Nearly all games today are played with time delay or increment. As a result, “quickplay finishes” (FIDE) or the notorious claims of “insufficient losing chances” (USCF) are mostly a thing of the past. The players decide the result of the game between themselves, as it should be.
Draw claims are a lot easier with digital clocks, which unfortunately means beautiful clocks like the Garde are less common. Photo: Caissa Chess Store
Still, knowing how to properly claim a draw is important for a tournament player in two main instances:
- The 50-move rule
- Triple occurrence of position
Note that this is different from offering your opponent a draw — I’ll cover that in a future post.
Draw claims don’t involve the opponent. You call over the Arbiter or Tournament Director, who then makes a ruling.
You can only claim a draw on your turn, with two possibilities: the key position has already appeared, or your next move would bring it about.
The 50-move rule
If 50 consecutive moves (by white and black) have been made without a pawn move or a capture, a player having the move can claim a draw.
50 consecutive moves have already been played without a pawn move or capture.
To claim a draw: Pause the clock, call the Arbiter, and state your claim.