Chess does seem to bring out the worst in some people, and the real personality (ie unpleasant) in others. I guess it has something to do with the fact that since it's a mental activity people mistakenly feel that losing means they are stupid or less intelligent than their opponent. On the other hand, maybe they'd be a++holes no matter what game they played 
Have you ever noticed how many of chess players are a-holes? LOL
Sort:
We need a scientific way of measuring a-hole ism. We need...
The Fischer scale.
NimzoRoy: I agree... In a sense, I do not blame them for that, because I realize that the assholishness seems to be very much a knee-jerk reaction... It's not that they try to be aholes, it's just a natural consequence of their past history (genetics, upbringing etc...).
Perhaps instead of villifying such people, we should celebrate people who behave civilly no matter if they win or lose?
The problem is that when an a-hole is losing, he just lets his time run down, instead of resigning.
Totally.
Yeah, NimzoRoy and MilitaryQuagmire said it well -- beating A-holes while maintaining your own composure is really fun. Unfortunately, I had much too much experience with it as a youngster. My father, a pretty strong player (1400) for a "civilian," didn't like to drink when playing chess (a rarity for him -- not drinking) but if I beat him a few games he would then claim "nervousness" and that's when the booze came out. One day in mid summer we were playing chess on the backyard picnic table and I destroyed the old man in games one and two and he demanded we put money on the game. After losing four more games he jerked the chessboard out from under the chessmen and leaned it up against a tree and started jumping upon it and kicking at it -- it was mighty solid LOL and withstood his attacks and bucked him off quite elegantly. Later he not only paid his debt but gave me a 1915 quarter-eagle gold piece and apologized. But it was FASCINATING keeping my cool at ground-zero while Dad went berserk and the neighbors looked on in astonishment! Taught me a lot about the value of sportsmanship, poise and sobriety!
Yes. Some even when there's no chess involved, at all.
A1Rajjpuut wrote:
Yeah, NimzoRoy and MilitaryQuagmire said it well -- beating A-holes while maintaining your own composure is really fun. Unfortunately, I had much too much experience with it as a youngster. My father, a pretty strong player (1400) for a "civilian," didn't like to drink when playing chess (a rarity for him -- not drinking) but if I beat him a few games he would then claim "nervousness" and that's when the booze came out. One day in mid summer we were playing chess on the backyard picnic table and I destroyed the old man in games one and two and he demanded we put money on the game. After losing four more games he jerked the chessboard out from under the chessmen and leaned it up against a tree and started jumping upon it and kicking at it -- it was mighty solid LOL and withstood his attacks and bucked him off quite elegantly. Later he not only paid his debt but gave me a 1915 quarter-eagle gold piece and apologized. But it was FASCINATING keeping my cool at ground-zero while Dad went berserk and the neighbors looked on in astonishment! Taught me a lot about the value of sportsmanship, poise and sobriety!
Great story! See, you kept your cool and it paid off in the end.
Must be something to that phrase, "Cooler heads prevailed."
Your dad was pretty cool for paying up the debt and with the gold gesture and all too.
It's almost too funny...
This is most apparent when they lose one of their games.. :D :D :D