Chessola

Chess for no good reason, part 26
Short Draws

I have no argument with short draws as such. When a short draw clinches the tournament, when you want to get a rest in preparation for the rest of the tournament, or even if you're just not in the mood to play--there are many sound reasons for agreeing to peace early.

I think a lot of players who object to short draws fail to remember that playing in a tournament does not mean you have to go all out in every game, but that you get your best result possible overall.

I remember once taking a short draw against a friend so that I could study an adjourned game with K+B+N vs. K. The embarrassment of taking a short draw was more than outweighed by the thought of not being able to win that ending. (And, in my defense--if that's necessary--my opponent was 150 points above me and offered the draw himself.)

What I do object to are grandmasters who accept an appearance fee, then spend the whole tournament playing 20-move draws for no reason except laziness. They need to look in the mirror and decide whether they really want to play competitive chess.

There's not much to the following game. Black goes into a symmetrical defense, and White never gets much initiative. I am sort of happy with the way Black gains time by countering White's threats with developing moves. I believe that my opponent (a quiet Texan) later made a name for himself in correspondence chess.

Wolff,Stephen (1815) - Moody,David (1640) [D51]
U.S. Open Lincoln, Neb. (5), 14.08.1975
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 cxd5

6...exd5 is the almost invariable choice, so much so that there must be something wrong with the text. I have no idea what.

7.Rc1 Be7 8.e3 0–0 9.Bd3 Ne8 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.0–0 Nef6 12.Na4 e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qxe5 15.Qb3 b6 16.Be2 d4 17.Bf3 Be6 18.Qa3 Rac8 19.exd4 Qxd4 20.Nc3 Qd7 21.Rcd1 Qc7 22.Nb5 Qc5 23.Nxa7 ½–½

After trading queens, Black plays ...Rc2 and gets his pawn back. Perhaps Wolff should have tested my technique further; I was simply happy to have gotten out of what seemed to be an awkward situation.

Advertisement