Fair Play/ Sportsmanship

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Avatar of casualchessrotta

Hello people! I was playing live chess 30/0, and I was having a regular game (look below). I suggest you take a look from move 50 forward. My opponent (black) has a clear advantage of a knight and a pawn.
However, instead of playing on (by advancing the pawn or attacking my king) he started to play a series of stalling moves.
He did so because I had less time on the clock than him. 
I was not stalling with my moves because it is clear that in that position there was nothing I could've done.
My question is: stalling in a winning position in order to make your opponent lose on time is bad sportsmanship?
I did not resign because I like to play my games until I reach the point of certainty of loss. So, feel free to post your opinion. Mine is that he was a bad sport.
 

 

 
 

Avatar of Martin_Stahl

Maybe your opponent didn't really know how to finish it off and was looking for a plan.  It's a risky proposition since if he really didn't know how to make progress you could have achieved a draw.

Avatar of heyRick

Your opponent beat you fair and square. What the hell are you talking about? Nobody cheated you and your the one who doesn't have a clue on what sportsmanship means. In simple terms your endgame needs work. So stop being a cry baby.

Avatar of casualchessrotta
Martin_Stahl wrote:

Maybe your opponent didn't really know how to finish it off and was looking for a plan.  It's a risky proposition since if he really didn't know how to make progress you could have achieved a draw.

Martin_Stahl, you have a good point, but I asked him, during the game, what was he doing and he admitted that he was stalling to force my timeout. 

Avatar of macer75
casualchessrotta wrote:
Martin_Stahl wrote:

Maybe your opponent didn't really know how to finish it off and was looking for a plan.  It's a risky proposition since if he really didn't know how to make progress you could have achieved a draw.

Martin_Stahl, you have a good point, but I asked him, during the game, what was he doing and he admitted that he was stalling to force my timeout. 

Which is perfectly in keeping with the rules.

Avatar of casualchessrotta
romancitoG wrote:

Your opponent beat you fair and square. What the hell are you talking about? Nobody cheated you and your the one who doesn't have a clue on what sportsmanship means. In simple terms your endgame needs work. So stop being a cry baby.

romancitoG, he did beat me, I know. Also, I did not say he cheated. I'm just saying that forcing the opponent's timeout when you have a decisive advantage is cowardly. He was afraid to blunder so he kept stalling. I  believe that if he had played on it would've been more interesting than waiting for me to timeout. Good sportsmanship involves playing to the best of your abilities. That's not what he did. He used a cheap trick because he was too lazy to finish the game. I think that is very mediocre.

Avatar of macer75

Although it is somewhat surprising that a 1300+ player didn't know what to do to win that position.

Avatar of casualchessrotta
macer75 wrote:
casualchessrotta wrote:
Martin_Stahl wrote:

Maybe your opponent didn't really know how to finish it off and was looking for a plan.  It's a risky proposition since if he really didn't know how to make progress you could have achieved a draw.

Martin_Stahl, you have a good point, but I asked him, during the game, what was he doing and he admitted that he was stalling to force my timeout. 

Which is perfectly in keeping with the rules.

Sure, stalling is within the rules. Does not mean it is good sportsmanship or fair play like, which is the topic of the discussion.

Avatar of macer75
casualchessrotta wrote:
romancitoG wrote:

Your opponent beat you fair and square. What the hell are you talking about? Nobody cheated you and your the one who doesn't have a clue on what sportsmanship means. In simple terms your endgame needs work. So stop being a cry baby.

romancitoG, he did beat me, I know. Also, I did not say he cheated. I'm just saying that forcing the opponent's timeout when you have a decisive advantage is cowardly. He was afraid to blunder so he kept stalling. I  believe that if he had played on it would've been more interesting than waiting for me to timeout. Good sportsmanship involves playing to the best of your abilities. That's not what he did. He used a cheap trick because he was too lazy to finish the game. I think that is very mediocre.

Well, that's exactly what he was doing. Playing to the best of his ability. He didn't know how to advance position-wise, but he still tried his best to win.

Avatar of casualchessrotta
macer75 wrote:
casualchessrotta wrote:
romancitoG wrote:

Your opponent beat you fair and square. What the hell are you talking about? Nobody cheated you and your the one who doesn't have a clue on what sportsmanship means. In simple terms your endgame needs work. So stop being a cry baby.

romancitoG, he did beat me, I know. Also, I did not say he cheated. I'm just saying that forcing the opponent's timeout when you have a decisive advantage is cowardly. He was afraid to blunder so he kept stalling. I  believe that if he had played on it would've been more interesting than waiting for me to timeout. Good sportsmanship involves playing to the best of your abilities. That's not what he did. He used a cheap trick because he was too lazy to finish the game. I think that is very mediocre.

Well, that's exactly what he was doing. Playing to the best of his ability. He didn't know how to advance position-wise, but he still tried his best to win.

Come on, do you really believe he did not know what to do? You said it so yourself: "it is somewhat surprising that a 1300+ player didn't know what to do to win that position." 

Avatar of landloch

Time, like a pawn, like a Queen, like a well-defended King is part of the game, especially when you play without increment. Why should using a time advantage be any different than using a material or positional advantage?

Avatar of heyRick

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but why didn't you just resign bro. I actually think your a good player, I'm sorry I called you a cry baby. That was rude and uncalled for. Peace.

Avatar of Chse0c

Sorry, but you both had the same amount of time. It is just that he used his in a better manner.

The time element is part of the wonderful but complicated game called chess. I have lost on time when I had material advantage and I didn't complain, it is the game and we all know the rules before we start.

Gary Kasparov's book 'How chess imitates life' has a section about time.Might be an idea if you read that, he implies that b'time' is an essential part of the game.

You lost the game so don't complain, think quicker and play quicker next time.

Avatar of casualchessrotta
romancitoG wrote:

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but why didn't you just resign bro. I actually think your a good player, I'm sorry I called you a cry baby. That was rude and uncalled for. Peace.

Peace!

Avatar of erik42085

There's a lot worse things your opponent can do than this. If stalling bothers you then resign next time.

Avatar of casualchessrotta
erik42085 wrote:

There's a lot worse things your opponent can do than this. If stalling bothers you then resign next time.

You are probably right. 

Avatar of najdorf96

Indeed. I can relate to how you felt. In live games I strive to improve my position to the point where they should resign or be mated. Having more time is an unquestionable advantage. Ultimately not be able to find anything resembling a counter despite his tactics is one reason I probably would've resigned rather than watch my opponent mock me. It's uncool how your opponent decided to run but it is far from unsportsmanlike.

Take it as a compliment that he couldn't really beat you.

Learn from it and move on. Develop a thick skin. It's not going to be the last time it will happen to you.

What really matters is how you treat others.