A draw or tie occurs in a competitive sport when the results are identical or inconclusive. Ties or draws are possible in some, but not all, sports and games. Such an outcome, sometimes referred to as deadlock, can also occur in other areas of life such as politics, business, and wherever there are different factions regarding an issue.
Terminology
The word Tie is usually used in North America, whereas the word draw is usual elsewhere.
Resolving ties or draws
In instances where a winner must be determined, several methods are commonly used. Across various sports: Some other measure may be used, such as aggregate point difference. A game may continue on in extra time. To ensure a quick result, some form of sudden death rule may apply. In some sports, a penalty shootout or bowl-out may occur. A rematch may occur at a later date, especially if a winner must be selected (in a final). The result might be decided by chance (e.g. a toss of a coin) when no objective method of determining a result remains.
The rules governing the resolution of drawn matches are rarely uniform across an entire sport, and are usually specified by the rules of the competition.
Politics
In other areas, such as in a vote, there may be a method to break the tie. Having an odd number of voters is one solution—after the election of the Doge of Venice by a committee of 40 was deadlocked in a tie, the number of electors was increased to 41—but may not always be successful, for example, if a member is absent or abstains, or if there are more than two candidates. In many cases one member of an assembly may by convention not normally vote, but will exercise a casting vote in case of deadlock. Sometimes some method of random choice, such as tossing a coin, may be resorted to even in a formal vote.
In some legislative bodies, a casting vote can only be exercised according to strict rules or constitutional conventions. For example, the Speaker of the British House of Commons (a position whose functions and conventions of operation inspire similar roles in several other nations using the Westminster system) is expected by convention to follow Speaker Denison's rule (i.e. to vote to allow further discussion, if this is possible, and otherwise to vote in favour of the status quo). This in effect means "Yes/Yea/Aye" on the first and second reading of a bill, "No/Nay" on the third, "Yes/Yea/Aye" on the government's budget, and "No/Nay" on a motion of no confidence.
Examples of two-player games
Chess
Chess has seven ways of ending or achieving a draw from an opponent: stalemate, agreement between the players, the fifty-move rule, seventy-five-move rule, threefold repetition, fivefold repetition, or neither player having sufficient material to checkmate. At top-level play, roughly half of games end in a draw.
Boxing
When a match ends with completion of the specified maximum number of rounds, and the judges of the match have awarded an equal number of points to both boxers, or if there are three judges (as is the custom) and one judge awards the fight to one fighter, another awards the fight to the opposing fighter, and the third scores it a draw (split draw), the match is declared a draw. The contest would be scored a draw even if two of three judges score it a draw and the third does not (a majority draw). Draws are relatively rare in boxing: certain scoring systems make it impossible for a judge to award equal points for a match. If a championship bout ends in a draw, the champion usually retains the title.
If there is a draw in a quarterfinal or a semifinal match of a tournament, a tiebreaker round is played instead.
Sumo
In professional sumo, draws were once common place but are no longer used in any situation. In situations that would have resulted in draws (such as close results, exhaustion, or injury) are currently resolved with immediate rematches, temporary breaks, or forfeiture.