16-07-2015, 12:28 PM
My suggestion to avoid this happening is to make conditions given to players "conditional" on them not having short draws - that way if someone like me can't be arsed playing chess against my best mate in the final round on board 20 then we can agree a short draw and go home (or play the shortest stalemate possible like certain Hamilton chess players...). There are flaws with this i.e. what if two players strong enough to finish in the top few but didn't get conditions do this but at least then it is likely to be norm-seekers increasing their norm chances which is on the whole a good thing.
I agree with Andy (and pretty much everyone else that has commented on this topic) that the draw was a bad thing for the tournament I just don't think the players should be blamed - being a professional chess player who is outside the top 10 is a pretty precarious existence (I believe!) and they are entitled to make tactical decisions like this if the rules permit them (IMHO).
I agree with Andy (and pretty much everyone else that has commented on this topic) that the draw was a bad thing for the tournament I just don't think the players should be blamed - being a professional chess player who is outside the top 10 is a pretty precarious existence (I believe!) and they are entitled to make tactical decisions like this if the rules permit them (IMHO).