Not all draws are the same

by Arno Nickel
11/5/2025 – In international correspondence chess tournaments, the number of draws has increased significantly over the last few decades due to the tools used, and is now approaching 100%. But not all draws are the same. An alternative scoring system is now to be tested for the first time in a high-class correspondence chess tournament.
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On 15 November, a strong international correspondence chess tournament will start on the ICCF server to test the alternative scoring system devised by Slovenian Venceslav Rutar as a tiebreaker. The focus is on a differentiated scoring system for drawn games, which today account for around 98% of games in many tournaments and overwhelm conventional tiebreaker scoring systems.

For this tournament, in which 10 correspondence chess GMs and 3 SIMs (including one FIDE GM) are participating, I have created an external website where you can find a lot of important background information and where the evaluation will be carried out according to the Rutar scoring system. 

While preparing for the tournament, I was in close contact with Venceslav Rutar, a retired physicist who has found time to devote himself to chess. We owe him a generous donation of $2,000 in prize money. However, without the support of the German Correspondence Chess Federation (BdF) and the encouragement of correspondence chess enthusiasts and officials on the international chess scene, this tournament would not have been possible.

For a test tournament, tournament category 13 is quite remarkable (the last three World Championship finals only reached categories 11 and 12), especially since the main purpose of the tournament is "only" to find out whether and to what extent the new points system is suitable for determining the winner in the event of a tie and how the scoring method affects the chess games themselves. When one considers that similar scoring methods were already a topic of discussion among the world's great chess players a hundred years ago, but mostly remained just talk, then our experiment – albeit belated and under very different circumstances – can already be labelled "historic", whatever the outcome.

It will be months before the 78 correspondence games get underway and the first results are available. Only when two games have been completed will the ongoing games be available for everyone to watch, with a delay of five moves.

However, it is worth taking a look at the website now and familiarising yourself with the subject matter (including position and exercise examples).

Links

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Topics: correspondence chess
Arno Nickel is a chess publisher and correspondence chess grandmaster. He lives with his family in Berlin. He completed a degree in political science at a young age, but later found chess more appealing.
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Venceslav Rutar Venceslav Rutar 11/8/2025 04:20
After reading previous comments, I must emphasize that draw claims will not be possible during this tournaments. For example, the endgame R vs N can lead to a win (5:0) if the defender does not prevent the checkmate. The Knight may fork the Rook and flip the score to 2:2 or even 1:3. With fast time controls, the game may continue for 50 moves. Correspondence Chess players, however, will behave rationally and immediately agree to a draw, which will be scored 3:1. I would also extend a similar appeal when one side has material advantage without any chance to play for a win. We do like fighting chess, but only when it can lead to a tangible result. Since the new system significantly increases the advantage of the first move, any Equal Draw (2:2) will be a success for Black. Therefore, White will be clearly discouraged from playing “grandmaster draws” or lifeless openings.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 11/8/2025 10:16
Talmage,
The draw claim will not be sustained. White Ka6 Nc7 / black Ka8 Rb8 is a possible mate. It might get interesting with a bishop instead of a knight. However, the FIDE Handbook (under E, Laws of chess) art. 5.2.2 is very clear: the 'dead position' rule only comes into force when NEITHER player can checkmate. So you can't claim a draw when you theoretically can checkmate your opponent.
talmage talmage 11/8/2025 02:20
I suspect we will see longer drawn games as a consequence. For example, if a player is a pawn down in an objectively drawn endgame, the player will be incentivized to keep playing until parity is reached or the game is drawn by moves or repetition. The only thought is it would seem strange that a player could claim favored draw when the extra firepower could be captured on the next move. For example, KR v. kn, black knight forks white's king and rook, but white claims favored draw before moving his king out of check.
arzi arzi 11/6/2025 06:40
Those draw rules are completely useless in classical OTB chess, especially since it is related to correspondence chess. In correspondence chess, players use chess engines that play the game flawlessly. Why not ban computers in correspondence chess if draws are so bothersome? Because their use can only be monitored through statistical programs. The rules of chess should not be changed just because tools ruin the actual gameplay. Computers play against each other instead of humans. Correspondence chess is no longer necessary when TCEC does the same thing without human players. What if these rules come also in practice in classical games? Death of chess, DOC.
Karsten Müller Karsten Müller 11/5/2025 11:50
mc1483: It will be interesting how it works out. The tests were quite promising, e.g. https://en.chessbase.com/post/ganguly-shankland-match-2024-final-report
I guess that there will be less 2-2 draws than in usual top level correspondence chess nowadays, but we will see...
mc1483 mc1483 11/5/2025 11:13
I cannot say I like the system. In short, should a game be drawn, material advantage will be counted and will make the difference. 3-1 for a draw with advantage, 2-2 if there's no advantage (or before move 31). A win will achieve 5 points (instead of 4), a loss 0. I see two major issues: the first, not always material advantage means more chances of victory; there are a lot of positions in which the player with less material is winning, and viceversa. The second, in order to avoid being at a disadvantage, the players will become more cautious (sacrifices and gambits will disappeat) and draws will rise to almost 100%. Chess is not Go, and cannot be "scored". You win, you draw, you lose, stop.
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