In my tournament this past weekend a situation arose where White had to perpetually check Black otherwise Black’s pawn would promote. It was a dead draw, which made things somewhat easier. In any event, I had to intervene. White said that he had said to Black “Are you playing for a draw?” Black said that White had said “Do you want a draw?” in an antagonistic fashion. They both agreed that Black had accepted the draw offer, at which point White denied that he had made a draw offer. Even White admitted that “It probably would have been a draw”. My ruling was that since he used the word “draw”, it was a draw offer. Black later told me that White had been attempting gamesmanship throughout the game, and he was a little sick of it.
Your ruling was correct. If a player says anything that can reasonably be interpreted as a draw of (“Are you playing for a win?”, “Looks like a draw, huh?”), it’s a draw offer and cannot be retracted. If you don’t want to offer a draw, keep your mouth shut.
Your original posting makes it unclear whether White or Black was on move. A player is only supposed to make a draw offer when they are on move. If White was on move, then it would be a draw since Black admits accepting the draw offer. I would probably also rule that since White used the word “draw” it was a draw offer, although, not hearing it firsthand from the players can make a crucial difference. However, if Black was on move, then it might be a little more “gray.” You were in the best position to judge and I don’t think anyone can second guess you.
Why would that make a difference? This is covered under 14B2. It seems that the only real question is whether whatever White said constituted a draw offer – and for either player’s version, the answer should be “yes.”
That’s true–I stand corrected. The only real issue is whether White was making a draw offer. Their ages are not mentioned in this scenario. In any event a seasoned player should know better than to talk about draws at all unless he’s offering one.
I agree with your ruling. A player who asks “are you playing for a draw?” or even “are you playing for a win?” is attempting to pump his opponent for information he is not entitled to. Your ruling prevents the player from getting away with that. If he wants to know whether his opponent is playing for a draw, he should simply offer a draw and take his chances.
Makes no difference. A draw offer made improperly while the opponent’s clock is running may nevertheless be accepted by the opponent. (Additionally, the TD may impose a penalty, such as a time adjustment, on the player making the improper offer.)
And an unseasoned player needs to learn a lesson, by having his statement ruled to be a draw offer. Maybe he’ll become a little more seasoned then.
For whatever it’s worth, one of the players has 75 events on his MSA, and the other has 133. I gather that some posters think that I could have more seriously punished White for his annoying behavior, but I think that forfeiting him would have been completely out of bounds at this point, and anything else would not have changed the result.