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As far as I can tell, the position is the same after move 1, after move 3, and after move 5, so why does the game last until move 6 is done? Did it not get claimed as a draw by either player?

[fen "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Event "Magnus Carlsen Invitational"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2021.03.15"]
[EventDate "2021.03.13"]
[Round "15.3"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Magnus Carlsen"]
[Black "Hikaru Nakamura"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "2847"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "12"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ke2 Ke7 3. Ke1 Ke8 4. Ke2 Ke7 5. Ke1 Ke8 6. Ke2
Ke7 1/2-1/2
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5
  • 5
    Think I broke it
    – OverLordGoldDragon
    Aug 3, 2022 at 8:31
  • 1
    also this game was played online (I watched it live) so there was no need for either player to claim a draw as the computer would've automatically
    – brekker
    Aug 3, 2022 at 13:01
  • 1
    ...Why did they do this? If they were intentionally playing to draw as it seems they were, why not just move knights back and forth and be done a move earlier? Unless there's some other reason to have done this?
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Aug 3, 2022 at 17:22
  • 8
    @DarrelHoffman: The game didn't matter because they had both already qualified, so they did it for the memes. See also Bongcloud Attack
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Aug 3, 2022 at 17:26
  • 1
    @OverLordGoldDragon this is even more cursed... imgur.com/gallery/t9aw8YX
    – Florian Wendelborn
    Sep 3, 2022 at 15:59

1 Answer 1

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56

While the position might seem like it has been reached 3 times at that point, that is actually only the second time they have reached that position because the first time they were in this position, before the kings had moved, they had the ability to castle. So the position has only occurred twice where they can't castle as of move 5, and it has only had the exact same position twice in a row. They then needed to play it one more time so that they have had the same position three times where they haven't had the ability to castle.

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7
  • 7
    Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I didn’t know this was part of the threefold-repetition requirements
    – Florian Wendelborn
    Aug 3, 2022 at 0:39
  • 3
    yeah, who's turn it is to move is also important, if you reach the same position three times but in two of them its white to move and in one its black to move, then that wouldn't be threefold repetition either.
    – brekker
    Aug 3, 2022 at 18:34
  • 7
    Also, both players can choose to "not trigger" by playing on, only a fivefold repetition is an automatic draw.
    – Hauke Reddmann
    Aug 3, 2022 at 20:18
  • 4
    @HaukeReddmann is that a lichess feature? or do you mean otb? on chess.com it will automatically draw at 3
    – brekker
    Aug 4, 2022 at 1:02
  • 7
    @brekker: Indeed OTB FIDE rules (5x) and chess site rules (whatever they implement) may differ here.
    – Hauke Reddmann
    Aug 4, 2022 at 7:48

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