Losing by bad internet in a won position.

Hey guys. First off, i would like to apologise. I have always thought badly of people who rage after losing due to the game being aborted after they get disconnected by bad internet. I usually wonder why they don't forget about it, because it is just a game. 

But today, after experiencing it for the first time, i totally sympathise, and i am making this thread simply to make myself feel better, and others who experience the same problem. I recently just went overseas to visit some family, and i have been using their really rubbish internet connection, which is unstable and prone to disconnecting at unfortunate times. 

I lost two games today from two positions that we're clearly won. I realised how painful it could be to lose on bad internet, as i sat and stared helplessly at the screen as the disconnection timer reached zero. I threw a rage at first and ran around the house randomly hitting the wall, but when i calmed down, i realised. What do the ratings really matter for. They are nothing but an indicator of strength, and really, i know i should have won, and that is good enough for me. 

I know i sound incredibly whiny, and if that's what you also think, you are right. I am whining, because i need to express my thoughts somewhere, so i can forget about it.

Anyway, i'll show you the two games that ruined my day:

^I couldn't play the final checkmate move

Thanks for reading this forum, chess players of the world, and if you find or have found yourself in this kind of situation, post here, and we can mourn together (or feel better about chess).

Yeah, it is annoying. That's why I downloaded the app on my phone so when I lose Internet connection on my laptop, I can simply use the app. It is a good solution.

I play blitz a lot, so this is all too familiar to me as well. Losing games you clearly won (by connection) can ruin your day - however, I tend to think in the following manner: rating is only an approximation of who would win by rating alone. With this in mind, losing by connection pairs you with weaker opponents in the near future. Interestingly, if you lose a game that you should have won, then the rating is not as accurate as it should - therefore giving you weaker opponents (since you lost), gives you a better chance at winning the next game (redeeming your rating a bit). Long-term, the ratings should balance as long as you (as a human Chess player) can withstand the curve mentally. Usually after a loss by connection (that I should have won), I play the weaker opponents positionally. This usually results in a redeeming win, but don't over think it either: if I am playing a weaker opponent, you still need to have the confidence to sacrifice material, or some other aggressive plan, if the opportunity supports this idea. Far too often players are worried about how "not to lose" when the mindset should instead be how "to win". Stay alert, keep the initiative, and do not underestimate (or overestimate them either) your opponent; this will minimize the impact of damaging losses, and you will find rising rating more common.

Of course, if this is too often an issue - find out how you can improve your internet connection (obviously right?)

I find getting some program to block ads extremely helpful for this; perhaps, this is all you need too

Yeah it's sad. I know i can never truly avoid chess because i love the strategy and mental strength needed for the game. I know i'm going to suffer this a lot more while i am still on this holiday, so i'm just going to have to get used to it. 

I thank you all for your advice, and i am glad knowing i am not alone in this. 

PS. Can someone tell me what 'OP' means? It comes up a lot in the chess forums.

i can relate with your experience and rage... disconnection always happens in my country... cause by poor internet service...

I thought it was Over Powered but that didn't sound right.

I feel you man. In the country i am in right now (not Australia, internet is perfect there ), it is impossible to go through a game without disconnecting at least a few times.

I have also given up trying to bullet here, which is something i enjoyed doing back home, because disconnecting loses crucial time, and I have lost a bunch of bullet points. In a 1 min bullet game, you quickly realise that disconnecting even for a few seconds means losing.

Count me in. I sympathize. I am thinking of forming Sgt Pepper's Painful Hearts Club Band.

Generally in a gaming sense it means overpowered but not in forums

I think you deserved it because of your bad technique

Dude, I live in Rural Area of Western Australia, the highest lag among Australians.

I keep in my mind that I can use only 30-40 sec in 1 min blitz. I play like hyperbullet (30 secs per game).

Other option is play in other sites, they have compensated time bonus for your internet lag. That means you lose 0 sec due to internet lag. (you lose only about 0.100ms per move for due to input lag due to monitor lag, wifi lag, mouse lag etc) 

I might have reported you if i was in a bad mood. But i'm not. I'm still learning chess, and not everyone who plays can expect to expect to be a 2000+ like you. I don't dedicate my entire life to chess, because, believe it or not, i have a life. I am still improving and the process is slow. I don't deserve to lose. Are you trying to say when a person first starts and they lose because of something our of their control, they deserve to lose? Are you trying to say if one doesn't play perfectly, they deserve to lose? People like you need to work on not being jerks in life, and not condemning people who do something because they enjoy. If you can't say something that is relevant to the topic, then you should piss off. It's that simple.

Now to all the other people who are decent enough to not be arrogant trolls, i apologise for the rant, and you shouldn't have had to endure it. For all the rest out there: try at being a more humble person.

I hear there's a non-disconnection internet in NK - so you could always skip across the border and play . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . .

I wasn't in a bad mood when i started typing that comment. However, i slowly devolved into a terrible rage as i considered the implications of his words. So i was in a bad mood by the time i started typing the 'ugly' stuff. Cheers.

I don't agree with you on this one. Though i know it would be nice to get all your time if you disconnected, how would you feel if your position and your opponent's was reversed. If you were playing a game that went for, say, half an hour, and your opponents internet was terrible and they disconnected for 25 minutes of that half an hour (not likely though), though they would lose (probably), would you really want to spend 25 minutes staring at a screen waiting? People have demanding schedules, and if you went to even higher time controls, like 3 hours, and their internet disconnected, it would be rather annoying to not be able to start a new game.

I disagree. If you started a 30 minute time control game, you should obviously have enough time blocked off to play a game that might take up the full time control. This negate the possible argument that you have to go do something else. If so, then you should have been playing a faster time control.

Not only that, but you could leave that tab open and start a new game rather than waiting 25 minutes if you really want to.

I can't say i agree either. Hardly anyone prepares for the possibility of the whole game being played. Most people would assume that the higher the time, the longer the game would go for, but the chance of it taking the full thing, especially when the time controls enter the hours, is quite rare, because no one needs that much time  unless the position is quite precarious.

However, please note that when i say we have other stuff to do and we have 'demanding schedules', i generally mean we could spend the time doing other leisure stuff instead of staring at the screen. I, for one, rarely start a chess game less than an hour before i have to go somewhere. I'm sure i didn't convey myself well enough in my above post, so i will clarify. People have better leisure activities, or enrichment activities, such as homework, pet projects etc., to do then waste time staring at a screen, and even if the game is still going, but the opponent takes a long time to move, you know that the time you spend watching the screen is time your opponent uses to think up a move, so you know that the time actually has a purpose in this case. However, when your opponent disconnects, some of that time could be when your opponent has already thought up a move, and you already spent time looking for plans, and you are just waiting for them to reconnect so they can play the move.

In all aspects, i truly wish i could i agree with you, because i know just how pissed off you can get when you lose a winning position. But when you look at it from your opponent side, you realise just how much time you could potentially be wasting.

I do respect your opinion, and i would be delighted to hear what you have to say about this topic. I'm sure the majority of chess players would agree with you, as this is JMHO.

PS. I'm fairly sure you can't play two live chess games on separate tabs in chess.com. If you can, please forgive my naivety. I haven't tried before.