flagging : Is it unethical or part of the game

It's not a binary thing. If your opponent has wasted too much time thinking then you're entitled to win on time.

Where it becomes bad for the game - particularly online - is a scenario where one side is clearly lost, times are similar but there's not enough time for a checkmate.

At this point, the losing player has nothing to lose so can just play mindlessly. Therefore it simply becomes a drag race, and as so little time goes into thinking about the moves, internet connection speed can end up determining the winner.

These comments are from years ago💀

Flagging is just a part of the game, not good, not bad, just a part of the game.

this whole discussion is clickbait. the answer is obvious.

yes

Don't play speed chess if you're going to whine about flagging.

That's like jumping into a knife fight and shouting "No fair!" if you get stabbed.

Excellent point

Former World Chess Champion Aleksandr Alekhine once said that "a chess player who complains that he only lost the game because his clock ran out, is as much at fault as a motorist who complains that they only had a road accident because they were drunk".

In addition to being a world-class chess player, Alekhine was also a world-class drunkard.

Just sayin'.

no no no... it part of the game of course, but it is definetly BAD!

Who says the opposit is because is a flagger himself, with a terrible attitude. Chess is a challange of brain, bullet is a challange about playing chess (not perfect, of course) in a short time. But still CHESS!!!

I saw many "players" in bullet 1+0 just doing 10 random moves in the begininnig only to win on the clock! Cm'on! this is not chess, this is pretending to be chess, find another game dude!

Some evidence of this? As soon as your rate improve you find less flaggers, means that as soon as the player become better player, they don't apply this unfair tecnique!

definetly wrong.

Speed chess are still chess, and that means you have to do some reasonable moves, not random moves just to be quicker of your opponent. If you can't understand it, I feel terribly sorry for you dude!

I will add that I found that the "flagging attitude" is more common in some countries then others. Seems that some cultures can't accept a lost, and they are ready to be unfair just to win.

And worst of all: if you choose to flag, fine, sh*t happens. But please, at least don't be delighted pretending you deserve that "victory", 'cause you stole it

Its just part of the game, if you don't like it then just play with a longer time??

That's the typical answer of a flagger. I add: a flagger who hasn't read my 3 (not 10000, just 3) contributions.

I want to play bullet. full stop. But I want to PLAY, which means do reasonable moves in a shorter time. I want to see who is able, between me and my opponentto, to do good with only few seconds . I don't wanna play to who moves faster but random. Again: I saw players do the same moves 8 times in a row, as preset, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth just to gain 10 seconds and winning on the clock. Is this chess? Is this speed chess? Spoiler: the anwer is "NO" to both the questions.

If in an (almost) balanced position, you win because of the time, it's fine. You do the same I do but quicker: it shows you really are a better player. Simple and fair.

What I cannot accept are the "players" who don't try either to play. And it's full of them. And all of them answer as you did: "choose a longer time"... No my friend, I should not be forced to change my championship because you think that playing bullet is only a matter of time, without considering the brain challange.

@224

"Its just part of the game, if you don't like it then just play with a longer time??"
++ Play with increment.

That just means that your opponents are better, they can make moves in a shorter time before you. When I get flagged, I don't complain. Also, a minute is way more than enough to checkmate your opponent, especially a flagger.

You must forgive me... I will NEVER consider better than me who moves random.

If you think so, I feel sorry for you because you don't understand the intimate meaning of chess and in this case will be useless to discuss, as a "flagger", you will always pretend that winning by flagging has the same value, and as a "player" I will always consider fair a victory by checkmate or by time as long as it is not from a clear loosing position (e.g M1/M2 or under of 5 points in the bar rate)