How to disrupt your opponent in OTB play

I'm an old ex-tournament chessplayer, and I thought I'd share how I've been disrupted over the years.  

A guy in a club match, a really fat, sweaty disgusting guy that lived with his mom, had his fantastic looking 'girlfriend' come behind him, bend over and give him a neck massage, revealing her nice cleavage.   Repeatedly!  I was later told he'd hired her.

A guy in a tournament kept picking his nose and eating it, then adjusting my pieces.

Playing a blind player disturbed me, especially when I had to resign!

I'll add more as they come to me, feel free to add your own.  This is the Trump era!

Very interesting subject. Some thoughts that come to mind that I have witnessed are the following : (These are not necessarily disgusting but certainly at least one of the players was annoyed)

case 1; my game ran long and into the lunch hour so I didn't get to eat before the next round started. My opponent came in with a big double double Burger, Large Fries and a Giant Drink. While my stomach growled, I had trouble focusing on anything else.

case 2: I once beat a player rated over 300 points higher than me in the Southwest Open in Dallas Texas. I noticed he was very finicky about the placement of the pieces and the board and would say I adjust when his move started and then put any piece I had sloppily placed back into the center of the square. I proceeded to say I adjust at the beginning of my move and place all of just my pieces randomly way off center near the corners of the squared and turning the Knights to random facings also. He would readjust and I would re readjust and so on. If I took a long time on my move he could not focus on where the piece were and in just a few moves he started to get into a bad position, which I was able to win. Know your oponents weaknesses.

case 3; I did not see this game but had it told to me by the very strong player it happened to. He was playing a critical round against a French Defense played by a young fellow known to be fanatical about the French Defense. After both sides followed the main line down a dozen moves, the young man broke from the move order in the book and put a knight on an unprotected square. Now my friend knew the young man was up on all the latest theory and he thought there was a chance for some tricky counter play if he took the apparently free piece. When he looked up at the young man he was smiling and had his arms crossed across his chest, looking like he had already won. Since the game was critical to the tournament and since he feared a trap. He didn't take it and the game went on for another 60 or so hard fought moves. After the game the young fellow admitted it was all bluff. He had made a mistake with the move order and thought the bluff might save his piece. It did save the piece and gave him a chance in an otherwise quick loss.

case 4: The tournament room on the first round of a 5 round swiss tournamen was very quiet as everyone started their clocks. The person paired with the second highest rated player had heard his opponent talking before the tourney about wanting to concentrate and make play his best chess for each position and not be sidetracked by his opponent. He took him at his word and played and moved quietly and slowly. When the clock was pushed, it was pushed slowly not making any click or slap. By the tenth move 45 minutes had passed and the lowly challenger took to slipping out of his chair and going out of sight across the room on his opponents move so as not to give him any stimulus whatsoever. By move 15, with no pieces yet taken on the board, the High rated player had a beautiful position, and was surprised to find his opponent telling him his flag had fallen and he had lost on time. 

I kind of got upset while reading case #2, it is really a cheap win if you deliberately distracted or annoyed your opponent.

Play the best moves.  Nothing disturbs me more than having to actually think during the game.

It is your fault if you allow this, I would have pushed all of them into his nose.

Many examples of people not being able to focus on the game.

But that one deserves a reaction too. Kids usually are jumping during the whole game but I don't feel disturbed. About the sighs, however, I would have called him to order not because of losing focus, but because I can't bear lack of respect.

Reading these other incidents and opinions I forgot one that really shows the importance of playing the position. Ken Smith (of the Smith Morra) was for years the highest rated player in Texas even though he got trounced in the 70s San Antonio Churches invitational. A friend of mine who was rated only about 1800 got to play him once in a Dallas Tournament. Durring the game Ken continually tapped his fingers and sighed like my friend was not worth his time to play. In the end Ken Smith won and both sides turned in their score sheets. We went over the game and at one point my friend could have had a back row mate on Ken but missed it. We thought he might have miss recorded his moves so we went up to the Director and asked to check it against the one Ken turned in. Ken's sheet was exactly the same up to the move where the back row mate possibility occurred then there were checkmarks for the rest of the moves. Ken was an excellent chess player but I never respected him after that. My friend learned a good lesson though. Even those better than you most of the time can make mistakes some of the time that can let you win. 

To the person who was upset by case 2 above. Yes I took advantage of the persons perfectionism. And yes his behavior of resetting every piece I moved upset me also, is why I gave him a dose of his own medicine. Both sides in this game were annoyed. Also on a similar track, If you ever find a way to get back at the players who do not write down their moves and then want to copy your score sheet on your time, let me know. It is very hard to get overworked Tournament Directors to do much. 

eaguiraud wrote:

I kind of got upset while reading case #2, it is really a cheap win if you deliberately distracted or annoyed your opponent.

Agreed. You don't deserve that win or respect.

I once had an opponent who was crunching on pork rinds during our game. As I was used to studying chess in my college dorm, with lots of sounds around me, it didn't particularly affect my play. I won the game anyway.

I've read that many GMs hated playing Reshevsky, because he made so many nervous movements during a game, especially during time trouble.

slap him in the face with a bishop.

You can deny the request to see your scoresheet if your opponent asks on your time.

Also, every player must write the moves, unless there are less of 5 minutes remaining in his/her clock and there isn't an increment of at least 30 seconds.

Keep Staring her/him . It will work more if your opponent is of Opposite Sex

Just Kidding . Play fair . Win/lose Fairly

I was disturbed playing some of the earliest chess programs, even though I beat one and drew two before they became unbeatable for me, and later for everyone.

The blind guy I mentioned above disturbed me by being blind, but also because we used his special board, which had different levels for the white and black squares, and different pieces for the white and black pieces.  It's really humbling to be beaten by a blind man!

I have been disturbed playing good looking women.  A fairly rare occurrence.

I have been disturbed playing kids.  I especially hate to lose to them.

Did you lose these games?

Not all.  The blind guy, one of the good looking women, several kids.  I play a lot of kids nowadays.

I enjoy playing kids. When they are just learning, it is interesting to see what they learn first and what is hard for them. Later when they are better, they play tactics really well even when they make a blunder. Still later, they teach me all the new ideas and theory. Finally when they become teenagers, I can go around telling people I once beat them before they became so dammed good.