Threefold repetition
Encyclopedia
In chess
and some other abstract strategy games, the threefold repetition rule (also known as repetition of position) states that a player can claim a draw
if the same position occurs three times, or will occur after their next move, with the same player to move. The repeated positions need not occur in succession. The idea behind the rule is that if the position is repeated three times, no progress is being made.
In chess, in order for a position to be considered the same, each player must have the same set of legal moves each time, including the possible rights to castle
and capture en passant
. Positions are considered the same if the same type of piece is on a given square. So, for instance, if a player has two knights
and the knights are on the same squares, it does not matter if the positions of the two knights have been exchanged. The game is not automatically drawn if a position occurs for the third time – one of the players, on their turn to move, must claim the draw with the arbiter.
In shogi
, a fourfold repetition (千日手 sennichite) is required to end in a draw. Each player must have the same pieces in hand as well as the same position on the board. The result is a draw unless one player is giving perpetual check
; in that case, that player loses.
laws of chess is 9.2, which reads:
While the rule does not require that the position occur thrice on nearly consecutive moves, it happens this way very often in practice, typically with one of the kings
being put into perpetual check
. The intermediate positions and moves do not matter – they can be the same or different. The rule applies to positions, not moves.
Draws by this method used to be uncommon .
and Boris Spassky
were declared draws because of threefold repetition, although the twentieth game was an incorrect claim (see #Incorrect claims below).
between Bobby Fischer
and Tigran Petrosian
, Petrosian (with a better position) accidentally allowed a position to be repeated three times (see diagram). Play continued:
and then Fischer wrote his next move
on his scoresheet, which is the third appearance of the position with Black to move, and he claimed a draw. At first Petrosian was not aware of what was going on. Incidentally, this was the first time a draw by threefold repetition had been claimed in his career , , . This also illustrates that the intermediate moves do not need to be the same – just the positions.
(at which point they will receive more time). Occasionally, players miscount and inadvertently repeat the position more than once, thus allowing their opponent to claim a draw in an unfavourable position. Adams versus Ponomariov
, Wijk aan Zee
2005 may have been a recent example of this .
World Chess Championship
match between José Raúl Capablanca
and Emanuel Lasker
, the same position occurred three times, but no draw was claimed. From the position in the diagram, after 34... h5, the moves were:
The game continued; Lasker blundered
and resigned on move 46. Capablanca repeated the position to gain time on the clock (i.e. get in some quick moves before time control
) . (Capablanca went on to win the match and became world champion.)
Emanuel Lasker
and future (1927) world champion Alexander Alekhine
ended in a short draw, due to a forced repetition of positions: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Qf3 Be7 12. Rfe1 h6 13. Bxh6 gxh6 14. Rxe6 fxe6 15. Qg3+ Kh8 16. Qg6 and the players agreed to a draw
because Black cannot avoid the repetition of positions: 16... Qe8 17. Qxh6+ Kg8 18. Qg5+ Kh8 19. Qh6+ (under Repetition of Position).
Interestingly, these two players had another game in 1914 in which Alekhine (this time with the black pieces) again achieved a draw by a similar process .
and Lajos Portisch
in 1970 in the Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
match. Portisch allowed a threefold repetition in a winning position and was criticized by teammate Bobby Fischer
for allowing it . If Portisch had won the game, the match would have been a tie. Play continued:
and Deep Blue, the players agreed to a draw
, because if White played 50. g8=Q, Black could get a draw by threefold repetition: 50... Rd1+, 51. K-any, Rd2+ 52. Kb1 Rd1+, etc. .
lines have been analyzed out to a draw by threefold repetition, such as this position from a line of the Giuoco Piano
. White has nothing better than to force a draw:
Another example is this position from a line of the Pirc Defence
. Black can get a draw after the moves 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7. e5 Ng4 8. e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 (diagram) Bxb5! 10.Nxe6 Bxd4!! 11.Nxd8 Bf2+ and White cannot escape the checks.
and the right to castle
is a subtle but important one. In a game between grandmasters Anatoly Karpov
and Anthony Miles (Tilburg 1986), Karpov had less than five minutes remaining on his clock
, in which to finish a specified number of moves or forfeit the game. He claimed a draw by repetition after checking his scoresheet carefully, whereupon it was pointed out to him that in the first occurrence of position, Black's king had had the right to castle, whereas in the second and third it had not. Tournament rules stipulated that a player be penalized with three minutes of their time for incorrect claims, which left Karpov's flag on the verge of falling. By then, Miles had had his fun, and took the draw. (Miles should have readily accepted a draw in that position, but Karpov was close to losing the game because of time control
). See the diagram for the position after 22. Nb5. The game continued 22. ... Ra4 23. Nc3 Ra8 24. Nb5 Ra4 25. Nc3 Ra8 26. Nb5. Black could castle
queenside the first time the position in the diagram occurred, but not when the position was repeated.
versus Boris Spassky
World Chess Championship 1972, Fischer called the arbiter Lothar Schmid
to claim a draw because of threefold repetition. Spassky did not dispute it and signed the scoresheets before the arbiter ruled . After the draw had been agreed, it was pointed out that the position had occurred after White's forty-eighth and fiftieth moves, and again after Black's fifty-fourth move (the final position). So the claim was actually invalid because it was not the same player's turn to move in all three instances, but the draw result stood .
's MegaCorr database (a collection of correspondence chess
games), the notes to a game between the cities of Pest
and Paris
played between 1842 and 1845 state that a sixfold repetition was necessary to claim a draw. The game went: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 Be6 9.Qc2 f5 10.Qb3 dxc4 11.Qxb7 c6 12.Bxe4 fxe4 13.Ng5 Bf5 14.Nc3 Qd7 15.Qxd7 Nxd7 16.Ngxe4 Bc7 17.Re1 Rab8 18.Re2 Nb6 19.Nc5 Bd6 20.N5e4 Bc7 21.Nc5 Bd6 22.N5e4 Bc7 23.Nc5 Bd6 24.N5e4 Bc7 25.Nc5 Bd6 26.N5e4 Bc7 27.Nc5 and now instead of taking the sixfold repetition draw with 27...Bd6 28.N5e4 Bc7, Paris diverged with 27...Bd3 and went on to lose the game.
The first use of such a rule was in a tournament was in London in 1883, but was stated vaguely:
match between Wilhelm Steinitz
and Johannes Zukertort
stated:
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
and some other abstract strategy games, the threefold repetition rule (also known as repetition of position) states that a player can claim a draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
if the same position occurs three times, or will occur after their next move, with the same player to move. The repeated positions need not occur in succession. The idea behind the rule is that if the position is repeated three times, no progress is being made.
In chess, in order for a position to be considered the same, each player must have the same set of legal moves each time, including the possible rights to castle
Castling
Castling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then...
and capture en passant
En passant
En passant is a move in the board game of chess . It is a special pawn capture which can occur immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and an enemy pawn could have captured it had it moved only one square forward...
. Positions are considered the same if the same type of piece is on a given square. So, for instance, if a player has two knights
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
and the knights are on the same squares, it does not matter if the positions of the two knights have been exchanged. The game is not automatically drawn if a position occurs for the third time – one of the players, on their turn to move, must claim the draw with the arbiter.
In shogi
Shogi
, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...
, a fourfold repetition (千日手 sennichite) is required to end in a draw. Each player must have the same pieces in hand as well as the same position on the board. The result is a draw unless one player is giving perpetual check
Perpetual check
In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can force a draw by an unending series of checks. Such a situation typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate; while failing to continue the series of checks gives the opponent at least a chance...
; in that case, that player loses.
The rule
The relevant rule in the FIDEFédération Internationale des Échecs
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. It is usually referred to as FIDE , its French acronym.FIDE...
laws of chess is 9.2, which reads:
- The game is drawn, upon a correct claim by the player having the move, when the same position, for at least the third time (not necessarily by sequential repetition of moves)
-
- a. is about to appear, if he first writes his move on his scoresheet and declares to the arbiter his intention to make this move, or
-
- b. has just appeared, and the player claiming the draw has the move.
- Positions as in (a) and (b) are considered the same, if the same player has the move, pieces of the same kind and colour occupy the same squares, and the possible moves of all the pieces of both players are the same.
- Positions are not [considered to be] the same if a pawn that could have been captured en passant can no longer be captured or if the right to castle has been changed.
While the rule does not require that the position occur thrice on nearly consecutive moves, it happens this way very often in practice, typically with one of the kings
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
being put into perpetual check
Perpetual check
In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can force a draw by an unending series of checks. Such a situation typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate; while failing to continue the series of checks gives the opponent at least a chance...
. The intermediate positions and moves do not matter – they can be the same or different. The rule applies to positions, not moves.
Draws by this method used to be uncommon .
Examples
The seventeenth, eighteenth, and twentieth games of the 1972 World Championship match between Bobby FischerBobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
and Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
were declared draws because of threefold repetition, although the twentieth game was an incorrect claim (see #Incorrect claims below).
Fischer versus Petrosian, 1971
In the third game of the 1971 Candidates Final MatchCandidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
between Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
and Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
, Petrosian (with a better position) accidentally allowed a position to be repeated three times (see diagram). Play continued:
- 30. Qe2 Qe5
- 31. Qh5 Qf6
- 32. Qe2 (second time) Re5
- 33. Qd3 Rd5?
and then Fischer wrote his next move
- 34. Qe2 (third time)
on his scoresheet, which is the third appearance of the position with Black to move, and he claimed a draw. At first Petrosian was not aware of what was going on. Incidentally, this was the first time a draw by threefold repetition had been claimed in his career , , . This also illustrates that the intermediate moves do not need to be the same – just the positions.
Adams versus Ponomariov, 2005
Players sometimes repeat a position once not in order to draw, but to gain time on the clock (when an increment is being used) or to bring themselves closer to the time controlTime control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...
(at which point they will receive more time). Occasionally, players miscount and inadvertently repeat the position more than once, thus allowing their opponent to claim a draw in an unfavourable position. Adams versus Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
, Wijk aan Zee
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
2005 may have been a recent example of this .
Capablanca versus Lasker, 1921
As noted above, one of the players must claim a draw by threefold repetition for the rule to be applied, otherwise the game continues. In the fifth game of the 1921World Chess Championship 1921
The 1921 World Chess Championship was played between José Raúl Capablanca and Emanuel Lasker. It was played in Capablanca's native Havana from March 18 to April 28...
World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
match between José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
and Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...
, the same position occurred three times, but no draw was claimed. From the position in the diagram, after 34... h5, the moves were:
- 35. Qd8+ Kg7
- 36. Qg5+ Kf8 (second time)
- 37. Qd8+ Kg7
- 38. Qg5+ Kf8 (third time)
The game continued; Lasker blundered
Blunder (chess)
In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...
and resigned on move 46. Capablanca repeated the position to gain time on the clock (i.e. get in some quick moves before time control
Time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...
) . (Capablanca went on to win the match and became world champion.)
Alekhine versus Lasker, 1914
The first game between world championWorld Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...
and future (1927) world champion Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
ended in a short draw, due to a forced repetition of positions: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Qf3 Be7 12. Rfe1 h6 13. Bxh6 gxh6 14. Rxe6 fxe6 15. Qg3+ Kh8 16. Qg6 and the players agreed to a draw
Draw by agreement
In chess, a draw by agreement is the outcome of a game due to the agreement of both players to a draw. A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. The relevant portion of the FIDE laws of chess is article 9.1...
because Black cannot avoid the repetition of positions: 16... Qe8 17. Qxh6+ Kg8 18. Qg5+ Kh8 19. Qh6+ (under Repetition of Position).
Interestingly, these two players had another game in 1914 in which Alekhine (this time with the black pieces) again achieved a draw by a similar process .
Korchnoi versus Portisch, 1970
A famous draw by threefold repetition occurred in a game between Viktor KorchnoiViktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
and Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...
in 1970 in the Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
There have been two chess matches featuring USSR vs. Rest of the World and 1 match Russia vs. Rest of the World. The first two matches were between a team from the USSR and a team of players from the "rest of the world"...
match. Portisch allowed a threefold repetition in a winning position and was criticized by teammate Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
for allowing it . If Portisch had won the game, the match would have been a tie. Play continued:
- 64... Rh6+
- 65. Kg4 Rd6
- 66. Kh5 Kf6
- 67. Rb2 Kg7
- 68. Rb8 ½-½
Kasparov versus Deep Blue, 1997
In the game between Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
and Deep Blue, the players agreed to a draw
Draw by agreement
In chess, a draw by agreement is the outcome of a game due to the agreement of both players to a draw. A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. The relevant portion of the FIDE laws of chess is article 9.1...
, because if White played 50. g8=Q, Black could get a draw by threefold repetition: 50... Rd1+, 51. K-any, Rd2+ 52. Kb1 Rd1+, etc. .
In the opening
Some chess openingChess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
lines have been analyzed out to a draw by threefold repetition, such as this position from a line of the Giuoco Piano
Giuoco Piano
The Giuoco Piano is a chess opening beginning with the moves:Common alternatives to 3...Bc5 include 3...Nf6 , 3...Be7 , or 3...d6 .-History:...
. White has nothing better than to force a draw:
- 21. Bg6+ Kf8
- 22. Bh7 etc
Another example is this position from a line of the Pirc Defence
Pirc Defence
The Pirc Defence |grandmasters]]), sometimes known as the Ufimtsev Defence or Yugoslav Defence, is a chess opening characterised by Black responding to 1.e4 with 1...d6 and 2...Nf6, followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7, while allowing White to establish an impressive-looking centre with pawns on d4 and e4...
. Black can get a draw after the moves 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7. e5 Ng4 8. e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 (diagram) Bxb5! 10.Nxe6 Bxd4!! 11.Nxd8 Bf2+ and White cannot escape the checks.
Incorrect claims
Even top players have made incorrect claims of a draw under this rule. The Karpov versus Miles game is an example of the right to castle must be the same in all positions. The Fischer versus Spassky game is an example that it must be the same player's move in all three positions.Karpov versus Miles
The clause about the right to capture en passantEn passant
En passant is a move in the board game of chess . It is a special pawn capture which can occur immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and an enemy pawn could have captured it had it moved only one square forward...
and the right to castle
Castling
Castling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then...
is a subtle but important one. In a game between grandmasters Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
and Anthony Miles (Tilburg 1986), Karpov had less than five minutes remaining on his clock
Game clock
A game clock consists of two adjacent clocks and buttons to stop one clock while starting the other, such that the two component clocks never run simultaneously. Game clocks are used in two-player games where the players move in turn...
, in which to finish a specified number of moves or forfeit the game. He claimed a draw by repetition after checking his scoresheet carefully, whereupon it was pointed out to him that in the first occurrence of position, Black's king had had the right to castle, whereas in the second and third it had not. Tournament rules stipulated that a player be penalized with three minutes of their time for incorrect claims, which left Karpov's flag on the verge of falling. By then, Miles had had his fun, and took the draw. (Miles should have readily accepted a draw in that position, but Karpov was close to losing the game because of time control
Time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...
). See the diagram for the position after 22. Nb5. The game continued 22. ... Ra4 23. Nc3 Ra8 24. Nb5 Ra4 25. Nc3 Ra8 26. Nb5. Black could castle
Castling
Castling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then...
queenside the first time the position in the diagram occurred, but not when the position was repeated.
Fischer versus Spassky
In the twentieth game of the Bobby FischerBobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
versus Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
World Chess Championship 1972, Fischer called the arbiter Lothar Schmid
Lothar Schmid
Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid is a German chess grandmaster who was born in Dresden. He is best known as the arbiter of several World Chess Championship matches...
to claim a draw because of threefold repetition. Spassky did not dispute it and signed the scoresheets before the arbiter ruled . After the draw had been agreed, it was pointed out that the position had occurred after White's forty-eighth and fiftieth moves, and again after Black's fifty-fourth move (the final position). So the claim was actually invalid because it was not the same player's turn to move in all three instances, but the draw result stood .
History
At various times in the history of chess, the rule has been variously formulated. In Tim HardingTim Harding (chess)
Timothy David Harding is a prolific chess player and author with particular expertise regarding correspondence chess. He published a correspondence chess magazine Chess Mail from 1996 to 2006 and has authored "The Kibitzer," a ChessCafe.com column from 1996...
's MegaCorr database (a collection of correspondence chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
games), the notes to a game between the cities of Pest
Pest (city)
Pest is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two thirds of the city's territory. It is divided from Buda, the other part of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable parts are the Inner City, including the Hungarian Parliament, Heroes' Square and...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
played between 1842 and 1845 state that a sixfold repetition was necessary to claim a draw. The game went: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 Be6 9.Qc2 f5 10.Qb3 dxc4 11.Qxb7 c6 12.Bxe4 fxe4 13.Ng5 Bf5 14.Nc3 Qd7 15.Qxd7 Nxd7 16.Ngxe4 Bc7 17.Re1 Rab8 18.Re2 Nb6 19.Nc5 Bd6 20.N5e4 Bc7 21.Nc5 Bd6 22.N5e4 Bc7 23.Nc5 Bd6 24.N5e4 Bc7 25.Nc5 Bd6 26.N5e4 Bc7 27.Nc5 and now instead of taking the sixfold repetition draw with 27...Bd6 28.N5e4 Bc7, Paris diverged with 27...Bd3 and went on to lose the game.
The first use of such a rule was in a tournament was in London in 1883, but was stated vaguely:
... if a series of moves be repeated three times the opponent can claim a draw.The rule was stated more precisely after the tournament and was based on positions instead of moves. The rules for the first official World Chess Championship 1886
World Chess Championship 1886
The World Chess Championship 1886 was the first official World Chess Championship match contested by Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. The match took place in the USA, the first five games being played in New York, the next four being played in St.Louis and the final eleven in New Orleans....
match between Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier...
and Johannes Zukertort
Johannes Zukertort
Johannes Hermann Zukertort was a leading chess master of German-Polish-Jewish origin. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, and lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally seen as the first World Chess Championship match, he...
stated:
... if both players repeat the same series of moves six times in succession, then either player may claim a draw.In two of the games the same position was repeated three times. The rule was modified soon afterward to be based on positions instead of moves and for three repetitions .