Letting the clock run out.

thank you kaynight :)

DivineFlame777....I'm with you.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. More than likely it will be removed, but am I the only one to see a correlation between Indian players and bad losers?...

I am at the stage that when I'm matched up to an Indian player....I Abort.

OK then, some player that chooses to use the Indian flag as their nationality. Possibly it's some global conspiracy??

Dont get me wrong, there is nothing hateful about this message. just as a lab rat knows that to tap on the red button, there wll be food,......I know that if Im in a winning position against an Indian.... Disconnect....

This happens to me in daily/correspondence/online chess. The player will create an open challenge, I will then accept it, and play. Then it'll get close to timing out until there's at least half an hour to even minutes left, they'll abort the game. What is the point in even creating a challenge in the first place?

The other part is, if somebody purposely lets the time run out on live games, it never bothers me. 1-5 minutes isn't a big deal, but if it's ten minutes or more, then I'll ask them if they're willing to draw or even resign if they don't feel like playing. I remember getting trolled by somebody and I reported them, an hour later there account was closed by the mods.

te desafio

This thread has served as a helpful therapy session for the throbbing vein in my neck from dealing with all the poor sports in live chess.  The above mentioned feature from Lichess sounds like a winner.  Where do we vote it in?

On March 2026 I will tell you how I feel about that. 

I'm going to say they systematically do it because sometimes it works, and they have decided that, in cases where the game is unwinnable early on, they still have hope. Although, I've never heard of someone doing such in a winning position. That almost sounds like a valid excuse. Like, I once got out of sync with the time server or something like that was told to me by a customer service representative. I think it had something to do with the wifi I was using, and, on my screen, my opponent ran out the clock, but the archive shows that I did. I didn't get their move.

Incidentally, anyone know what happens to people who get reported for running out the clock?

That is called a "bad sport." And you can flag them for it.

I have posted this on another question answer place but let me post it here again because I think it will be easier to get answers here


I don't know if this is the right place to ask a question. But let me try.

So I am new at chess and really really bad at it. I heard playing longer time control games increases chess knowledge. So chose this 45/45 game and I don't even understand how the clock was working. Anyway while I am playing, the opponent who is like 500+ points above me takes a little bit more time for one move than he did for the previous moves. Now at this point I have lost many pieces and you an say I will lose but it still wasn't the end of the game. So I get and walk around the room because him taking time is making me nervous. I come back after 15-20 minutes to make a move.

I lost the match and then towards the end I am just randomly moving my pieces that are left. I am not resigning because i really want to learn everything which includes what happens when you have two immovable pawns and a king. But whatever I resign after a point and lose.

Now I see there is a message request. I don't know if he sent it after I resigned or when I was taking a break. I check the message and find out he is accusing me of "letting the clock run down"

Well he wasn't accusing but really asking the question. And I didn't now what that meant. But I intuitively understood what it might mean. So I check it out on the internet.

Here is the thing. Since I am new I have abandoned the game when I have lost my queen suddenly because I know I am wasting my time. I have played till the end when there is no point, just to fix the issue of abandoning I have. I have left games midway without clicking on resign because one of my family memebers would come in and give me some chore. Yes I am a girl. So I want to come back to the game but sometimes when it takes longer I lose. I have never had the opponent resign because of me "letting the clock run down". And it's not like I have abandoned many games as I haven't even played that many games. Also since I have realised the issue i have decided not to start playing without making sure no one will scream at me for not doing the chores while I am playing.

Now back to the last game. You can check that game on my profile. You would see, though I play ridiculously badly, I was taking time to think. Someone  with 1000+ rating might think it's a waste of their time. But what's the point of choosing a longer time format if you are going to accuse your opponent of wasting time when they have chosen the format so they can take everything in while playing even when they have down 5 points. As a weak players it might be my mistake to think one can make a come back from that position. It might be very clear to you that your time is being wasted. But it is not to me. Unless you think, playing a 500 rated players itself is a waste. in that case abort the game. But I guess, you can't do that repeatedly.

So what's the solution here?Being forced to make a move every 5-10 minutes? Is it illegal to take 20 minutes when you are down 5 points, want to make a come back and have 40+ minutes left?
Let me tell you online chess is the only game I can play. I am not that young. My family won't support this. They won't support me wasting time on chess, let alone give me money to join a real life chess club or school. We don't even have those in my locality. I don;t earn money. So I only play on chess.com and I wanted to start playing long games and take time to think to get rid of my bad habit of moving pieces impulsively. It might sound like a joke to better players. But I really wish to improve.

Now the problem is anyone can report me for this from what I understand after reading conversations about this. That would mean losing my profile and games that I want to analyse and learn from. Yes, I now they are ridiculously bad games. But I still want to analyse them.

This reminds me of the Natalia Zhukova accusation of an older players of cheating simply because she suddenly started to win, at an older age, due to her opponents' blunders.
I was initially happy to have been paired with a higher rated players which is also a perk of longer games since not many are clicking on that option as they do for 10mins. But now I am starting to regret. Chess.com shouldn't really waste their time pairing them with us.

What do you think I should do to improve my chess now? Now that there is always a threat while I genuinely try to play properly?This is bugging me really bad because I started playing chess to overcome depression because it gives me joy even when I keep losing. And I don't feel so good anymore.

(I have noticed this tendency among people on the internet especially from those who are from the developed parts of the world of accusing others of not wanting to pulling themselves up by bootstraps. No one did this to me here. I am new here. But let me get this out of the way.  When I talk about my difficulties, I am not saying anyone should give me what I think I am entitled to or anything. I am not saying the rules should be changed for me or you should give me some benefits but I intend to use this site and what it provided for free to improve myself completely legally without enjoying any special treatment from the site or any member. I am trying to give you the background of my doubt so you can understand why I am having these issues genuinely and help me out without having to address the unnecessary stuff)

Edit= i forgot to mention bad internet connection and even if it's hard for you to believe, it's truly one of the reasons why this is happening. And I just saw in the comments someone saying Indians are doing it all the time. I don't think they are lying. I thin it must be our internet connections. But they said they abort immediately when matched with an Indian. I thin I have had that done to me once. Isn't that racist?

There are players that run out the clock out of spite. It's rude and annoying, but instead of getting upset over it I just accept the fact that it is their time and they can use it as they please. I also take some satisfaction in knowing that once they run out of time, I win.

I do it when a) I'm being defeated by a completely nonsensical time clock where I'm moving at the same rate as my opponent but he's 20 seconds ahead of me, or he is taking huge pauses but us still ahead of me on time.

I do it when a) I'm being defeated by a completely nonsensical time clock where I'm moving at the same rate as my opponent but he's 20 seconds ahead of me, or he is taking huge pauses but is still ahead of me on time or b) when I'm against someone 200 points below me but they're playing like an invincible all-seeing genius......it's my way of protecting against God. On the other hand I always offer a draw when my opponent makes a finger slip, which not many players do so swings and roundabouts.

People abort games for many reasons. Don't leave your game for 15-20 minutes, it's super unethical. Just resign if you are losing.

No, just basic ethics. Online isn't OTB, you'll have to live with that, and online it's really impolite to take forever to move.