Increasing frequency of draws

Normally my draws are infrequent - less than one game in ten, often only one in 20. However, today I had two draws in a row, meaning that three out of the last 10 games I have played were draws. I have only had two draws in a row once before, not all that long ago. There is a general trend for the number of draws to rise. I am in the 900-1000 range in Rapid and the number of draws could be a symptom of being more or less at the same skill level as the players I meet. 

A good reason to celebrate

Better than losing, but I am concerned about my game stagnating and frequent draws make ratings progress more difficult.

I wouldn't worry about that....

FYI... I draw is a good thing... means you matched your opponent move for move. Sure we all love the Win... but second best is the draw.

I think the problem is a bit bigger than just a couple of draws:

And what is the problem? Other than a certain stagnation. I am trying to get up over 1000 and manage it briefly but then lose a number of games, then regain some ground, then lose it again. Sisyphus rolling a stone up a hill comes to mind. I would ignore the start of the graph - although I set up this account in 2016, for a long time I did not play games on it, using other accounts. So my level before about July 2025 was inflated. But if I lost a game I would lose 40 or more points.

I think the overall reason for this is because the players are more skilled (duh), so they're less likely to make ridiculous mistakes, which means that drawn endgames are much more common. And since people at this level usually know a thing or two about what to do in endgames, it's usually much more unlikely for a game-throwing move to be played in a position where two GMs would take one look and immediately agree to a draw.

However, since the folks at this rating range (including me) are far from perfect at endgames, it's also not uncommon for a player to enter a won endgame and fail to convert, which may lead to a draw if the other player flounders as well.

Another draw. Since I was on the way to losing this game, it could have been worse. I fairly recently learned that I should try to get a rook on the 7th rank (or 2nd if playing Black) and I managed to apply the lesson here.