"Jud McCranie" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 17:59:05 -0500, "RPM1"
wrote:

In my opinion draws are part of chess. BUT when two players
both play with the intent to draw and shake hands after a dozen
moves it does look bad.

I know there have been many suggestions concerning this issue.
I favor a win being worth 1 point and anything else is 0. That
way a player with 2 wins and 2 losses is ahead of the player with
4 draws.

As you said in the first paragraph, draws are a part of chess. If
both lose if it is a draw (as in your second paragraph) then both
players lose if there is insufficient mating material, there is a
stalemate, 3-time repetition, or 50 moves w/o a capture or a pawn
move. I don't think it makes sense for both players to "lose" a draw.
But I'm sure people have said this before.

Does it make sense for 2 draws to equal a win? If players were not
rewarded for draws then they would avoid them. If we're talking
about "fans", I think tournaments and matches would be more exciting
for spectators. You would still have the exciting draws where a player
pulls a draw out of a lost position because the player would not want
the opponent to get the point. But I believe the "Grandmaster draws"
would be less likely, (I'm not buying the "you win this one and I'll win
the next one" argument).

Patrick