Annotated Correspondence #2 Caro-Kann 2.e5?!

This game was very strange for me, not because the game was so very disappointing to play but because of the chatter between myself and my opponent.

Once the game was clearly over (on 17...Bxc5 the comp marks me a queen up) and actually quite a bit after, until I actually was a queen up, I asked my opponent to resign. That's something very rude, very inappropriate to do in chess, but keep in mind that this was a tournament game in which we were both playing very strong competition. Both of us should have wanted to give out best efforts to games in which we actually had winning chances.

In response to my request that he resign, I was promptly told to "fuck off." I probably earned that, it was a rude response to an equally rude request, but it really made me think about the nature of sportsmanship in chess. One of the reasons why we resign in chess is in order to avoid placing the burden of the request on the winning side! It's about being a gentleman/lady, showing tact and, most of all, respect. Continuing to play when down enormous amounts of material is the equivalent of staking a game on an opponent's blunder.

Usually I don't get too far beyond the moves when I write these annotations, but again this game was a real head scratcher for me. If anyone has any thoughts on sportsmanship in chess, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for reading.