Vacation Adjudication in a Winning Position

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TadDude

This is not about resignation.

The site will adjudicate a tournament game where the losing player is on vacation. The policy stated here in post#4  http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/vacation-cheating.

"if someone is delaying a tournament game in a losing position, simply contact staff and it will be adjudicated."

This could be viewed as including non-resigners but then this is not about resignation.

What about this game?  http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=15671130

With only this game left in the round, White is currently on vacation after Black's 46th move. If someone in the tournament complained, would you award the win to White?

badonders

I don't think you can do that... Maybe black has a plan, and as a tournament director you have to give black that opportunity.

In this particular example, I don't really see why black isn't resigning... Maybe he wants to enjoy his highest rating for a few days.

If Black is on vacation, you get a whole other story... But that isn't the case here.

Dragec

Yes, for a player with so high rating, I would expect black to have already resigned several moves ago.

Dragec
bsrasmus wrote:
Dragec wrote:

Yes, for a player with so high rating, I would expect black to have already resigned several moves ago.


The rule wouldn't apply here because the winning player is the one on vacation! LOL


I didn't comment on a rule for adjudication, I commented a fact that player with rating 2500 is still playing.

IMO he should have already resigned, if not around 35th move, then for sure after 41.Bxa1.


erik

this should CERTAINLY be adjudicated and the stalling player will be warned. 

erik
bsrasmus wrote:

Erik, the player on vacation is winning.


ah, such a ridiculous situation...

Patzer24

Thanks everyone. The vacationing member has been asked to return from vacation to complete the remaining tournament game when possible.

ilmago

Sorry that I differ on that, but I can only recommend two options here:

A) adjudicate the game as lost for black if one wants to give highest priority to continuing the tournament soon.

B) not do anything. In particular there are two reasonable objections to "half-interferences":

* Player white would be right to say that it makes not really a difference whether he is on vacation or not. His vacation time makes a difference of 14 days at the maximum right now. His opponent can delay the game for about 5 months, since it takes about 10 moves or so until mate. Two weeks are nothing compared to 5 months. Player white may also reasonably argue that if any of the two players were to be addressed on this, it should be black who should be asked to resign this game. I personally could very well understand player white if he gives low priority to making moves in such a game that has stopped to be interesting or challenging in any way for players at that level.

* Player black could very understandably say that he sees a realistic chance to draw this game by timeout. His opponent has only one game running, and he lost his other game between them on time some weeks ago. Time management in 14 day games is not a trivial thing to do especially if one has only few games running. Player black may reasonably argue that any outside interference unfairly helps white in his time management by reminding him to make his moves.

 

Of course, if the organizers think that such hopes by black for timeout should not play a real role in decent chess, we would be back to option A).

Dragec
ilmago wrote:
...

* Player black could very understandably say that he sees a realistic chance to draw this game by timeout. His opponent has only one game running, and he lost his other game between them on time some weeks ago. Time management in 14 day games is not a trivial thing to do especially if one has only few games running. Player black may reasonably argue that any outside interference unfairly helps white in his time management by reminding him to make his moves.

 

Of course, if the organizers think that such hopes by black for timeout should not play a real role in decent chess, we would be back to option A).


Indeed not a chivalry behaviour by black, but at least we know why he didn't resigned Cool

jerry2468

1 day! don't worry only 1 more week to slough through

ilmago

get_lost, resigning is often the best move. Players beyond beginner level know in which situation playing on in a losing game will not change the outcome. They play chess while it is an undecided and interesting battle, and they concentrate their energy on these important parts of the game, and on preparing for and playing the next interesting game. Look forward to reaching levels of chess at which knowing when to resign becomes second nature!

theoreticalboy

Sigh...

Ironically, I am, in all honesty, about to go make some pancakes.

ilmago
get_lost wrote:

 but if the opponent's mouse slips and stalemates you...


Please remain serious. Your scenario is highly, highly unlikely. Would you really like to win a game like that and spend your time hoping for such things? As long as you are focused on such things, you will have a hard time noticing what use of your time will be best for improving your game of chess.

ilmago

Note that this thread is about Online Games, not Live Chess. Are you really proud of thinking you improved your chess skills in that game by not resigning? If your opponent had played the final stage of that game seriously, he would have queened his pawn instead of choosing a rook.

Flav787
get_lost wrote:
I know many people who choose rook to lower chances of stalemate. Some people don't use the submit button in online chess. Would you rather give your opponent a forced mate in 5 or a forced mate in 10? Resigning is like a forced mate in 0.

 

You have a rating of 2490. Your opponent is sufficiently good to have a queen, knight and two pawns while you have a lone King. As for whether you should resign or not in this position, surely the main point is that you have better things to do with your time than continue to play the game. If not.......

ilmago

Please don't be childish. "Their flag might fall" may be for bullet blitz chess or for extreme time trouble cases in which you have reason to assume that the opponent's remaining time and technique will not suffice to reach the mate, not for correspondence chess.

Kacparov

The white player has the right to be on vacation. It's not his fault that his opponent won't resign. So the game should be awarded a win for white.

ilmago
get_lost wrote:

I would like you to explain how resigning is the best move when it is an automatic loss. The result can't get worse than that.


Don't forget to see the whole picture.

* The probability that the result on the scoresheet may get better without resigning is extremely small in some cases. So you do not gain much at all there.

* You would not want to win an over-the-board game by seeing your opponent having to go off to hospital for some unexpected reason.

* You have a reputation to lose. It is completely normal and understandable for absolute beginners to play on until mate. Not resigning makes you look like such an absolute beginner. (If you think you do not have a reputation to lose, then it is about time to earn yourself one.)

* Not resigning in some positions is tantamount to saying that you think your opponent is weak enough for the game still to be interesting. When your estimate is wrong, you are showing disrespect to your opponent's chess abilities.

* You have your own time to lose. Don't you know chess friends from your chess club or so who would clearly show you by the look in their faces that you are ridiculing yourself when you spend your time not resigning lost cases instead of playing true chess? Has none of your best chess friends given you the advice to start concentrating on really enjoying true chess and learning to improve instead of getting sidetracked like that?

 

So if you never resign, the result for you as a whole will be worse in many ways.

the_villa

it ended a draw

ilmago

the_villa, the life chess game ended in a draw, not the online game.

In life chess, people can be right to play out a game until mate as long as they know their opponents have chess technique difficulties in converting their advantage. Once you reach a level where you know your opponent has a good enough technique to win in the time remaining, it becomes uninteresting to play out the game, you will resign it and have the chance to use the occasion to play a new interesting game with your strong opponent.