Active club to practice classical slow time control 90m+30s/45m+45s/60m+30s in Swiss tourney

Dear @bshoot (Brian)

I fully agree with your point of not getting too upset.

My perspective on that is as follow:

I think it's almost 15 years at least that I am not (and never) interested anymore to play practice game vs computer (let say vs Fritz software in my computer), since the computer level is already so high, that is not fun anymore to play and try to beat them at their standard high level.

If I lower their level, then their 'intended' blunder seem artificial to me.

Note: that even the very best player in the world these days are not interested to play & try to beat the best engine today (it's already different era that we know in the past where Kasparov vs Computer match still the attractive challenge both to player himself and to audience who eagerly want to watch it, because the computer is still within the beat-able range). These days even if that match happen, they need to set the handicap (eg. The Knight odds or time control odds, that look weird for my taste)

Then what I did with that software in my computer for these recent years is:

If I cannot beat them, then why not join or hire them instead? To be my 24/7 personal assistant eg. helping analyze my finished game etc. or help me exploring / testing new ideas in opening.

With that positive mindset, if in any particular bad days (I think it can happen once for a while that I was beaten by human who later is found out doing cheat) then my perspective is:

I simply don't care and will not waste my energy for being sore or upset. I just assume that on that day I practiced vs Fritz software that I never did it anymore for more than 15 years, and I have tried my best. I will surely learn something from any game that I lose, even more lesson learnt is from the very best opponent, no matter how painful it is.

Addendum: As I stated in my previous post, some people join this club as practicing place for their incoming regular OTB, but there are some people who can have only chance to play this classical time control by online. For whatever situation you are, then as long as you think that you will get much more practice benefit from this online chess tourney in the long term than the disadvantage (that is beyond our control) then it is a golden opportunity, otherwise you will play classical in OTB tournaments only.

Thanks again @bshoot @SHF @Noemis05 @Magyar1949 for your previous reply & support on this matter.

As you know the motto of our club is

Top full respect to Oscar (@chavezo)
for his high sportsmanship act in his game vs @Slugman92 today.
https://www.chess.com/game/live/144072018731 
move 14: W (slugman92) slip the mouse when W intend to swap Q.

While the game is not set into Take-Back on, and Oscar could capitalize on this error, but instead Oscar allowing to play few couple of moves in order to reset to the position before mouse slip.

there may be cheaters, but there are also honorable people

Thanks everyone who has written to me. It is nice to win games, and I happily accept the outcome of my opponents' blunders (as they certainly celebrate mine!), but this is different; a mouse slip shouldn't become a blunder. I think that anyone of us would have done the same thing. I'm happy it wasn't an irreparable mistake and that @Slugman92 figured out a way to reset the position.

Hi everyoner, just wanted to give my support to @fhunfi, who is running a great league here. Keep it up!

Yes, I agree with Magyar1949. Why would anyone want to cheat? What sense of self-esteem could he have? As mentioned, How could he ever hope to improve at chess?

I have to make a side note from my own experience when I played slow chess on chess.com about ten years ago when I was younger. I lost to a person who was playing amazingly, like a computer. I therefore concluded he was cheating. I was really bummed out about it and I lost my joy in chess for a while.

It wasn't until several months later that I found out that his rating on tactics was amazingly high. In other words, he really was that good, and his tactics showed it. So, just because someone really plays well doesn't mean that he or she is cheating.

I'm curious, how do you tell the difference between a blunder and a mouse slip by your opponent? Would you evaluate the situation differently for different time controls?

In the case where the queen was dropped and hung one square short of a queen trade, I can see why the opponent understood that wasn't the intended move. On the other hand sometimes it can be hard, especially for players below a certain skill level, to see which squares are attacked by a bishop or a knight.

yea i guess it's a judgment call. If you have an obvious square on the direction that the piece was travelling to THAT'S ALSO CLOSE TO WHERE THEY DROPPED where you can say, "Yea, he wanted to go there instead," then you can call it a mouse slip

I guess I am 'old school' but a so called 'mouse slip' is just like the 'touch rule' and should be applied the same way as the 'touch rule'. My advise to a mouse slip, be more careful.

I understand the touch rule/mouse slip comparison, and in general I agree. However, I think one might also look at other factors. I was recently in a game getting into its later stages, and my position was losing. I had some chances and a small time advantage, but I think my opponent was very likely to win. Until he mouse slipped and blundered his queen. In the interests of sportsmanship and the spirit of the competition I offered him a draw. If his mouseslip had meant that he simply lost a pawn, or maybe couldn't make a good positional move, then I might have played on, but losing his queen seemed pretty harsh, especially as he was winning. We agreed to a draw, and then played another game. I think there are more important things than simply gaining elo points, no? But as I say, a lot depends on the context of the game.

hzj

A Wonderful Club for Thoughtful Classical Chess

Many thanks to TD Chien (aka @fhunfi) for his tireless and voluntary work in organizing the 90m+30s Club over the past three years. The tournaments are consistently well-run and thoughtfully scheduled, making it possible for busy players to enjoy serious classical games at a manageable pace. The Tournament Director’s decisions—such as offering a variety of time controls and carefully spacing out each round—reflect a deep understanding of the needs of adult players with other commitments. His approach creates a respectful, balanced environment that values both quality chess and real-life responsibilities. I’m truly grateful for this rare and well-organized space. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates classical chess.

Once again, sincere thanks to TD Chien for creating and sustaining such a meaningful and welcoming community.

But all mouse slips completely satisfy the touch rule fully by default though. The 'touch rule' just means 'move or capture the piece you touch,' and a mouse slip means exactly that except due to a faulty mouse sensor or left button or client-server input, the piece gets dropped too soon or too late, and who do we blame? We can't blame anyone for the fault of the computer system or device.

oh sweet i didn't know there was even that

I have "essential tremors" and have lost many games where I was in an even or winning position due to mouse slips. I did not know that "take backs" were even an option in rated games. I play with a physical board in front of me and after I make my move on the physical board I copy it on the screen with the mouse. Sometimes I slip and it is very irritating but I have accepted that mouse slips are just part of the internet chess game.

When I play unrated 60/30 Fischer Random (960) chess on Lichess.org with my chess partner of 50 years take backs are an option and we use it.

Are take backs even an option when playing unrated games on Chess.com? If so, maybe we should play our tournament games unrated.

In my recent game, following a queen hanging mouse-slip by my opponent, we agreed on a draw, probably the simplest solution. However, a few hours later, when reviewing the game I realised that although there was no take-back option, in fact we could have manouevred our pieces to effectively achieve a take-back situation. His queen was one square short of its intended capture. I could have shuffled a knight, and then allowed him to shuffle his queen to its intended destination.

My opponent dreamlearnbe once allowed me to replay a mouse slip castling by replaying the whole game until that point