Draws = Death (of your improvement)

I have recently been drawn to the surprising number of draws that occur in club players games, both over the board (OTB) and on the Internet. It is surprising because many of the final positions are far from sterile, and could be played out. I have made it my goal not to accept draws in my games (I make an exception for King Vs. King!), and to play on in level positions. My purpose for this is five-fold:

• As someone wishing to improve as a player, I play chess games mainly to increase my knowledge. Accepting a draw prematurely robs me of learning something that might appear in subsequent play. True, I may go on to lose, but learning is the name of my game.
• Playing on in level positions creates a sense of determination and grit in your play. It lets your opponent know (but more importantly YOU come to know) that you are a determined player who will fight all the way.
• If you know you will not accept a draw, it is less likely that you will relax when the position becomes level. It is typical in the games of club players that when the game enters a level endgame, for example, one or both of the players relax thinking the draw is inevitable, and hence blunders start appearing as the levels of concentration have dipped. Knowing that a draw is never on the table induces a heightened level of vigilance.
• It is often un-commented on that draw offers often betray the players opinion of a position. This knowledge can be extremely useful! For example, if you are 1800 playing a 2000 and they offer a draw in what appears to be a level position, what do you take from this? I smell fear - shouldn't they be able to crush you from a level position? The corrolary of this is that I don't want to betray my opinion of the position to my opponent! I don't want to give them confidence if I offer them a draw and they are lower rated than me. I want them to know I am determined to play on and to win. Conversely, if they are higher rated than me, I would not want to be so insulting as to offer them a draw - they can crush you from a level position if their skill is that much greater. Offering a draw out of fear is not conducive to producitve improvement.
• Level positions are actually often far from level! The pawn structure may be symetrical, the minor pieces may be equivalent, but it is often the case that there is some position imbalance between the opposing forces. Maybe one of the kings is slightly more exposed, maybe ones bishop is posted slightly more actively. Find those positional imbalances and squeeze them. Doing this has given me greater insight into the role of small advantages and learning how to culture them.

I think that this increasing number of draws is to some degree explained by players wanting to imitate GMs. Draw-death is a concern at the GM level, and many interventions have been suggested and implemented in order to reduce the number of draws.

But for the improving player, what is the motivation for accepting draws? The number one factor is quite possibly FEAR - fear of not offering the draw and going on to lose the game. It is unfotunate that many players wish to improve their rating, without realising their fixation on rating is what is holding them back. Sure, you might go on to lose the position and drop a few (meaningless) rating points, but if you learn something important from your loss, surely that is worth so much more than your temporary loss of points.

In my opinion, one of the best things a player can do to improve their rating is to forget about their rating! If you shed the fear of dropping points you will be exposed to a host of lessons and positional insights that you otherwise would have missed out on by taking an early shower.

So go on...lose your fear of losing and play out every position until the kings remain. Caissa will be proud!