Hello everybody, this post is about an arbiter's decision regarding a tournament I recently played in (not FIDE-rated btw and the format was rapid with 15 minutes no increment for each side). So I was playing a chess game with my opponent in a tournament. It was a balanced game, with both sides having equal chances. When the timers of both sides were at 5 minutes. I offered him a draw. However, instead of accepting it, he insisted that he think for a while (which I interpreted as a declination), spent 3 minutes, dwindling his clock time to 2 minutes and then decided to accept the draw. I rejected it, saying that the draw is now invalid since it was offered 3 minutes ago and the situation had changed. He then called the arbiter to resolve the issue. Ultimately, they chose to resume the match and the draw offer was considered invalid. As per FIDE's rules, what do you guys think was the most "correct" choice. Please share your thoughts, thank you.
Once a draw offer is given it stands until verbally declined or a move is made. You could not reject the acceptance of your initial offer in the absence of one of those mentioned things.
Hello everybody, this post is about an arbiter's decision regarding a tournament I recently played in (not FIDE-rated btw and the format was rapid with 15 minutes no increment for each side). So I was playing a chess game with my opponent in a tournament. It was a balanced game, with both sides having equal chances. When the timers of both sides were at 5 minutes. I offered him a draw. However, instead of accepting it, he insisted that he think for a while (which I interpreted as a declination), spent 3 minutes, dwindling his clock time to 2 minutes and then decided to accept the draw. I rejected it, saying that the draw is now invalid since it was offered 3 minutes ago and the situation had changed. He then called the arbiter to resolve the issue. Ultimately, they chose to resume the match and the draw offer was considered invalid. As per FIDE's rules, what do you guys think was the most "correct" choice. Please share your thoughts, thank you.