This was against a well-known International Master. In the diagrammed position, on my 41st move, I resigned--and he said he wasn't sure that he would accept my resignation. Earlier, on move 23--with me already a pawn down--he had told me that he might want to take a draw so he wouldn't have to play Walter Browne in the final round. A bit later Browne won his game. So here I was, sitting at the board for several minutes, having just resigned and waiting to see whether my opponent would accept it or not! He moved around the tournament hall in paroxysms of doubt and anguish, trying to decide. Then he came back to his chair, still undecided. I finally said something like: "Come on, make up your mind--or I'm going to write 1-0 on my scoresheet and hand it in." So he was putting out his hand, and we shook for the draw.
As I was walking out the door, I heard a couple lower-rated players talking about the position with great puzzlement: "Well, I guess Black must've had a draw there..." Nope--it was just an example of the Swiss Gambit Deferred.
Oh yes, and my opponent barely managed to draw his last-round game against a 2100. Against the mighty Walter, I managed to obtain an even game. Unfortunately, I seemed to be the only one in the tournament hall who didn't realize this; thinking I was in desperate straits, I began throwing material at him and he wrapped up the game (and his $700 first prize) shortly.
All in all, a pretty lucky tournament for me (even by my standards): especially when you consider my third-round win was the subject of one of my earlier postings (see "My Cheapest Tournament Wins #3).
The IM wanted the draw in order to have an easier pairing in the next round. Unethical, but these things happen all the time in tournament chess.
You must not have a lot of experience in otb tournies, especially playing for a lot of money in the "money round" , last round. If giving the draw in round 4 meant playing against another 2200 player in the money round as opposed to playing a GM in the last round (and likely with black since he was white in the previous round) then his chances of winning money are much better to aoid the GM in the last round. Its simply a question of greed.....he wanted the cash more than he cared about ethics or rating......
I don't blame him. Chess player are poor, unfortunately.
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