Let's see you reach a position where you can't see any possible way of attacking without harming yourself more by weaking your position. You decide to play for a draw. How?
You learn all the key drawn positions, king and pawn and rook and pawn endgames. Then you learn all the positions for drawing a pawn down rook endgame, with the pawn(s) all on one side of the board, or with the stronger player having an outside passed (queen side) pawn, with your Rook properly placed BEHIND the pawn, with symmetrical pawns on the Kingside (e.g. pushing kingside pawns to create counterplay when his king tries to abandon the kingside to help the queenside pawns).
You need to pay special attention to drawing pawn down rook endgames with your rook in front of the pawn and your king "cut off" from blockading it (there is a "rule of 5" for this, though there are a few exceptions to this meaning: if the # of files the king is cut off + the # of ranks the pawn has advanced is less than or equal to 5, you can usually draw), as well as "Sideways defense" where the defending Rook checks the attacking King along the 6th rank, etc.
You have to learn all of these pawn down endgames first.
If pawns are even and position is truly equal, just trade pieces, defend prophylactically vs the opponent's dangerous threats, keep your pieces ACTIVE whenever possible (control files, squares, ranks), and equal positions will always lead to other equal positions, where no one can make progress.
You need to pay special attention to drawing pawn down rook endgames with your rook in front of the pawn and your king "cut off" from blockading it (there is a "rule of 5" for this, though there are a few exceptions to this meaning: if the # of files the king is cut off + the # of ranks the pawn has advanced is less than or equal to 5, you can usually draw), as well as "Sideways defense" where the defending Rook checks the attacking King along the 6th rank, etc.
You have to learn all of these pawn down endgames first.
If pawns are even and position is truly equal, just trade pieces, defend prophylactically vs the opponent's dangerous threats, keep your pieces ACTIVE whenever possible (control files, squares, ranks), and equal positions will always lead to other equal positions, where no one can make progress.
Offer a draw to your opponent.
One other well-known method which is quite often possible: head for an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops (meaning one player has a dark-squared bishop and the other a light-squared bishop). These are very often dead drawn.
Careful, though, if you're still in the middlegame and your opponent has attacking chances. Bishops of opposite colour mean serious winning chances for the attacker in the middlegame.
Careful, though, if you're still in the middlegame and your opponent has attacking chances. Bishops of opposite colour mean serious winning chances for the attacker in the middlegame.
@InkyDarkBird said in #3:
> Offer a draw to your opponent.
No you want to draw for sure so you just have to pay him and he will accept your offer
> Offer a draw to your opponent.
No you want to draw for sure so you just have to pay him and he will accept your offer
Then make it "an offer one can't refuse". :-)
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