Answers.Body: <p>If an engine continues to play on in a drawn position, the reason is because it simply hasn't been given the heuristic to offer a draw in a dead drawn position. There are a couple of reasons a programmer may not program in such a heuristic:</p>
  
  <p>1) Suppose an engine calculates that the game is a forced draw at depth 30, but to a human (or much weaker engine) the position is very complicated and not at all drawn. It wouldn't make sense to offer a draw here.</p>
  
  <p>2) Making a heuristic that assesses whether a position is "dead drawn" may be non-trivial. What constitutes "dead drawn" versus an equal position? Quantifying this could be tricky.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-07T18:52:45.303Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
Answers.Body: <p>The simple answer is that most engines are not programmed to offer a draw, nor to accept draw offers when made. Those that do are the rare exceptions. Furthermore, for such an engine to make/accept a draw offer, it must judge the position to be equal, which might not correspond with the human intuition for what a drawn position is.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-07T03:13:32.297Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Remellion
Answers.Body: <p>It is not so much that engines "push for a win in a dead drawn position." Instead, they simply continue to play the most accurate moves--because they are engines and lack the volition to do anything else by virtue of their programming. Since it can be difficult for a human to continue to find the accurate drawing moves even in an equal position, especially when time trouble is a factor, the human simply feels as if the engine is pushing for a win.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-07T01:13:23.263Z
Answers.Text: Engines do sometimes offer a draw in a drawn position(usually endgames). Why don't they offer draw in  dead-draw middlegame positions?
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-07T05:35:14.800Z
Answers.Text: What is a "dead-draw" position? Is the starting position a "dead-draw" opening position? Why do human players start a game of chess and then agree to a draw before it's over?
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Body: <p>Engines really push for a win in a dead-draw middlegame position, unlike humans who may agree on a draw. Why is that happening?</p>
  
Tags: <engines><draw>
Title: Computers and draws
ThreadText: # Computers and draws
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-06)
  
  Engines really push for a win in a dead-draw middlegame position, unlike humans who may agree on a draw. Why is that happening?
  
  **Tags:** engines, draw
  
  
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  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2019-09-07. Score: 3
  
  If an engine continues to play on in a drawn position, the reason is because it simply hasn't been given the heuristic to offer a draw in a dead drawn position. There are a couple of reasons a programmer may not program in such a heuristic:
  
  1) Suppose an engine calculates that the game is a forced draw at depth 30, but to a human (or much weaker engine) the position is very complicated and not at all drawn. It wouldn't make sense to offer a draw here.
  
  2) Making a heuristic that assesses whether a position is "dead drawn" may be non-trivial. What constitutes "dead drawn" versus an equal position? Quantifying this could be tricky.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2019-09-07. Score: 1
  
  The simple answer is that most engines are not programmed to offer a draw, nor to accept draw offers when made. Those that do are the rare exceptions. Furthermore, for such an engine to make/accept a draw offer, it must judge the position to be equal, which might not correspond with the human intuition for what a drawn position is.
  
  
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  ### Answer by username_3 on 2019-09-07. Score: 1
  
  It is not so much that engines "push for a win in a dead drawn position." Instead, they simply continue to play the most accurate moves--because they are engines and lack the volition to do anything else by virtue of their programming. Since it can be difficult for a human to continue to find the accurate drawing moves even in an equal position, especially when time trouble is a factor, the human simply feels as if the engine is pushing for a win.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Engines do sometimes offer a draw in a drawn position(usually endgames). Why don't they offer draw in  dead-draw middlegame positions?  
  > **username_4**: What is a "dead-draw" position? Is the starting position a "dead-draw" opening position? Why do human players start a game of chess and then agree to a draw before it's over?  
  
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