For the most part I find the chess players at this site very competent and courteous. It is a real pleasure to play with these people. However I am beginning to find from time to time a couple of players who, when they are losing instead of resigning they wait until the time runs out. This practise casts an unprofessional slant to the web site. What it says is, "I don't want to lose, and I will stoop very low to ensure that I don't." This is not a sportsman's attitude. It has no place in a well run and creatively operated site. I am asking that if ever you encounter this type of player that you send his name directly to the administration of this web page. They already have quite a few letters on this topic. The hope is that if one player continues to show such bad manners his name will appear frequently, and sooner or later he will be caught and his membership will hopefully be revoked.
unsportsmanlike conduct
Actually, unfortunately the staff can't do anything about that (for now at least).
The lamentable fact, though, is that such players are not breaking any rules. Their time is their time, and they are free to use it however they wish. I don't condone the tactic at all, but referring them to the admins is probably useless, because they are not technically doing anything wrong.
Have you ever been to a real USCF or FIDE tournament? This kind of stuff happens, and there's not a lot that you can do about it. Don't let it get you down, man. Just be happy that you are the one who is winning and keep on beating them. If you let them get to you then they are getting exactly what they want. They can't beat you, so they want to try and get to you however they can. Just let it slide right off your back and don't get all uptight about it. Take a deep breath and use the time countdown to mentally prepare for your next game.
places like playchess.com have a disconnect feature. If your opponent leaves the screen while his time is running, you hit the disconnect button, and he immediately loses.
Maybe chess.com should make a feature like that.
Chess is not a sport, therefore you can't be unsportsmanlike at it.
I disagree. You can be unsportsmanlike at Monopoly and gloat, whine, taunt, and threaten, but that's just a board game, not a sport.
Thats called being a @$%!!
So maybe they're being ungamesmanlike...
Curiously, gamesmanship is often unsportsmanlike.
Have you ever been to a real USCF or FIDE tournament? This kind of stuff happens, and there's not a lot that you can do about it.
That's extremely rare because the player who does this gets an awful reputation. Which means that tourney organizers will do their best to avoid inviting him on future events.
For the most part I find the chess players at this site very competent and courteous. It is a real pleasure to play with these people. However I am beginning to find from time to time a couple of players who, when they are losing instead of resigning they wait until the time runs out. This practise casts an unprofessional slant to the web site. What it says is, "I don't want to lose, and I will stoop very low to ensure that I don't." This is not a sportsman's attitude. It has no place in a well run and creatively operated site. I am asking that if ever you encounter this type of player that you send his name directly to the administration of this web page. They already have quite a few letters on this topic. The hope is that if one player continues to show such bad manners his name will appear frequently, and sooner or later he will be caught and his membership will hopefully be revoked.
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/livechess/what-to-do-about-poor-sports-who-kill-the-clock-in-live-chess
See post #6 by erik, "we are considering implementing a feedback system."
See post #35 "...it will just help us identify over time which members are ... less nice... and offer them some counseling. if that fails after some reasonable effort on our part, we'll show them to the door." by dpruess.
See post #39 "happened to me otb too, at last year's national open. someone spent 50 minutes on the last two moves of a mate in two, while i paced around the room *majorly* annoyed." by dpruess.
I don't get the "they are within their right to abuse the system" crowd. They tick me off! Let's just throw up our arms in helplessness and hide our heads in the sand. Or worse yet, let's say nothing wrong is going on. We need to start cracking some heads around here.
For the most part I find the chess players at this site very competent and courteous. It is a real pleasure to play with these people. However I am beginning to find from time to time a couple of players who, when they are losing instead of resigning they wait until the time runs out. This practise casts an unprofessional slant to the web site. What it says is, "I don't want to lose, and I will stoop very low to ensure that I don't." This is not a sportsman's attitude. It has no place in a well run and creatively operated site. I am asking that if ever you encounter this type of player that you send his name directly to the administration of this web page. They already have quite a few letters on this topic. The hope is that if one player continues to show such bad manners his name will appear frequently, and sooner or later he will be caught and his membership will hopefully be revoked.
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/livechess/what-to-do-about-poor-sports-who-kill-the-clock-in-live-chess
See post #6 by erik, "we are considering implementing a feedback system."
See post #35 "...it will just help us identify over time which members are ... less nice... and offer them some counseling. if that fails after some reasonable effort on our part, we'll show them to the door." by dpruess.
See post #39 "happened to me otb too, at last year's national open. someone spent 50 minutes on the last two moves of a mate in two, while i paced around the room *majorly* annoyed." by dpruess.
A feedback system.?! Abused
I don't get the "they are within their right to abuse the system" crowd. They tick me off! Let's just throw up our arms in helplessness and hide our heads in the sand. Or worse yet, let's say nothing wrong is going on. We need to start cracking some heads around here.
Yes, they are abusing the system. Yes, they shouldn't do it. But no actual rules are being broken, so there's no basis for any head-cracking. Don't get me wrong; I'd love to do something about it, but I don't see any fair way to go about it, since there's no tangible rule-breaking. Punishing people for "breaking" these unwritten rules of common courtesy and sportsmanship starts a huge controversy over semantics, then people start hollering "UNFAIR!", and we have much bigger messes.
You can't make an omelette without cracking heads.
Simple: Let's make it a rule then. Let's put it in writing. Something like,"It is considered rude and unsportsmanlike to prolong hopeless positions by letting your time run out. Anyone doing this is subject to removal from chess.com." I don't buy the can of worms, slippery slope argument. It only serves to protect the guilty. The guilty certainly want us to believe in it. If there is a scenerio where there would be more problems by this rule I don't see it. Can you provide realistic examples of how this would be a bigger mess?
Simple: Let's make it a rule then. Let's put it in writing. Something like,"It is considered rude and unsportsmanlike to prolong hopeless positions by letting your time run out. Anyone doing this is subject to removal from chess.com." I don't buy the can of worms, slippery slope argument. It only serves to protect the guilty. The guilty certainly want us to believe in it. If there is a scenerio where there would be more problems by this rule I don't see it. Can you provide realistic examples of how this would be a bigger mess?
+1.
So maybe they're being ungamesmanlike...
Curiously, gamesmanship is often unsportsmanlike.
True dat!
Simple: Let's make it a rule then. Let's put it in writing. Something like,"It is considered rude and unsportsmanlike to prolong hopeless positions by letting your time run out. Anyone doing this is subject to removal from chess.com." I don't buy the can of worms, slippery slope argument. It only serves to protect the guilty. The guilty certainly want us to believe in it. If there is a scenerio where there would be more problems by this rule I don't see it. Can you provide realistic examples of how this would be a bigger mess?
Hypothetically: the rule is on the books now. Then let's say someone is accused of it and is threatened with removal. He can complain, "I didn't think the position was hopeless!" A "hopeless" position is a subjective thing, not provable or verifiable. Someone on the staff of chess.com can act in the capacity of a TD or arbiter in this scenario, and make a judgment call, but those difficulties and complications are also being addressed in the forum topic "insufficient material rule" regarding insufficient losing chances. Long and short of it, when someone is removed based on a subjectivity, the result will be a never-ending war of:
"Yes, you did!"
"No, I didn't!"
"Yes, you did!"... etc.
Sure he can complain, let him. Let these unethical bums scream their heads off as they are escorted off the lot. I say good riddance to these types. His argument really doesn't add up. He says his position wasn't hopeless yet he doesn't make a move. Drops his queen...let's the clock tick down, has just a lone king...but let's the clock tick on and on down to zero. Let's get rid of these creeps. Let's not protect them because we're afraid of their arguments. Their arguments are weak and not worthy of protection. I see no problem with people with a pattern of this behavior to be booted.