MartinC wrote on 07/07/15 at 08:16:56:

I fully agree. I've known several players enjoying more the bar than the stress of a standard game so they were very often offering draws (some people even did in each game). They didn't care about having a rating below their actual playing strength. The nickname "draw kings" was often used for those players.

I also remember that it can be as higher rated player pretty annoying to meet such type of player during a tournament. You get much harder resistance than you normally would expect which is only slightly compensated by the fact that you almost always can agree to a draw. In practice I once scored 2 draws against such 2100 rated player and only in the third game I managed to win by taking huge risks and pushing till the endgame despite being rated 200 points more.

I also believe this type of players is something which you won't find anymore at +2200 or even slightly lower. That doesn't mean that a higher rated player will not in some specific games play for a draw. Anyway we are digressing from the subject.

Ps. I also want to draw your attention to an article which I wrote about short draws last year: http://chess-brabo.blogspot.be/2014/03/sofia-rules.html
Most interesting conclusion was by reducing 1/3 of the short draws in my own practice, I was able to reduce by 1/5 the number of draws.

yolocounty wrote on 07/03/15 at 22:15:55:


Club players are often so afraid of losing they will bail out with a draw at the earliest opportunity. I would love to see an experiement where someone goes through a whole season offering draws to all of his opponents really early in the game and see how many accept. 

during an under 100ecf match at the weekend, i think i saw that someone had agreed a draw with both players only using about 20 minutes each out of  2 hours to the first time control!

It's better to just play a good line and get your draw from a good position ! You're all round game needs to be good enough to get the draw from the 'drawish' position.
There have been many decisive results in the Be3 exchange ending

shepi13 wrote on 04/11/13 at 05:10:15:



I think white has a slight edge in this positon, but I'm not so sure what to do if black plays 12. - f5 now. This is a rather rare line but the white center is under attack immediatedly and in case of 13. e5 the move 13. - Be6 looks rather solid and blocks the white pawns.

tony37 wrote on 04/23/13 at 17:26:24:


Just take care that after 7...c5 (instead of 7...OO) 8.d4 Nc6 you'd have tricked yourself into a line where White is struggling. But leaving the beaten path with something like 8.OO Nc6 (8...OO 9.d4 would again be the "trick" line) 9.Rb1 OO 10.Qa4 looks playable.

Half a month ago Grischuk tried Ng1-f3, Bc1-g5 and h2-h4 and a week later Morozevich even omitted Bg5 from this line..
And I think they tried the same, too.. ("...find something I like against the Grunfeld that isn't analyzed to death..") 

Edit: Not with outstanding results, though.

ErictheRed wrote on 04/12/13 at 18:58:02:

while looking at some anti-Grünfeld lines I found a way to trick black into this line (if he isn't careful): 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be2 and now more than half of the games here continue 7...O-O (c5 should be played, and is played in most top games) but 8.d4 immediately transposes to the line you mention
of course you have to start with 1.Nf3 then

Well yes, most Grunfeld players know this, but 25% of players in a database walking into an inferior line is a pretty significant number.  Below Master level I'm sure that it happens more often; in my own experience I met 7...0-0 approximately half the time.

But my point wasn't that this should form the core of an anti-Grunfeld repertoire.  Rather that I liked the suggestion of 7...c5 8.Bb5+ the most because it's logical, straightforward, and based on sound development (White is using this Bishop to fight for the d4 square by either pinning Black's Knight on c6 or forcing an piece to go to d7).  As a further bonus, if Black tries to avoid this line with 7...0-0, White can play 8.Be2! with a very pleasant position.

So combined with 7...0-0 8.Bb5+ you have a nice little repertoire against the Grunfeld, except for the fact that the 8.Bb5+ lines are not the most exciting for either side.  But 8.Bb5+ is not a bad or gimmicky move, which I think that something like 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf6 Bg7 5.h4 is.

Lauri Torni wrote on 04/12/13 at 04:21:54:


http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1305491715
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1247611863

I know it's been discussed in other places around here as well.  Basically after 7...0-0?! 8.Be2! c5, White can play the much more useful 9.0-0! instead of 9.Rb1.  The Rook doesn't need to move now, as after 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 cd 11.cd Bg4 12.d5! is not even a sacrifice.  

I'll leave you to work out the details with a database, Yermo's book, etc. 

7...c5 8.Be3 is also still possible with that move order (hoping for 7...0-0 8.Be2 instead). I agree with shepi13 earlier that this is one of the most solid things White can play against the Grünfeld. Just study Kramnik's games and go for a slow squeeze with few losing chances!

8.Bb5+ is also very safe of course, perhaps even more so than 8.Be3 or 7.Be3 on club level. My one tournament game against 8.Be3 (out of less than 10 Grünfelds ever) I actually managed to win as Black.

LeeRoth wrote on 04/11/13 at 18:39:17:


Actually this is good option, but  3.-d5 gives still Grynfeld-type positions  and 3.-e5 and 3.-Nc6 are also quite sharp lines.

shepi13 wrote on 04/11/13 at 05:10:15:

Black can avoid the queen swap and play 9.Qd2 O-O 10.Rc1 Rd8

I think this question is good and practical. I would also like to find a good line to prevent the Grynfeld activity. (besides to 1.Nf3!)

I think one answer could be 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.cd Nxg5 7.Nxg5 e6 8.Qa4+ 

There are of course some possible deviations (5.-dc, 7.-c6?!, 7.-0-0!?) , but there white can count on a small advantage.

I wouldn't expect white to lose this position, although perhaps black could deviate in some way. In fact, white might have some winning chances, such as Kramnik-Svidler from the candidates.

One of the lines this led me to think of is 4. e3 Bg7 5. cd Nxd5 6. Nxd5 Qxd5 7. Ne2.  Check out this excitement for example (with Black playing as seemed to be preferred in a 2010 Yearbook article) ...

It's just a practical question - if you feel it's strange, ok...

Hi friends,

as as 1.e4-player I recently toyed with 1.d4 and 1.c4 in my classical tournament games with very decent results. In fact I only played this moves when I was somewhat sure that my opponent would not choose the Grünfeld Defence, because I often get crushed as White in blitz games there.

Well - one way to start playing in classical games against the Grünfeld Defence would be a choice where I would rather play for a draw out of the opening than for an advantage.

So what would you suggest to make a draw with WHITE against the Grünfeld Defence?

best wishes
Matemax