zdrakec wrote:

Giving some thought to how draws happen over the board
....
the following rule changes strike me as perhaps interesting:

May I suggest starting with a logical argument as to why draws are
undesirable?

Draws may not be agreed.
....
that would seem to leave lack of mating material as the sole way
to draw a game

Which means that draws *can* be agreed, simply by trading down until
both sides lack sufficient mating material.

Since the object of the game is to place the opponent's king in a
position from which it cannot avoid being captured, I suggest that
stalemate should be a loss for the stalemated player.

This would completely change endgame strategy -- not a thing to do
lightly without at least playtesting hundreds of games first.

Thoughts?

My opinion is that the game of Chess is OK as is is. I see no
problems that justify anything other than minor tweaks. That's
why I would like discussions like this to start with an argument
as to what is wrong with the current game; most discussions like
this start with an unexamined assumption that something is wrong
with the current game.


--
Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com/