Dear Joel,

At a recent tournament, I played a move that resulted in a triple repetition of the position and claimed a draw upon completing my move. It was later pointed out that such a triple repetition should be claimed before the move is made by first writing the move down then making the claim without actually moving - or - after the move is made but before the clock is pressed. This seems confusing and probably is not truly understood or adhered to by the masses of amateur players, especially since writing moves before playing them is now discouraged and computer programs and online servers will not recognize a draw by repetition until the move leading to the triple repetition is actually played.

Also, it seems possible for someone knowledgeable of the "letter of the law" to swindle a game here or there by having an opponent's claim denied, resulting in at least a psychological advantage. What procedure is recommended by professional etiquette? Do the FIDE rules differ in this process? Should the USCF rules be changed to better reflect actual game conditions, lest games be decided by a technicality rather than by technique?

Sincerely,

Confused about Draws