Cheaters, and Slow Play

On the topic of cheaters, there isn't much to say except that entire Country vs Country matches can get radically altered by removing just a few cheaters. Team Canada is currently playing Team Australia in a top level match and Chess.com just went to town on a number of players from both sides for "fair play".

https://www.chess.com/club/matches/1461893/games

Team Canada just lost a 7 year, 2200 level veteran player to fair play rules. I would have thought a guy in that position would know better!

At the same time, in that same match I'm surprised to see the numbers of boards being lost to time-outs. That match is a 3 day game format. How hard is it to check in daily to see which games need a move from you?

I see that a fair bit in my own games too. My own two Chesskids seem to have trouble checking in daily too, although I've told them both that's why I keep offering them Challenge games. The best training in any sport is daily, even if it's only a little bit. Daily training keeps you focused!

I know that they read this blog so I'm reminding them again.

In other games, I've got one guy who challenged me to a 3 day match. I accepted and he got the white pieces. He hasn't even made a single move and only has a little over 24 hours left to make one.

I wonder why this guy, completely out of the blue challenged me and then forgot about me?

https://www.chess.com/game/daily/524951777

Oh well...