refutor: Bronstein's explanation on quick draws from his Zurich 1953 book..."If one desires an explanation of such quick draws, which occur in every tournament, one must keep in mind that such an event lasts more than one day. Many thing happen over the course of thirty rounds that have a bearing on the fighting abilities of the people who play chess. In the present case, Petrosian's peaceable disposition and Averbakh's too, in part, may have been due to the previous round, which went badly for both. After the extra rest day they gave themselves with this eight-round game, Petrosian went on to win three straight games in good style (an exceptional achievement by any standard in such a strong tourney); while Averbakh, though perhaps not quite so fortunate, still fought with great verve in the rounds that followed.
In major tournaments, one must ration one's strength, not for the individual game, but for the entire event, taken as a whole. The history of chess events - and that of many other sports as well - contains many cases in which one of the participants forged ahead at the outset, only to lose game after game towards the end (and not against his most powerful opponents either), finishing far behind the winners."
