What's wrong with a draw?

Are draws something terrible, something to be ashamed of? I encountered players that preferred to lose a game instead of making the 3rd repeated move, others that started isulting me for trying to draw a game I was losing. So I wonder: is drawing a game really that bad?

Really depends on how the fight went out.  Sure, it's easy to say you just don't invest time to play a game of chess if you're not in it to win it ... but the situations can vary.

I'd say draws are fairly awesome if you were fighting an uphill battle with your back against the wall and could prove to him that even though he had winning advantage, he couldn't back it up with his technique.    Sometimes in OTB, time pressure situations can also justify a draw offer or by repetition.  Also, in tournaments one strategic reason for a draw may be money (placing to win a prize by scoring your 0.5 point) or just to conserve energy for the next game.  

Are those reasons ethical or dignified? Well, that's up in the air. :)

In general, I'd think seizing a forced draw to "prevent" a loss makes 100% sense ...  but offering a draw in an unclear/boring-looking position without the exceptions listed above shows a lack of fighting spirit, especially at the club levels where a <2000 player can still make glaring tactical mistakes to screw things up.  

Even more extreme would be offering draws repeatedly move after move, showing a complete lack of class. 

There's nothing wrong with draws (about 1/3 of high-level games are drawn).  However, most of us don't recognize a drawn position and blunder it away by trying to win the game.

wrong to draw? never!  

+1

+ 1/2

Robert J Fischer "Draws don't count"

I don't mind a draw if I think the position is pretty even and I just can't come up with any plan I think might change that.

I had a CC loss to a fellow who was rated a fair amount above me (a sandbagger who should have been playing two tiers higher in the tournament than the tier I was in).  At one point somewhere around move 30 I offered a draw and he declined, which was fine, but he also added some smug comments about how the position was winning for him and he had superior mobility and King protection, etc.  Now this was a fellow who hadn't bothered responding with a single word to my initial greeting at the start of the game, which is also fine, but he sure didn't mind talking up the inequality of the position for which I had been silly enough to offer a draw.

Well, he did go on to win the game, so he must have been right.  But afterwards I had Rybka take a look at the position when I had offered the draw.  After 17 plies it scored the position as 0.00.  

My instructor once ended up playing a chess.com contributor in a tournament. Said contributor was playing white, my instructor offered a draw, which earned a scornful, "this is a winning position for white", rejoinder. When they had filled the first page of their scoresheets, my instructor got up and came back with 10 each, indicating that all would be needed while he attempted to prove his point. A draw was agreed a few moves later

I think a draw is very justified if the draw is forced and there is clearly know winning chances

This thread brings to mind a peculiar memory I have in tournament chess. I was playing a tournament ( 5 round week-end swiss ) in NC years ago and my first 4 games were all drawn !  I had never before, nor since, had this happen!  In the 5th, and last round, the game also appeared headed for a draw and I was thinking to myself that I was playing like Petrosian !  I was thinking how unique it would be to play nothing but draws in a tournament and about that time my opponent blundered !  Now, I am clearly winning BUT the thought of drawing ALL games made me consider offering my opponent a draw anyway !  I only considered it briefly though, and went on to win the game....  true story !