Chess.com Needs to Address Abandonment Issues

I’m seriously fed up with the number of players who abandon games (disconnect or let the clock run down) instead of actively resigning. Out of the 3,445 games I’ve played, in 182 of them, my opponent just left when they were in a clearly losing position.

Today, I faced a player called makakucrazy, who has abandoned 38 out of his 112 total games—that’s 33.93% of his games! Meanwhile, I’ve only abandoned 7 games (due to router issues over 7 months), which accounts for just 0.2% of my total games.

Chess.com needs to take stricter action against this kind of behavior. Here are some suggestions:

Stronger Penalties: There should be more severe repercussions for players who repeatedly abandon games.
Internal Monitoring: Chess.com should internally track the percentage of games abandoned by each player. If a player exceeds 10%, they should be notified, and if they reach 15%, they should face a ban.
Player Preferences: Users should have the option to avoid playing against opponents who abandon more than a certain percentage of their games (e.g., 3%). However, players with a higher abandonment percentage themselves (e.g., 7%) should not be allowed to set preferences for playing against opponents with a better abandonment rate (e.g., 1%).
For what it’s worth, I’ve done my best to report every player who abandoned a game against me, both by submitting a proper report under "stalling/quitting" and giving a thumbs down for bad sportsmanship.
This behavior is toxic to the game, and it’s high time Chess.com took action to improve the experience for everyone.

Chess.com does have a way to discourage disconnection and poor sportsmanship.

https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8598007-what-is-chess-com-s-sportsmanship-policy

The automated system is set to recognize and restrict players who have too many aborted games.

I think it also usually recognizes when people abandon games in losing positions.

Many people abandon games, however, because they have poor internet connections.

I've read it before writing this , it says "If your account is flagged for consistently violating our Sportsmanship Policy, your ability to play will be restricted. You will be required to wait five minutes between games, including aborted games."
That's ridiculously lenient, I would like not to meet these people in the first place, and that's very easy to achieve, far easier than spotting cheaters.

There are only two solutions in such case: or you decide it's no biggie and can live with it, or you decide it's so intolerable that you want Mussolini back.

Way of speaking of course.

Then, I'll add that bit of ancient wisdom: "Beware what you're asking for, you may well get it."

Besides, 182/3445 is about 5%. Not worth a guillotine based society.

Exactly, but it is quite easy to find players with a high score of leaving games when in a bad situation.

I agree with this post, I do think the chess.com punishment system for people who regularly abandon is far too weak.

that being said, the example this poster gave of how many of his games are abandoned by his opponents are is still very low. 5% of all of your games being abandoned by your opponent doesn't equate to that much time lost. 5 in every 100 games being abandoned is a relatively good rate so I'm not sure what caused you to make this post in the first place.

If your reason had been chess.com's response to abandonment alone then it would make sense. But your reason seems to be due to your own games, where the abandomnent rate isnt very high.

Still, we can bring it to much less pretty easily.

I came here because I had this exact experience with a player called mihHaKo. He should just be banned.

well luckily it isn't as much of an inconvenience thanks to the low amount of abandoners.

Either resign or play on until the bitter end. Abandoning just shows a lack of basic decency.

It is indeed annoying, but banning for poor sportsmanship is a bit too severe. I think the current chess.com's treatment of repeated offenders is quite adequate.

Exactly. 🤌

I am new, but I have had at least 5 players abandon the game. It is a problem.

so like a responsibility score for all players?

Your games won by abandonment is insanely high. I checked a couple of profiles at random te get a benchmark for the ratio. It seems you faced more abandons than anyone I looked at, which is only a few account but still.

At higher ratings it doesn't happen as often, but that doesn't account for what's happening to you. My guess is that the matching algorithm put you in the wrong player pool by accident. I'm not joking, just compare your Insights stats to others' stats.

Btw, it seems like half the players are annoyed by players that abandon games and get really frustrated by the lack of sportsmanship and the other half doesn't care too much. Am I the only only that kind of likes it? I always get a kick out of making a player rage-quit. Take their Queen and watch them lose connection. Makes me feel tough, like I'm taking over the playground.