Chess is a game for men who can act like gentlemen and for women who can act like ladies. If they can't achieve one of these two goals, toss them out. Period.

Good advice there, I will take that into consideration.

Beat them and act like the protagonist.

Asking highschool boys to behave like gentlemen is rediculous in my opinion.  I remember teachers who couldn't control their classes taking that approach and failing miserably.  It implies that the teacher is totally out of touch with the students.  I was a very bad kid but a very good student.  If I didn't respect someone's authority it really affected everyone because I was so arrogant.  I would tell teachers how stupid I thought they were and how awful their teaching skills were.  It carried alot of weight coming from me because everyone knew I was a great student.  You're best approach is to be humble and lead by example.  Arrogant people respond positively to that kind of thing.  If you have their respect as the best player in the room you can then pull people aside and let them know that "I wouldn't disapprove but the club is for everybody and if people get rediculed they might not come back.  Then I've gotta shut this thing down.  So chill out because I don't do that STUFF to you when I kick the crap out of you..."   If they use foul language I would too.  It makes you more relatable and less like a square.  Make sure that they know beyond a resonable doubt that you're the best in the room first.  Earn their respect and subtly remind them who the man is.  People don't like confrontation...  Even people who like to boast and brag...  They also hate logic and eye contact...  Get an inch from their face with it...  Once again this is just my experience and I'm very confident in situations like that.  If you're timid you may have to find a less direct approach.  Learning how to deal with this situation carefully will help you so much in life I cannot emphasize it enough.  Don't do anything you're not comfortable doing and keep in mind that I'm no expert at anything and I could be so very wrong!

Anthony

Thank you very much that was extrmemely helpful, I will definatley try that.

I had the same problem when I started a chess club. The way to stop the arrogant chess player is to study their moves and examine them on Fritz, once you have beaten them once, grab his King piece (make sure your playing with his set) and replace it with a queen. Tell him since he wants to act like a Queen then he should play as a Queen. He never returned to chess club.

Arrogance in itself is not necessarily a bad thing.  I would only consider it a problem if the person was trash talking during a game (I believe this is against the rules of chess) interfering in other peoples games (again I believe this is against the rules of chess) or resulted in poor sportsmanship after the game (Not necessarily against the rules but should be controlled)

These potential symptoms of arrogance need to be addressed.  The arrogance itself is not necessarily a problem.  Being humble will only ever get you so far.

The title of the book sounds like good acvice.

All you have to do is beat them cleanly with class and stay queit. Then shake thier hand. Never stoop to thier level, that's to easy.

Those people have no buz. playing chess anyway..

Yes, I do beat them and shake hands then walk away, this seems to get to them and they get all pissed off for a week and then never return.

that was when they wanted to play me though, no one will play me now because have beaten them all before.

after you beat them....Moon em.  just kiddin....or am I?

lol, nice idea I will have to try that.

TheAOD wrote:

Asking highschool boys to behave like gentlemen is rediculous in my opinion.  I remember teachers who couldn't control their classes taking that approach and failing miserably.  It implies that the teacher is totally out of touch with the students.  I was a very bad kid but a very good student.  If I didn't respect someone's authority it really affected everyone because I was so arrogant.  I would tell teachers how stupid I thought they were and how awful their teaching skills were.  It carried alot of weight coming from me because everyone knew I was a great student.  You're best approach is to be humble and lead by example.  Arrogant people respond positively to that kind of thing.  If you have their respect as the best player in the room you can then pull people aside and let them know that "I wouldn't disapprove but the club is for everybody and if people get rediculed they might not come back.  Then I've gotta shut this thing down.  So chill out because I don't do that STUFF to you when I kick the crap out of you..."   If they use foul language I would too.  It makes you more relatable and less like a square.  Make sure that they know beyond a resonable doubt that you're the best in the room first.  Earn their respect and subtly remind them who the man is.  People don't like confrontation...  Even people who like to boast and brag...  They also hate logic and eye contact...  Get an inch from their face with it...  Once again this is just my experience and I'm very confident in situations like that.  If you're timid you may have to find a less direct approach.  Learning how to deal with this situation carefully will help you so much in life I cannot emphasize it enough.  Don't do anything you're not comfortable doing and keep in mind that I'm no expert at anything and I could be so very wrong!

Anthony

...or you can toss them out.

High school kids are perfectly capable of acting like gentlemen. If not, then it's high time the kids learned that such attitudes and conduct will no longer be tolerated from someone older than 6. Somebody has to teach them eventually. Laying down the law in a quick and firm manner will garner respect. They may cuss you, but they'll respect you.

AOD, I'm not attacking your views directly :) . I'm only offering a differing opinion to Chessbee. I respect your opnion and will not deny that gaining a sense of relativity can be advantageous in some situations. Chessbee knows the situation better than any of us and will likely employ a delicate mix of the opinions offered here. Come to think of it, that would probably be the best approach.

LisaV wrote:

You run the club.  Lay down the law.  Tell the club (nobody specifically) that arrogance is not tolerated.  In place of arrogance, the focus of the club is [whatever you want it to be], say, to learn, have fun, make friends, etc.

People who are still arrogant after your warning get thrown out for two weeks.  Enforce it.

You're in charge!!!   Set the boundaries--explicitly--for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. 

hehe,,,,, The Mistress of DISIPLINE just couldnt resist pulling out her WHIP on this one.

It sounds like there are many braggards in your club, has arrogance become an institution in your club? Where did it start? Is there a "leader" whom the others take their cue from.

How many agree with you that this is a problem? Do they believe it strongly enough to help you confront the others?

What you might notice is that the group who act arrogantly are confirming that such behaviour is acceptable for each other.

If there is a leader (there probably is), confront him with the non-arrogant group backing you (so that it doesn't seem like it is your opinion). Use not confronting language (Not "You are always...", but "We think some of the others are...") play to  his vanity ("You are the one who can help us change it because..."). Every time he acts arrogantly call him on it, and after a while you will see improvement.

If you kick out a group of people, without the approval of the majority of the chess club behind you, I promise you, you will have mutiny on your hands - leader or not.

wow you guys need to get girlfriends asap...

I would if I could, but I have no idea how, too much time studying chess instead of girls.

Aristokatt wrote:

LisaV wrote:

You run the club.  Lay down the law.  Tell the club (nobody specifically) that arrogance is not tolerated.  In place of arrogance, the focus of the club is [whatever you want it to be], say, to learn, have fun, make friends, etc.

People who are still arrogant after your warning get thrown out for two weeks.  Enforce it.

You're in charge!!!   Set the boundaries--explicitly--for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. 

hehe,,,,, The Mistress of DISIPLINE just couldnt resist pulling out her WHIP on this one.

lol

I have a lot of experience handling naughty students....

I could of been a continder, but it beez ah girl that dun turned me baines to MUSH!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~