each they are
going to play until one prevails (the norm
in the sporting world), it becomes alot
more interesting.

Hmm, you're making the case well, but I find it hard to relate to,
because to me, the wild Topalov-Anand game which might possibly have
ensued had draws been devalued would not necessarily be more
interesting than the scenario described. From my point of view, good
play is always interesting.

Also some draws are real slugfests, and I have to wonder what your
position is on that type of game.


At Corus 2006 (A,B,C) 45% of
games were draws. In the A group,
the draw percentage was 57.1%.

The public voted via internet for
the most "elegant or interesting
games" of the Corus tournament.
Drawn games received 3.6%
of the votes.

That works out to ~ 36x preference
for decisive games. If you have
a factory that can make two products,
one worth much more than the other,
wouldn't the smart business try to
weight its product mix heavily
towards the more valuable one?

A few years ago John Watson investigated the perennial complaint that
draws were killing chess. What he found, if I remember correctly, was
that over a long time period going back several decades, the proportion
of draws in high-level play had actually been fairly stable at about
30-35%, with an increase in the 60s and 70s followed by a decline in
the 80s. I don't know what the stats look like for the past few years
--- possibly the incidence has gone up because of better preparation,
technique and various other factors.

In any event, I'm afraid that the "smart business" analogy has limited
appeal to me. If the goal were simply to sell chess, we might as well
go with G/10 time limits and scantily clad cheerleaders. I don't doubt
that decisive games get the most popular votes in "interesting game"
contests, or that the wider public would probably prefer to see a
decisive result in every game. But forcing decisive results by
devaluing the draw would just distort the basic nature of high-level
chess. On the other hand, I don't mind restricting the circumstances
under which draws can be agreed, as some recent tournaments have done.
That's probably an experiment we could both approve of.

Larry T.

.

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