When playing a vastly superior player, play a trappy line in a not-so-well-known opening. I have defeated many better players with the Traxler Attack of the Two Knights Defense. I have studied most of those lines in great detail. Even though they are fundamentally a better chess player, I gamble that I know the Traxler Attack better than they do. And, as it turns out, I usually do. It's very complicated. Every good player knows that, when playing a much lower-rated player, they should get out of theory early because they don't want to risk being out-booked by a lower-rated player. Make them THINK, not resort to lines they've memorized. It's worth making a slightly inferior move to because the lower-rated player will seldom know how to punish it.
Does anyone have a good opening to play for a draw?
#22 you might know the Nxf7 Traxler better than I do and you might have memorized until checkmate or a repetition draw but I will play Bxf7 and gain a clean pawn for nothing, good luck justifying it.
Another 6-year old thread resurrected for no reason. Facepalm.
Play petroff and semitarrasch and symetrical english
This will be your full repetoire for draw😃😃😃
You don't get a draw by playing safe moves. You get a draw by playing GOOD moves.
The OP has gained over 1000 blitz rating points since he posted this question.
He has drawn only 3% of his blitz games.
#22 you might know the Nxf7 Traxler better than I do and you might have memorized until checkmate or a repetition draw but I will play Bxf7 and gain a clean pawn for nothing, good luck justifying it.
Seriously? There's no Traxler player who is surprised or unprepared for the Bxf7+ lines. I realize the Traxler is dubious but only when playing somebody who has studied it extensively. I win the Bxf7+ lines (which are most common) as much as I win the Nxf7 lines. But, you're right, Bxf7+ is the wisest approach, especially if you don't know 15 moves or more of the Nxf7 theory. The other difficult line for black to handle is a well-booked, greedy player who plays Nxf7, then captures the bishop after black plays ...Bxf2+ and THEN plays Ke3 after the Ne4+.
Remember, the subject of this thread is how to deal with a far superior player. I'm simply saying that I have faired quite well when a higher-rated player plays 4.Ng5 and I play 4...Bc5 - but only because the line is trappy and complex. A superior player can be out-booked is my point. That's why I say it is unwise for a much higher rated player to stick with book lines for very long in the opening. Deviate - and make the lower-rated player start shooting from his hip.
Someone succeeded to draw against the Great Fischer using the Damiano defense.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1255180
My first game vs Marty Appleberry, a strong master, I played not to lose. He just ground me down without taking any risks because he just understood chess better. I learned from that that playing a better player is like gambling vs the house in vegas. The longer and less risk in the game the greater the chance you'll lose due to his/her accumulation of slightly better mves. Against stronger players I started going for play leading to tense, chaotic positions which needed pure calculation and almost no understanding. My results improved and I had games that were much more fun and memorable. My suggestion: fight all the way.
Playing for a draw will get you a loss.
That's an extreme overgeneralization, too vague to be useful, and isn't even a logical statement: You're saying that a player cannot become skilled in knowing how to draw?
Of course not. Nobody is claiming that. However, most people (including myself) do claim that the character of certain openings is that they can tend to be drawish or sharp, and this can be seen to some extent by plotting the statistical win-draw-loss progession as the games with that opening progress:
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/how-to-measure-the-drawishness-of-a-game
Playing not to win is not the correct mindset.