WHY in the world is there a "threefold repetition" rule in a TIMED game???

Players can do threefold. Tournament directors can also use that knowledge to not invite them to future events. They can also reward players with 3 points for a win. We the spectators can call them out and make them the laughing stock of the chess world. When The Muzychuk sisters do this in round 1 of an event, it is commendable. They are telling everyone that they don't want to fix results later on (ex. one sister in second just needing a win to go into first or tie). But what happens in a suspicious game as the one between Kramnik and Demchenko in 2017? Demchenko needed a win in a knockout tournament and agreed to a draw in 10 moves. So, it can be done with threefold, draw agreement, or players just dancing pieces around to move 30 and then drawing. The fate is in their hands.

@h2b2 said in #9:

[...]
I thought FIDE had a rule about playing moves without trying to checkmate. I had a quick look but didn't find what I thought I would find, I did find this, though.

"1.4 The objective of each player is to place the opponent’s king ‘under attack’ in such a
way that the opponent has no legal move."

i.e. if you're playing moves without the objective of placing your opponent's king under attack, i.e. to win on time, in a FIDE OTB tournament, it is against the rules. My opinion is it's perfectly fine online (we aren't playing in a OTB FIDE tournament on lichess), other people have the opposite opinion.
[...]

That article (which is actually article 1.2 in the rules I can see - are we looking at different versions? - I don't know) concerns how the game is played, but it doesn't mean trying to win on time is against FIDE's rules. In general it isn't.

However, you're probably thinking of rule 10.2 which applies to OTB events with normal time controls when one or both players are short of time and have to make all remaining moves in limited time (no increment). In that specific case simply playing to win on time without trying to win the position is not allowed. The player with less than two minutes on the clock can stop the clocks and summon the arbiter and claim a draw if they think their opponent is not trying to win the game on the board.

https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf

@Ikonoclast said in #6:

I sometimes use two-fold repetition to gain a little time to think of a better continuing move with a slight advantage in Rapid 15+10.

Sometimes I will repeat twice in a better position because some people will avoid a draw at all costs even in a worse position. If they don't repeat and play a bad move, then hey, congrats, now your job is easier. If they do repeat, hey, no problem, just play a different move and no harm done. Of course, you should make sure they can't actually avoid the repetition and be in a better (or at least not as bad) position.

@nomcaller said in #7:

So, if my opponent is playing at a snail's pace in a timed game and we're getting close to the timed limit for the game--say, I have four minutes, 35 seconds left and he has one minute, 20 seconds left--and we are both left with a few same pieces on the board (equal score), my strategy to continue to try and win the game by placing him in check as much as possible, BECAUSE HE HAS LESS TIME LEFT, is punished by the fact that the game computer decides that nothing is happening (on purpose) when, in fact, something IS happening on purpose.

The lesson to learn there is, feel free to play a slow, boring game because the odds against you losing due to the time limit are minimal. How uninteresting and biased.

I don't think I have ever felt so much pain reading a forum post. Even that time I was reading the forums while munching on a box of thumbtacks.

Another useful point of repeating the position for a second time is a tacit offer of a draw. Or, more deviously, you can do that to test whether your opponent is playing for a draw. It can be quite subtle.

Cause there is no progress. If the players repeat 3 times means they are willing to not make any further effort and will keep repeating the same moves and wont change their moves no matter what.

Instead of wasting hours repeating the same moves over and over since there will be no progress, its better to just halt the game right there.

I do have to say that, in my personal experience--which might not be the norm--I am surprised to find that three moves were repeated by my opponent, and a draw is given by the website computer, about 70% of the time it happens. It's never my intention to end a game in a draw and I am surprised more than not that it happened.

Guess that's something I have to work on, of course.

because its an elementary chess rule lol