How to claim draw

When the conditions for a threefold repetition or 50-move draw have been met (on this site, you must make the third repetition, not simply be about to), then the "Offer Draw" button will turn into a "Claim Draw" button.  At that point, claim your draw and move on.

What this means, though, since you're the one aiming for the draw, is that you'll probably have to come back to the game while it is not your turn to find the Claim Draw button.  That is, you make a move which makes the third time a particular position has been reached and you must either change the "Move on to the next game" option to "Stay on this game" or you have to come back and look at the game from your games list in order to see this button.  If your opponent makes a move in the meantime, then the repetition may be considered broken and you'll have to arrange for it again.  The 50-move draw claim works similarly.

Your opponent may not know about that rule.  Often, such players think that someone "mindlessly checking when they're otherwise 'clearly losing'" are the ones being unsportsmanlike.  They're wrong, since they're the ones that made a mistake by letting a threefold repetition occur, but I can't blame them if they aren't aware of it.  Just accept that they were unaware of this possibility, hope they learned something from your draw claim, and move on.

Let me get this straight. If you play 50 or more moves, you can "claim" a draw?Not just when you repeat 3 moves in a row, also....GREG

idreesarif posted the full rules, but the gist of the 50-move rule is that fifty moves are played without either player making any kind of progress.  It is fifty moves without a capture or a pawn move, so you can imagine how little progress is made in such a situation.

witth respect to all, 50-move, perpetual or insufficient material or no legal move, all r automatically drawn games. question is in what condition one can 'claim' draw to arbtirator. there r many positions occur, when one dont want to continue and can claim draw to arbitrator or arbitration committee, then players leave the table and arbitrator scan the position to decide whether it is draw or not. however it seems that it is applicable to OTB games. my personal experience when playing OTB with chess clock (tourney game) my position was better but i could not find the way to mate but makes move. my opponent 3 times claim draw and arbitrators refused thrice. finally i find the move  and heat was on, breaking the locked position. both started playing like blitz, as clock showing flag was about to fall......i won on time. but post analysis showedd the i was winning, already. e.g. a bookish drawn position where king n pawn vs king n rook (particular position, such one occured once when Anand confronted for title 1st time in NY vs Kasparov, can be seen on the net) in such various position u can claim draw, if opp doesnt like 'agreed draw'. here in turn-based, to whom we claim. site system must have the auto-option to resolve the draw by claim. thanks.