Chess has much unspoken etiquette, besides what is formally required by the rules. The standard protocol for offering your opponent a draw is straightforward: make your move, offer the draw, and only then press the clock.
But if you offer a draw before you make a move, the opponent can ask you to move before deciding on their response. And it’s considered rude to offer a draw when your position is clearly worse (unless, say, your opponent is far lower rated, or has much less time). Repeatedly offering draws counts as a distraction. If your peace offer is declined, you tacitly forfeit the right to repeat it, unless your opponent has returned the offer since then. Another no-no is to offer a draw while your opponent is thinking. It is considered off-putting, because the proposal should have been available to consider along with the move.
Experienced players honour these principles, but there was a rare contretemps at the UzChess Masters earlier this month. In the diagram, the 19-year old Uzbek grandmaster Madaminov has just moved his queen from a2 to c2.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Mukhiddin Madaminov
UzChess Masters, June 2026
While Mamedyarov contemplated his response, Madaminov followed up with a draw offer. Mamedyarov, a former world no. 2, now 41-years-old, bristled at this. Not just the timing, but the context: he has an extra pawn, more time on the clock and a much higher rating. Kids these days! I played a match with Madaminov earlier this year, where his behaviour was exemplary, so I doubt that he intended to rankle his experienced opponent. But that is exactly what happened:
31 Kh2 Rc8 Despite the pawn deficit, Black stands just a fraction worse, mostly because the Be6 is more active than it’s counterpart on g3. 32 Rea1 Rd3 33 Qf4?? An extraordinary slip for a player of Mamedyarov’s calibre. Any other reasonable move would have almost certainly led to a draw. Rc4! The queen is trapped, and a few moves of wriggling don’t change that. 34 R1a2 Qd1 35 Ra1 Qc2 36 R7a2 Qb3 37 Ra3 Qb4 Now 38 Rxd3 Rxf4 39 Bxf4 Qxf4+ 40 Kg1 Qxe5 is lost, so White resigns. Madaminov, the lowest seed, was the surprise winner of this elite tournament. But the biggest howler of the event was yet to come.
Nikolas Theodorou – Nodirbek Abdusattorov
UzChess Masters, June 2026
After a long, rather sterile game, Theodorou has just played 49 Kh4-g3, and now e.g. 49…Rf1 50 Rg6+ Kd5 51 Rxb6 leads to dull equality. Instead, Abdusattorov picks up his king and slides it to d5. The ‘touch-move’ rule requires that the king must be moved, and in the video clip, you can see the look of horror when he realises that he has forgotten to first move his rook. He placed the king back on e6 and resigned in disbelief a few moments later.
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