A Small Rant

If you have another two pawns, promote them to bishops (remember opposite colors!), hand the queen to him, and practice your K+2Bs vs K. Before you do that, make sure to add "let me teach you how to mate with 2 bishops even though I think you don't seem to know that K+Q vs K is pretty simple".

pinkerton wrote: If you have another two pawns, promote them to bishops (remember opposite colors!), hand the queen to him, and practice your K+2Bs vs K. Before you do that, make sure to add "let me teach you how to mate with 2 bishops even though I think you don't seem to know that K+Q vs K is pretty simple".

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There's no place for trash-talking such as this in a chess match.  Just keep your words to yourself, unless you are a major egoist.

There are a couple of games against some players that I literally tell them BEFORE hand that I would like to, winning or losing, play it all the way to checkmate.  Or if they only have a two pawn advantage I will certainly make them play until at least the material imbalance (in the form of pawn promotion) is too obvious to keep going.  When I first started playing chess again (the first time in around 3.5-4 years) was when my brother showed me this site.  For the first couple of months, I asked my opponents not to take offense that I drag it all the way to mate because I needed a lot of "rust" to be knocked off of my game, and only playing to the middlegame wasn't enough to do that.  I believe that unless:  the player is so low in rating that it's obvious he/she doesn't know chess etiquette due to lack of experience (in which case, excuse them, they will learn), the material imbalance doesn't warrant a resignation (sometimes being a bishop, knight, or even a rook down in a superior position doesn't mean a thing or in a sacraficial combination/mating attack, etc. [chess is multifaceted and with many exceptions!]), or playing all the way to mate has been agreed upon (at anytime! even if it's in the middle of the game and you are losing and decide to play to mate regardless of a lost position, at least inform or ask your opponent about what you are doing!  Chess IS a gentleman's game!) there is no reason NOT to resign when one is hopelessly and obviously lost.  To recap:  inexperience, improper material imbalance, and consent between the two participants are the only reasons for not resigning in due time.  But folks, the easiest way to avoid all this is to strike up polite conversation with your opponent!  What's the reason for playing a living person when technically we could just go buy "Chessmaster" and play an insentient and unspeaking computer all day?!  Chess.com is one of the best and finest chess communities I've ever had the pleasure of playing in and it's because of these valid threads and concerns that such comraderie (sp?) is possible.  I'm not trying to rile anyone up with this post, I'm only typing my honest and self-evaluated opinion.  I really do appreciate y'all, and chess.com.

People like this generally fall into two categories:  those who do it to annoy their opponents, and those who do it because they believe in being competitive to the last move.

 

While it personally doesn't bother me either way, I do politely tell people who do this that it's considered bad form in many circles, and if they do it consistently, it might hurt their chances at playing stronger opponents or having rematches against quality players down the road.  A lot of players genuinely don't know that dragging out a game may be construed as a breach of etiquette, and appreciate the advice, while others are still finding their feet in chess play and will soon realize that most players above a certain skill level will not fall into a stalemate and give up the practice.

 

As for those who do it to annoy, let them go.  In reality, whose time are they wasting?  Not mine, that's for sure.  Trapping a king with a king and queen isn't much of a problem on my end, but at least I still have to spend a little brain power thinking about the most efficent way to proceed.  They're just moving their king around, they get mated, and I don't play them again... it's that simple.