Blitz Sportsmanship/Etiquette Question

Hi everyone.

I’m new to the game, and have been enjoying Five Minute Blitz games.

My question is regarding etiquette and sportsmanship.

I often find that I’m at a decided time advantage against an opponent. Often I’ll have a good 75+ more seconds than they do.

When I am down in material, and it starts to look as if winning is out of the question, is it frowned upon to continue with my game plan and attempt to win, when I know that what ultimately will happen is my opponent will timeout?

An example:

I was down to a rook and pawn. Opponent had two rooks and a queen. Opponent clearly had all the tools in place to win, but seemed to not understand the best way to mate, so I just continued plodding away towards their king. Ultimately I captured one of the rooks, leaving the opponent with a rook and a queen. The opponent timed out before getting a mate.

Is this frowned upon? When they had a pretty significant material advantage should I have just resigned? Or in Blitz is it kind of accepted to use the clock as almost like an extra piece?

Thanks in advance!

Use the clock as a weapon!  Trying to flag your opponent (have their timer run out - even if they have a better position) is part of speed chess.

 

It's fine. There are different types of advantages in chess, material advantage, positional advantage, etc. Part of the game is proving that your advantage is superior to your opponents. With fast chess, Clock Time is another form of advantage, so you may make quick but inferior moves, offering your opponent a material advantage, in return for a Clock Time advantage, then convert it to a win by flagging them. This is a common strategy. Both players simply use their time differently.

The clock is there for a reason and part of the game. Using your time advantage is fine. If your opponent can't convert the positional advantage in time, they failed at time management - not your fault.

the clock is part of the game 

First I totally agree that nobody should expect an opponent to resign especially for running out of time. In rapid games I regularly spend more time than my opponent in the middle part of the game when it is most complex and trust that any advantage I gain I will be able to convert in the time remaining. Often I do sometimes I dont. For me though my goal is to play good chess and improve not necessarily to win any individual game. If you regularly win from losing positions on time you will eventually be placed against opponents who will gain the same advantage over you more quickly or be able to convert with less time remaining. If your goal is winning games of chess I would play on. If you believe there is something to be learned from defending with less material play on. If you are simply hoping that your opponent does not know how to coordinate his pieces to mate you and will run out of time before he or she figures it out I would probably just resign and start another game but you are well within your rights to play on.

You may have a point there, but with this approach to chess you likely don't play Blitz. You play Daily or maybe Classical. Nobody plays Blitz for learning and the beauty of the game alone.

 

I play 10|0 typically with some 3|0 games. As far as why people play blitz I would never venture to speak for all chess players so I can't say why they play.

It's not against etiquette, it's not bad sportsmanship. Flagging your opponent is a perfectly acceptable way of winning in Blitz (and any other form of chess played with time control for that matter).