About a month ago I signed up for a tournament and then forgot about it.  In the meantime, I joined another one and was about half way through when the original tourney began, a Bird's Opening themed tournament.  I decided it was too many games and withdrew.

Because it was themed and the first move was made for me, I took a loss on every single game - rating dropped from 2055 to 1319.

My suggestion is this: When withdrawing from a themed tournament, make sure the person withdrawing knows that they don't have to make a single move to have the game considered "in progress."  Simply because the tournament is themed, ALL games are considered "in progress" because the first move has been made for you.

That little pop-up would have saved me the frustration of the support/help process.

There is a minimum number of moves before ratings are affected.

Use the Report Bugs link at the bottom of the page to report the bug and to request your rating be restored.

Edit: For those who read later. The minimum moves link was quickly revised to remove the minimum moves reference.

Hmm... I reported it and provided the link to the tourney.  I thought they'd actually look at my complaint rather than just send me a form response.  I'll definitely refile my complaint with this info.  Thanks.

The system sends you a generic response as soon as the complaint is recieved, then the staff looks over it and sends you a response actually written by a human.

Wake up!

I'm not talking about the 'your complaint has been recieved message,' of course.  Here's what I have so far:

If you withdraw from a tournament after the games have started, you are credited with a loss for every game. The only way to avoid getting losses is to withdraw prior to the games starting.

- Josh


neospooky Posted on: 31 Jan 2009 09:57 PM
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I have tried to withdraw from the Bird's Training tournament I'm in and it gives me an error. I don't want to participate. How can I withdraw from the tourney?


neospooky Posted on: 02 Feb 2009 04:24 PM
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Wow. It gave me a loss for every single game. I just wanted to make sure this is 'working as intended' before I accept a drop from 2055 to 1319 in rating.

I added the link provided above about the four move rule.  Waiting to see if that flies.

Wow, here's the update.

All games that you resign count against your rating once the game starts, regardless of length.

- Josh


neospooky Posted on: 31 Jan 2009 09:57 PM
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I have tried to withdraw from the Bird's Training tournament I'm in and it gives me an error. I don't want to participate. How can I withdraw from the tourney?


neospooky Posted on: 02 Feb 2009 04:24 PM
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Wow. It gave me a loss for every single game. I just wanted to make sure this is 'working as intended' before I accept a drop from 2055 to 1319 in rating.


neospooky Posted on: 04 Feb 2009 07:00 PM
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I'm a little confused, then. I was under the impression games with less than 4 moves didn't count toward your rating ().

I never actually made a move myself. All of the games had the original move made due to it being a Bird's opening tournament.

So much for "Games under 4 moves do not count toward ratings as they are too short to be meaningful."

To be clear:

From chess.com's site: http://support.chess.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=24 "Games under 4 moves do not count toward ratings as they are too short to be meaningful"

From chess.com's "support": "All games that you resign count against your rating once the game starts, regardless of length."

What startling consistency.

This is really upsetting.  I don't think you would have withdrawn if you had known that this would happen; in fact, official website information led you to believe that it wouldn't (right?).  I am in this tournamament, and since the games affected my rating too (positively, but I don't like having my rating inflated like that), I'm going to file a complaint as well.  I really hope something can be done.

To be honest, I had read on the forums that there was a minimum number of moves but didn't read it in the chess.com files until it was referenced in this thread by TadDude.  So I suspected there was something up, which is why I sent the complaint.

Yes, I wouldn't have forfeited all those games if I had known about the ratings drop.

The thing that bothers me the most is the nagging feeling that someone isn't taking the time to address this properly.  Based on the responses from support, he either didn't take the time to follow the link and read what I referenced or he doesn't want to be bothered to explain the discrepency to me.

Who cares, right?  I only have the cheap membership...

What I'm hearing when you say you wouldn't have forfeited the games if you'd known about the ratings drop, is that you actually could have played the games out, but your consideration for the impact of your withdrawal to other people in the tournament is negligible when compared to the weight you give to the impact to your rating?

I think you'll find that you have a hard time getting people's sympathy for this. 

Additionally, a themed game is really one where you've agreed to in effect "make a predetermined set of opening moves" -- even though the first move you make says "1.", it is not the first move in the game.

Let's be clear.  Maybe the policy SHOULD be that your rating is affected in this situation.

However, if that's what the policy is going to be, the faq's need to be consistent.

Leave it to the internet to cause the worst case scenario to be assumed... No, I wouldn't have placed the burden on those I was to play.  I would have cut other activities out of my schedule (particularly my MMO time) in order to play this tourney.  I didn't want to, but I would have.

And I realize the first move is made for me, hence the original suggestion that this is pointed out as is the fact that the FAQ is either wrong or just not followed in this scenario. 

What I was trying to say is that by signing up and then withdrawing from a tournament (even if you didn't play a single move) you've unfairly impacted the seedings for the first round.

You had a relatively high rating and would have likely taken one of the upper spots in your initial group.  By withdrawing, you've left behind an easier field in your group than in the others and handed an unearned win to each of the people left in your group.

The result is that those you left behind in your group now have an unfair advantage over those in the other groups.  It's easier for the remaining folks to advance because the field is weaker in the group you left, and the unearned win will give them an advantage in tie-break situations.

The point I was trying to make was that you're greivance about your rating may not be the only complaint out there that pertains to your withdrawal.  Since you said you could have, and would have, played if you'd known what the impact would be to you I thought it appropriate to point out the impact to others as well so that next time it can also be considered.

It was a 12 person, single group tourney with both games per opponent on-going at the same time.  The only impact I had on others was to give their ratings a boost.  I'm unaware of any other impact I may have had.

Again, an appropriate message rather than the generic one I recieved when attempting to withdraw would alert people to the potential you described above had it been a tournament like that.

Yes, agreed.