Just sayin'

If you are 400+ lower rated than your opponent, down q queen and rook in material, and defending against a mating attack, there are three reasons you should not offer a draw. If you also have substantially less time on the clock, that is a fourth reason.

It is usually poor manners for the lower rated player to offer a draw.

It is always inappropriate to offer a draw in a lost position.

In seemingly even positions, one player is sometimes pressing for an advantage. Even if correct play will lead to a draw, the one defending should not be the one to make the offer.

Maybe we should ban draws in the game altogether?🤔

I assume you mean ban all draw offers, not draws. If my assumption is incorrect, then it's a stale suggestion, mate. Ziryab is just pointing out the courtesies that are normally followed in over the board play and should also be followed online.

I assume you mean banning all draw offers, not draws themselves.

// Yes, you're right, I meant the draw offer.

It's clear that situations can arise in the game where there's nothing but a draw.😅🙈

where i am (the not so good level) i will receive draw offers sometimes when the opponent probably just wants the game over. when i decline i always write that i'd like to play it out a little longer. that usually means i have a plan to win.

personally, i think too many here are afraid of using the chat function to simply talk with their opponent.

maybe just a sign of the times, but i remember people not hesitating to write or answer.

Your rating doesn't determine whether a draw offer is appropriate or not, the board position does. The OP is correct about offering draws from a dead lost position and the opponent has plenty of time left; those situations are almost always inappropriate. Offering a draw in a book-drawn position, a positional-draw, or a dead-position, as a general rule, is always appropriate.

And then there are those who spam draw offers on every turn when in a losing position. That really shouldn't be allowed.

A FIDE Master with decades of tournament experience was telling me a little over a week ago that a lower rated player should not offer a draw. I said that a lower rated player could do so, if that player had an advantage. He said that was stupid.

hello

Possibly too many decades. The guy doesn't seem to make too much sense.

He’s my age. That is, he is old enough to remember when manners were expected.

iu

Manners have very little to do with this one, in my opinion. If you think that the game is a hopeless draw with no real play, a draw offer is the right thing to do - it doesn't matter if your opponent is Magnus Carlsen or Uncle Fred.

That position is not a hopeless draw. It's a theoretical draw, but black is pushing to win and white has to defend accurately. White offering a draw is futile (it won't be accepted anyway), and black offering a draw is insane.

The point is that assessing what constitutes a hopeless draw is not always easy. Weaker players commonly see no play when there is some.

For instance,

hi

Yeah fr do they think you're going to missclick and accidently click on it lol ?

#8-being a FM doesn't equate into being the final word in etiquette, there is no ethical breach in offering a draw when appropriate, regardless of ELO rating. Anyone who says otherwise is either a fool or pompous windbag. That FM sounds like he spends a lot of time jealously defending his perceived social standing; he's in the wrong century.