Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Spanish Trick for Drawing

There is an easy way to draw in the Ruy Lopez. In one of the main lines, the game reaches a position where both players can agree on a quick draw and that is exactly what happened in one game played in the recent Chess Olympiad (Batumi 2018). The game faced Rakotomaharo (ELO 2422) from Madagascar, against Erdos (ELO 2609) from Hungary.

It was the first game which finished in the match Madagascar-Hungary and the players agreed on a quick draw although the rating difference between them was important. It was probably a psychological moment. Rakotomaharo was the strongest player from Madagascar. In the other three boards, the rating difference was even higher in favor of Hungary. The Chess Olympiad is a long tournament and teams want to save energy in theoretical easy rounds.