Announcing check

Progress Report.

Last weekend I played a match in our club championship against an old rival, and good friend of mine (deckers1066 on this site). We played our usual nonsense, both king's stranded in the centre and mates looming large for both players. I won in fairly short order after finding a combination with an unexpected check interposed. The check was critical as I gained a tempo, enough to win the game. Unfortunately, I blurted out a "Check!" of triumph with some gusto. Whilst I regret this transgression, it did feel good!

I'm just taking it one day at a time and have turned myself over to a higher power.   

It has been 5 days since my last "check".

ThunderMoose wrote:

I prefer to use the more subtle "BAM!"

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 I usually yell "Boom-shaka-laka!" and do a victory dance.

Back in the day, when I took a chess class in middle school, we were taught that by default and for the sake of clarity and courtesy, to say "check" every time. My philosophy is that if someone gets pregressively butt-hurt every time you say "check", they should've asked you to stop the first time it happened. It seems to me that to some it's considered to be a convention (everyone I've ever played with has done it), but if someone has a preference it should be respected. If they're so stuck on it, maybe they should mention it before the game starts.

Most checks are very obvious; in a tournament situation it'd probably be a wee bit inappropriate because chances are they're paying pretty darned close attention to what's going on.

Well illegal moves do happen sometimes, but you have to set the board back to how it was before the illegal move and give the other player 2 minutes on the clock, which in a quickplay finish is like birthday and christmas rolled into one!

 

 I guess it must be different in america because i've played in clubs in the uk and cant recall finding anyone who doesnt announce check even players much better than me.  Mostly it's just a murmur though, just like you dont get people going JJJJAAAAAAAAA DDOOOOOOOOOOOOOUBE!!!!111  I think it's just good etiquette because it stops your opponent wasting loads of time on a move he doesnt realise he cant make.  Chances are your opponenet noticed, but it's just polite.  Chances are if you walk into someone in the street, they'll realise you didnt mean it, but you still say sorry.  

 

I must admit though when someone announced Check here on chess.com it took me by surprise.   I guess i assumed the computer had it displayed somewhere, and it looked a little like he thought it was great he'd got me in check, but now i know he was just announcing check... still weird though, because it seems more effort to type it in the box somehow. 

haha, and yes, one of the great things about saying check is when someone a few boards down has been in a tight spot and with the relief, says check way too loudly, hilarious, and a welcome break from your own on the board troubles. 

I see no possible benefit from announcing check.  It is only useful if your opponent has overlooked the occurrence.

Does anyone here think the professionals ever announce check? 

What ages are the kids/beginners playing scholastic events in which they do not keep score? Whats the usual time control? I know in rapid/active events you dont keep score but thats usually G/30 or less.

Check

 

The professionals? i didnt even know they played chess...

That's odd, because I was always taught that proper chess ettiquette was to verbally announce "check" to your opponent.  Not with a florish, not out of rudeness or as a subtle commentary, but as a simple courtesy.  I guess it depends on the club.

I WILL KILL YOUR KING  . . .

 

I heard that there are some people that are working on a new rule. It goes something like this: If a player does not see a check and doesn t move or protect his king he loses a game. . . .

It is rule in real chess when you play RTC(real time chess,live chess),5,10,15min but when you play on 30min,1hour,1h:30min,2 hours,or online on days that rule don't exist.I think chess.com should put that "new" rule but only for live chess on 5,10,15min. games like in real chess.

I stopped announcing check a few weeks ago, upon attending my first club meeting.  I tried my hand a few times at blindfold chess.  In one of the games, my opponent was in check for 5 moves or so.  I had jumbled the position a touch in my mind and he hadn't noticed.  At the club last week, an older gentleman moved a pinned piece, and I had to point out the mistake.  I felt a bit like a jerk, since I'm new to the club, much younger than the fellow, and had won the previous game against him.  I'm rambling now, but I'll end thusly: Check announcements are annoying.

I'm among the group who was raised to say "check", and I feel that it is an important part of the game, psychologically speaking. I was even going to make a post recently about how being in check could reflect visually on the screen - like a red background or the words in big capital letters. In my amateur games in the past, I always found that, because of the announcement, even if the check is really empty or threatless, the very act of announcing it, the fact that their king could've been "touched" at all, is a powerful psychological tool that somewhat unhinges the opponent. I'm sure none of this would have any effect in master games, I feel it's one of the rules that I like to stick to. One of the things I always enjoyed in OTB casual games was getting to say "check" - sometimes with a note of aggression, other times cavalierly, whatever fit the situation. Of course, we also allowed banter and trash-talking, so I spose it's out of the ordinary. I will always announce check in OTB (unless I participate in a tournament at some point I spose, in which case I'll cave to convention) but in casual games, I think it is a major part of the fun. I especially love when you get to say it 4 or 5 turns in a row during a King hunt. Oooh, watching them squirm, oh yes. S'what chess is all about.

don't let my low rating fool u.  i have played alot of chess and i have never seen anyone do it to me.  i have been tempted a few times when playing beginers who don't see undescovered check but i don't.  maybe i will

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That's how it is in Chinese Chess. The General (the king piece) can be captured just like any other piece, and there is no need to announce check. If the General is captured, then it's game over.

I was taught to say "check". I was also taught to say "guard your queen".

In tournaments I never say check - if the opponent doesn't notice then I will point out to them that they are in check. If this has the effect that they must move the piece they touched (say, a queen) in between to block the check, then that's what they gotta do. Granted, this has probably happened one time in my life.

 

While I certainly wouldn't find it rude to have check announced however obvious it is (I was taught to do that myself, though frankly it never even occured to me to do it online, as the computer won't allow illegal moves anyway, and the notation will essentially announce the check regardless), I would find it rude if someone were to tell me to guard my queen.

Perhaps I simply do not like being told what to do. I would respond differently to someone saying "Your queen is in danger"; I'd probably reply "I know", or, failing that, "Good grief, you're right, somehow I hadn't noticed that". But being told "Guard your queen" is my opponent telling me how to play my game, which I will not appreciate.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate advice from my chess-playing betters. One such better that I'm currently repeatedly playing tells me I need to improve my openings. Another tells me I need to improve my pawn-play. I appreciate these kinds of pointers, I really do.

But there's a difference between sharing an advice and barking an order.

Funny how things can be twisted!

1. This forum is about Over the Board play.

2. Ozzie wasn't barking orders at anyone.

 

p.s. I can't believe I'm defending my old sparring partner! I blame it on the credit crunch.

I cant believe how many times this thread has been back from the dead.  It's nearly a year old!  How exactly do you kill a vampire's thread?  It seems like enough things have been tried. 

never mind the announcing of check (and I was always told it was bad manners and certainly in tournament or league play I've not seen it done and I would never do it) but speaking of movies, tv magazines etc with chess in them how many times do you see the board or pieces set up wrongly?  Now that drives me nuts, couldn't they find one person on the set who knew what to do?  Maybe I'll start a thread on this, sorry for getting off topic...