The Rule
The relevant rule in the FIDE laws of chess is 9.2, which reads:
- The game is drawn, upon a correct claim by the player having the move, when the same position, for at least the third time (not necessarily by sequential repetition of moves)
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- a. is about to appear, if he first writes his move on his scoresheet and declares to the arbiter his intention to make this move, or
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- b. has just appeared, and the player claiming the draw has the move.
- Positions as in (a) and (b) are considered the same, if the same player has the move, pieces of the same kind and colour occupy the same squares, and the possible moves of all the pieces of both players are the same.
- Positions are not the same if a pawn that could have been captured en passant can no longer be captured or if the right to castle has been changed. (FIDE 2005, Article 9.2)
While the rule does not require that the position occur thrice on nearly consecutive moves, it happens this way very often in practice, typically with one of the kings being put into perpetual check. The intermediate positions and moves do not matter – they can be the same or different. The rule applies to positions, not moves.
If the claim for a draw is incorrect, the opponent is awarded an extra three minutes and the game continues, unreasonable claims may be penalized pursuant to article 12.6 which forbids distracting or annoying the opponent. Even if the claim is incorrect, any draw claim is also a draw offer that the opponent may accept.
Draws by this method used to be uncommon (Brace 1977:236).
Read more about this topic: Threefold Repetition
Famous quotes containing the word rule:
“The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.”
—Diogenes of Sinope (c. 410–c. 320 B.C.)
“After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)