draw death

noun

The phenomenon of draws becoming more prevalent among professional chess players, potentially leading to a loss of popular interest in competitive chess.

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Meanings

noundraw death (uncountable)
  1. uncountableboard gamesThe phenomenon of draws becoming more prevalent among professional chess players, potentially leading to a loss of popular interest in competitive chess.

    Artificial intelligence has heightened chess’s old fear of "draw death", where the game is analysed to the degree that wins disappear.

    2021 November 26, John Gapper, “Chess faces stalemate in its match with machines”, in Financial Times
    1 more example

    The memorization of opening theory and the intensive study of an opponent's oeuvre so dominate the modern game that when two grand masters square off, the first twenty moves unfold like a stale sitcom plot. Players often lament that "draw death" is killing the game.

    2002 December 29, Rene Chun, “Bobby Fischer’s Pathetic Endgame”, in The Atlantic
Cite this entry
APA

draw death. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/draw%20death

MLA

“draw death.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/draw%20death. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “draw death,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/draw%20death.

Source: draw death on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.