OTB quick draw to clinch 1st/2nd

In a recent tourney of 4 rounds I won my first 3 games and in round 4 faced a fellow senior who had also won his first 3 rounds . If we draw noone can catch us and we will split 1st/2nd money and I am tired after 3 games with much younger players , so I am black in a QGD and about move 6 I offer a draw which is immediately accepted .  I guess he was tired too ?  

I played in the under 1400 section of a large tournament last year, in the last round first place was already clinched, but my opponent and I were both in the position that a win would secure clear second, a draw would create a 4-5 way tie for second place but at least secure us some prize money. A loss would knock us out of the prize running.

By move 20 or so I had what I considered a much better position than my oponent, and I think I was up a pawn or so, when he offered me a draw. I knew that the draw would secure me a share of 2nd place and at least $200 but I decided that since I had the better position I owed it to myself to push for the win. Long story short, I slowly lost my advantage over the next 30 moves or so and lost a long drawn out (6 hrs) game.

 So a question for you stronger players. At the lower levels of chess, if the goal is chess improvement, would you recommend the course that I took and always trying to push for a win. Or is it acceptable to take a draw in a better position if the tournament standings warrant it?

Unless your advantage is a piece or more I would accept the draw in the situation you described as the risk of getting nothing , if you lose, is too great . There is a lot to consider ofcourse in such situations . In my case if I pushed and managed to win I would only have gotten $50. more for clear first but a loss would have cost me more than $100. so it was not worth the risk to play for the win in this particular case ... 

gg :p

@nestoc - while a large tournament is a fairly special thing, it's not like opportunities for "chess improvement" and long games are really scarce anyway. take the draw.

That's funny, I believe Reb just did what the Soviet Union chess players were accused of: Saving energy with quick draws to exclude other players from possibly getting prizes.

this is the reason why I don't want to play otb chess draws after 6 moves is rediculess. why should I drive more than 1 hour and play 4 hours or more to find out that players just agree to draws without playing.

no disrespect to you but I think it is a waist of time.

When the Soviet Union players were claimed to have done it against Dear Bobby it was called cheating;)

This is not a waste of your time, so why complain ?

If you finished 4th because of such an arrangement in top players, you have reasonable criticism to make, but not for your games.

Trysts , the big difference is that we are all amateurs and the players you refer to were pros . Do you really believe amateurs should be held to the same standards as pros ?  I do not .  Besides , I did it in one game when the draw clinched a tie for first for me , not many games in order to lessen the chances of others. In the US current tournament conditions already favor the younger players by having faster time controls and too many rounds in one day ( 4 ) , both being much harder on older players . I managed to win my first 3 games, all against opponents half my age ( if not less than that ) and my 4th round opponent ( also over 60 ) had done the same . Neither of us felt like doing battle in the last round and running a risk of losing , we wanted to split the first 2 prizes and go home early and thats what we did .  When all my expenses are paid and I am even paid an apperance fee for playing ( as most pros are )  I might feel obligated to fight to the bitter end in every game . As long as I am the one paying everything I will almost always take a quick draw in such a  situation . 

Well good for you Reb, I always suspected that Americans would be communists for the right price

i am of the controversial opinion that, if any players want to take a quick draw, that's only their business. masters are masters anyway, they know a lot of ways to make a relatively effortless draw if they both want to.

someone's standing depends on your game? tough luck, maybe they should have tried playing better in the previous rounds.

want to prevent quick draws/"soviet" collusion/whatever? change the scoring system so that playing to win (instead of "to not lose") is better rewarded.

You can hardly blame a player for taking a draw if it wins him money! It is up to the organisers to prevent early draws, for instance no offer before move 30, but that does not prevent people from taking draw via repetition as we saw in Biel yesterday. I won app 400 dollars in a tournament in January, and had i known for sure I would win with a draw in the final round, I probably would have taken that. As it was, only a win would guarantee the top prize, so I had to grind it out. More morally satisfying, of course :-)

Depends on the tournament.  I have taken a draw in the last round to win or share a win in several tournaments [long ago]

However in Correspondence Chess I always played to win every game including with the black pieces.

Here is a little old timer true story.  Back 40 years ago I played in USCF tournaments in central Illinois.  Quite often my friend, Tom, and I would win our first 4 rounds and be paired in the 5th around and every time we played and agreed to a draw. However there was no agreement beforehand.

One tournament the senario did not work out as I lost a game. In the 5th round I was paired with my friend who had won all his 4 games. He was to play the White pieces and before the game he was saying how he was going to take a draw with me and win the tournament outright.

However, I told him I would be playing for a win-even with the black pieces.  This really shook him up. He was quite upset but I insisted I would try and win. 

I did beat him with the black pieces and then there was a 3 way tie for first place all with a score of 4-1. Tom was really upset but later forgave me.

However he did get his revenge. At one  tournament he gave me a sob story and I loaned him $200 [this was a lot of money back then]

After that I never saw him again. He did not play any tournament and after 40 years I will probably not get my $200 back.

I did look up his name and see he made USCF master. 

Inflation adjustment from 1973 would make Tom owe you $1,051.82

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=200&year1=1973&year2=2013

Recently I accepted a draw from 1300+ on the first offer. The position is equal, and I knew he did that to avoid end game. Draw with 1300+ rated game?! Why not?! I accepted and lost 6 points.

There is no point to win. If I won I get at most 1 point. Draw? Why not?

ponz111, you should have drawn with him. You did that quite often, hence it became a ritual. Why was it not at that time? I would feel like him and upset, and never look back to friendship again.

He should have won the tournament, and you should have enjoyed happy time celebration with him.

What you did costs you. A lose in chess, it happens everytime.

bean Fischer  Because this time it was a different circumstance.

I do not like to lose at chess or lose my try for first place.

However having said this--I can see your point and do not disagree [or agree] with it.  If I had it to do over--yes, I would give him the draw [and be $1052.82 richer]

I am often a fierce competitor.  Play for a win with Black.  Play for highest result not just for a win.  If I play a grandmaster--I play for a win.

My competitive spirit got the best of me. Sorry, Tom...[Can I have my $1052.82 back?]

Actually this happened in 1968 so he owes me $1,341.98

even if we are amateurs we still have the right for a fair tournament and why settle for a draw after 6 moves and destroy the tournament for a few bucks.

if you were placed 3rd because of a arranged draw you would get no fair tournament.