Purpose and actual use of the rematch function

Hello fellow chess players!

I have thought about the purpose of the rematch offering function and how it is actually used. In Germany, we have the originally French word "Revanche", which probably has the same origin as "revenge". It is usually claimed by the loser of a game to get another chance at beating the opponent.

What does this have to do with the chess.com live chess system? There are already multiple topics in the forums discussing whether or not it is impolite for the winner to offer a rematch. I would say, in some sports and some cultures, it would definitely be considered so, and usually only the loser would be expected to claim "Revanche". But for chess.com live chess, where it is only one click of a button, it is not that big of a deal right? I myself do not consider it impolite most of the time and I accept rematches frequently.

The big problem is, the last 20 games I was offered a rematch, it was ALWAYS by someone who won the previous game, most of the time if he played black before. Is this rate any better for higher skill levels? Because otherwise, I have to assume that 90% of the rematch offers in live chess are just because someone thinks "this guy is easy, maybe I can squeeze another 8 points out of him". And yes, some games you just don't want to "play another game versus a player you lost against even thought he clearly has no idea of openings" (you know this feeling ).

I don't think that disabling the rematch button for the winner would be an elegant solution. But how about not showing the rematch offer and just initializing the rematch if both players click the rematch button. I don't think this would be too much of a change, since both players have to manually agree on a rematch anyway.

What do you think?

Have a nice Sunday!

Hi floba,

here the 'rematch' concept is less of a 'revenge' and more of an easy way for two players who enjoyed playing against each other to play again.

If somebody offers you a rematch, it is not impolite to decline, so you shouldn't feel obliged to accept if you think they are too strong for you

I actually do not feel obliged to accept, that is not the point of what i wrote above. Two players playing multiple games is covered by the solution I proposed.

So basically you're suggesting to simply remove the notification pop-up for rematch offers? Frankly, I'm not sure how this would be an improvement. If you don't want a rematch, click ignore/decline if the pop-up troubles you.

I for one would never end up playing rematches if this was implemented, because I only play rematches when the other player offers them (just a habit I suppose). Admittedly, that wouldn't be a great loss for me, but then again I don't see the gain either.

You are right about the rematches, but I think my first post is not entirely understood... does not matter anymore anyway, because I found out you aparently can just disable challenges against you to avoid rematch offers. So if someone wants to challenge you personally he has to chat you.

I quit with rematches (unless its against someone i know or it is an OTB game). Here is what happend to me:

I won the first game, after a hard struggle. My opponent asked for a rematch, which I accepted because I enjoyed the first game. On the second game, after making 1 move (or else game gets aborted) my opponent stopped playing, wasting my time and making me having to wait.

After this, I realized rematches are to take out anger on losing the game, and one way to do so is to stall and waste opponent's time. I've heard of players who lose their first game, then have chess engine support on the rematch games afterwards in Blitz.

Either way, the sense of "revenge" makes chess less fun than it is. Plus, I think quickly playing a rematch right after a game is very impulsive, as I just couldn't leave a game unanalysed.

I usually accept rematches, but it really annoys me when people overuse rematch function for too much, i don't like to decline, because then he may think stupid stuff like "he finds me not worthy", "he's scared" and stupid stuff like that. I usually start the game against another player as soon as I finish up my game now, unless of course I'm playing against a nice guy or a friend.

The method I described earlier to avoid rematch challenges does not work, and I again and again get challenged only by opponents who won the previous game.

Does someone have a reliable way of disabling rematch challenges?