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BGonline.org Forums
Effect of Stalemate=Win rule
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Effect of Stalemate=Win rule (Nack Ballard)
Date: Sunday, 9 December 2018, at 4:06 a.m.
Nack wrote:
You seem to be assuming that with fewer known drawn positions available, players will try harder to play for one of them.
No, I wasn't assuming that. In fact I'm having trouble seeing why you got that impression. What did I say that led you to think that I was assuming that?
We seem to agree that the set of drawn positions will be noticeably reduced, but we arrive at a different conclusion. To my mind, it logically follows there will be fewer draws.
I'll grant you that, but I think that at the top level, this particular attempt to reduce the number of draws will result in an insignificant change in the draw rate. It will change the details of how players jockey around when they're near the draw/win boundary, because there are new shoals to avoid, but it won't fundamentally change the draw rate of top-level games.
Of course the real test is to try it out and see what happens, but I'm not making this prediction completely without basis. Tinkering with small rule changes in this fashion rarely has a perceptible effect on something that is so deeply inherent in the game (in this case, the inherent fact is that chess is fundamentally a drawn game). Let's take backgammon. You have seen, and suggested yourself, many many proposed rule changes that are designed to increase the chances that the more skilled player will win more often. And you know that unless you make a drastic change, it doesn't ultimately affect the win rate very much. The same is true in chess.
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