Repetition of Position & 50 moves

Another thread brought up the issue of repetition in a question regarding fighting for draws. It might be of some general interest to Chess.com members to know that the rules now are not what they have always been.

 

Wilhelm Steinitz gives the rule during his time as:

 

"A player may call upon his opponent to draw the game, or to mate him within fifty moves on each side, whenever his opponent persists in repeating a particular check, or a series of checks, or the same line of play (in some tournaments this rule has been altered to the effect that after six such repetitions of checks, series of moves, or the same line of play, a draw may be claimed on either side), or whenever he has a king alone on the board, or

King and Queen / King and Rook / King and Bishop / King and Knight -- against an equal or superior force

King and two Bishops /  King and two Knights / King, Bishop and Knight -- against King and Queen

and in all analogous cases; and whenever one player considers that his opponent can force the game, or that neither side can win it, he has the right of submitting the case to the umpire or bystanders, who shall decide whether it is one for the fifty-move counting. Should he not be mated within the fifty moves, he may claim that the game shall proceed." 

 

The Modern Chess Instructor (1889), p. xxii. 

The change in this rule bothers me. Right now I am in a perpetual check game but the other player varies his moves so no position has been repeated three times. The game is obviously over but it's going to take 50 moves at 7 days each to finish it. The idea here is that grandmasters are going to shake hands and call it a day when they realize its a draw. Mr. 700 rating isn't going to see that and keep playing. College basketball is played on a different court than the NBA for a reason. I think the FIDE and USCF can have their professional rules. But why not keep a rule for the rest of us that had been around for the whole time most of us have played the game?

The rule as Steinitz presents was clearly in flux, as it varied from place to place. The present rules have become universal due to globalization trends that were significant long before Steinitz, but became fully realized in the twentieth century--affecting football (soccer), Olympic sports, chess, and many other aspects of culture.

 

Of course, you find your situation an inconvenience, and I sympathize. But, such is correspondence and turn-based chess that some games will take a long time to complete. Special rules and even adjudicationsnearly always prove to be more toruble than they are worth.

Woooo

The 50-moves rule and the 3-fold repetition rule take care of all cases.
Of course KQ vs. KR, KQ vs. BB or BN or NN can be hard to play for both sides.

I've watched GMs play dead drawn endings for many moves. Last night, while looking for games with RP vs. R, I found a game played on Sunday that ended with the 50 move rule. A FM made his IM opponent continue to prove that he understood how to defend. The time control had an increment of 30 seconds, so time pressure was minimal (unless he had a full bladder).

@6

Fischer and Carlsen won many theoretically drawn endgames.

I recall watching Aronian push in a drawn RB v. R ending several years ago. I learned that he had won a few of these.