Gamesmanship

Have you got an interesting story like this true story? If so send it to me.

I was playing in the the Richest Sydney Chess knockout event many years ago watching a game between the tourney's Jewish sponsor and a certain Egyptian Master whom I will remain nameless.

To my surprise the sponsor had played a wonderful move and had a completely won position! He was only a weak club player on his best day. Exuberated he stood up and raised his hands in victory and went off to tell all his friends about his beautiful position against the great Egyptian Master!

I looked at the Egyptian who also arose and went over and sat in his opponents seat shaking his head looking downcast at the board.

Not knowing anyone was watching , he 'made a move for his opponent'! He then wrote down the move on his opponents scoresheet! And then calmy returned to his own seat.

The sponsor returned to his board, face beaming with pride and joy. However slowly, very very slowly, he reassessed his position as I watched..his face became ashen and gloom set in. He looked as if saying to himself " Am I going mad?" "Was I winning at all?"  yes I had said nothing waiting for the drama to play itself out. I was 19 and was fascinated by what had transpired.

The sponsor looked at his scoresheet and then it dawned upon him!

"I did not wirite this move down . You a a big cheat. " he exclaimed to the Egyptian Master. The Master had a questioning look upon his face , as if to say I dont understand what youre going on about?

The crowd of about 15-20 moved in and everyone got there ten cents worth in and finally the arbiter was called. They continued debating when I casually strolled up to the board and said "Gentleman I saw everything". I then gave a complete rundown on the whole shebang. Some laughed, some were disgusted at the behaviour of our Egyptian Master. The sponsor withdrew from the tournament and vowed to never sponsor a chess tournament again! And he didnt! The Egyptian Master became infamous for his exploits. He was true charachter of chess in Sydney.     

Someone on here mentioned an OTB player who, having lost his queenside rook, castled with the kingside rook from the board next to him. Talk about castling long!

Years ago in Australia we could grab the king if they missed check!

Some unscrupulous players would slip the odd knight back on their board using sleight of hand. OMG Do they call me TheMagician???

When I was eleven years old I played a small swiss tournament with 12 players under the age of 12.

The boy who would be the champion won one of his games in a kind of unsportsman way, althought not really cheating.

His oponent forgot to hit the clock, so he smartly pretended to be thinking a lot on the position while he was actually just waiting for time to pass.

The oponent thought this delay very weird, but took long time to realize what was happening! When he did hit the clock he was in time pressure and started to play bad moves, losing the game.

Nice one! A similar story was when 3 time World Correspondence Champion CJS Purdy was plaing in the New South Wales State Champioships in Australia in 1968 against Peter Parr for the title. Aging Cecil Purdy too forgot to press his clock in an overwhelming position against his opponent Peter Parr who Won the State Title by ALSO pretending to be thinking on his opponents time!.

 Probably the guy of the next board notice his missing rook...

Hope he didn't acuse his oponent instead!

Twice I have been asked in otb tournaments "whose move is it?"

Both times my reply was the same...."mine!"

Whether I was truthful or not either time is up for interpretation ;)

SilicianDefender

Black wins with 1...Kf5.

How is the ethnicity/religion of the two protagonists relevant ?

Clock ... I remind my opponent once. Just once. And not at all if I'm in time trouble.

In my first ever rated tournament, I was playing a sour fellow who hadn't responded to a polite hello before the game. I castled queenside at around move 20. We played another 10 or so moves, when my opponent suddenly sprang up and disappeared. He reappeared a few minutes later with the TD, who asked me if I might have castled illegally. I was a little stunned by the question, thought about it, and realized I had forgotten an earlier king move (likely Kd8). So the game was backed up and continued, my opponent having a very self-satisfied look on his face. The game itself wasn't anything special; he lost control of the center and I forced and nursed a slow passer toward victory, but it was a long grind getting through his blockade. A Canadian FM (Robert Morrison, if anyone remembers him) wandered by for a look just as I played a Q-for-B sac that simplified everything and let the pawn advance quickly. Morrison got this "Are you insane?" look on his face and left the table (no doubt believing he knew the answer to that question).

I remember that game for the reasons above, but also for this: his opening move was 1.b4, which I had never seen before or even dreamed of :). My Reuben Fine book served me well: if you are faced with a strange opening, stick to basic principles. Actually it was P-QN4. I hadn't come across algebraic notation yet.

WOW..what is the moral of the story? 

ALL Egyptians are really horrible people 

All Jews , haven't you guys learned not to play with egyptians, hello, does anybody even remember what had happened in Torah.

or Watch out if your opponenet is egptian??? Don't leave the table to show off to your friends if you are a jew?

What a racist story telling was that? STOP being a racist and tell us the names otherwise I can only catogorize you as someone who sees people by their race.

I bet you wouldn't even rememeber thier names but their races!

That's just pethetic.

breathe. woo sahhh woo saahh. im pretty sure a little background info without naming the person is not the same thing as being a racist. and where does it say their race anywhere? for all you know the egyptian was a small white guy and the jew was a purple dude. just enjoy the story for the story.

I don't know if this story fits the gamesmanship topic, but here goes.....

In 1973, I played in a small tournament in Utica, NY.  A titled player from upstate NY was there as a spectator.  During the tournament, he was consistantly giving moves to his two friends, one a 2100+ and the other 1700+.  My friend and I tried to tell the TD what was happening, but he simply refused to believe that such a player who had had games published Chess Life & Review would do such a thing.  By the last round, he wasn't even trying to hide it--he'd just walk around looking at his friend's games, call them off to the side, talk for a few moments, and suddenly these players were playing lights out chess.  They won their sections, of course, and the titled player went on to represent the US in several major events.  And I still haven't forgiven or forgotten any of the three players.

please tell me that was a really bad troll....

I remember one time I was playing at the usual friday night quad event I like to go to when something unusual happened. A little kid who was playing in one of the lower sections gave advise to my opponent in the middle of the game. I didn't like this, and neither did my opponent (probaby because it was bad advise) so we both got the tourdament official. The kid (who had finished his last game) was kicked out of the playing room, and the game resumed. In this case it wasn't such a big deal, but it makes me wonder what would happen if this was to occur in a more serious event and with good advise in a critical position. Would the game have to start over? Would he not be allowed to play that move? Are any of these actions really fair though?

I read this happened in a simul vs Capablanca, because the boards were very crowded together and one of Capa's opponents "castled" with a Rook from an adjacent board (apparently not intentionally). Capa stood at the board for several seconds, frowning, until he realized what had happened.

In most blitz games you can take the king, but it will result in your opponent claiming victory due to YOUR illegal move. Instead, you should claim a win due to an illegal move by your opponent without capturing the king.

 Isn't the tournament director the immediate authority in a tournament? I recall reading somewhere that spectators are not supposed to interfere with the tournament director. Doesn't what you described almost happening (a physical altercation) support that? Players who feel they were wronged can later appeal to the USCF.