A long time ago, when I was playing for the title of national champion, in my age-group, I had picked up my piece - a pawn I think - and whilst I was holding it in the air, I stopped for a second, before putting it down, to reassess my move... My opponents father went absolutely ballistic!!! He totally lost it because I didn't just put down the piece right away.. He started yelling at me like crazy.. I was 11 years old, so naturally this shook me up a bit, and eventually I lost the game, because this douche bag was not shown off the premises..
Most Bizarre Behavior Over The Board?
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Great thread, keep 'em coming!
In the morning round of a weekend tournament with two minutes to go before the one hour time forfeiture, this guy runs in completely out of breath and without a shirt. Apparently he overslept and didn't want to waste precious seconds putting on a shirt. Thankfully he made time for pants. Anyway, he sits down and punches his clock while wheezing very loudly as he had not caught his breath yet. The other players just stared at him and each other in disbelief. A shirt was later brought to him and he went on to win!
gbidari wrote:
In the morning round of a weekend tournament with two minutes to go before the one hour time forfeiture, this guy runs in completely out of breath and without a shirt. Apparently he overslept and didn't want to waste precious seconds putting on a shirt. Thankfully he made time for pants. Anyway, he sits down and punches his clock while wheezing very loudly as he had not caught his breath yet. The other players just stared at him and each other in disbelief. A shirt was later brought to him and he went onto win!
This one made me laugh a lot... "apparently he . . . didn't want to waste precious seconds putting on a shirt." lol.
Thanks guys, I've never wanted to become involved in tournament play more than after reading these tales. zxb, there should be a TV series inspired by your friend!
orangehonda wrote:
For whatever reason none of it bothered me and I was able to treat it just I was just glad I didn't get paired with the 11 yr old scholastic kid who would suddenly stand after every other move, always slapped the clock hard, and would adjust pieces (and offer draws) during his opponent's turn -- I couldn't decide if I would just deal with it or complain to the TD about 10 times to settle the kid down.
I have seen my share of odd behavior at tourneys, but this reference by orangehonda makes me laugh. I do not mind the getting-up from the table but sometimes I have to ask if the kids are angry at the clock for some reason. And seriously, do these young people have OCD, they readjust the pieces a thousand times and say "J'adoube" for every adjusted piece.
Torctimes wrote:
A fairly highly rated player told me he recently played in a tournament where his opponent would make his move and then stand directly behind him while he was contemplating his own move. Rather bizarre but apparently legal.
Bobby Fischer was known for doing this occasionally, but not on every move.
I've got quite a few interesting stories, but most aren't nearly as extreme as some of the stuff in this thread.
I played a kid in a tourney once who was only 6 or 7 years old. He apparently had been coached not to leave the board and wander, but he didn't have the attention span for such a long game in an adult tournament. It was probably G/120, and I tend to take 2-3 minutes per move, compared to his 10-15 seconds. So about half way through the game, he stood up and kept leaning on his chair and walking around the chair, but always making sure he had one hand touching his chair. I thought it was kind of amusing.
Another time, I was playing a woman who must have been close to 90 years old. She was rated about 100 points higher than me at the time, and I was down a pawn in the middle game when she got up on her turn, with her own clock running, and came back to the board a minute or two later with a cup of water. She then proceeds to pull about a dozen prescription pill bottles out of her purse, and sits there looking at them all, as if trying to find the right one. I asked her if she was ok, and she insisted that everything was fine, and we should keep playing. She ended up taking about 3 or 4 different types of pills, then continuing to play. If I hadn't been down a pawn, I'd have probably offered a draw to call it a day and let her rest, but I didn't want to insult her by offering a draw while losing. We ended up finishing the game, and I somehow won. I always wondered if I'd have been able to win that one if she wasn't feeling sick in the middle of the game.
The absolute worst behavior I ever witnessed at a chess tournament was an actual fight. It was a very large tournament, and I was several aisles away, but even I could overhear the initial conversation. Apparently, an adult was playing the kid, and at one point, the adult got mad because he thought an observer (maybe the kid's coach or parent) was giving the kid hints. The TD came over and calmed the guy down, and their game ended a few minutes later. The adult must have lost, because he started yelling again, and the TD tried to calm him down and escort him out of the playing hall. The guy ended up getting really pissed off and taking a swing at the TD, and several people had to restrain him until the cops showed up. That TD is such a nice, mellow guy that I really feel bad for him getting attacked like that.
Nothing extreme he says, and then he tells the story of a fist fight in the middle of a tournament.
Tricklev wrote:
Nothing extreme he says, and then he tells the story of a fist fight in the middle of a tournament.
Also others had to restrain the guy till the cops showed up...
Actually I didn't even think of this until you said something.
Well, the stories involving myself weren't that extreme. When I first started writing, I wasn't thinking of the fist fight story.
Feb 23, 2010
0
#53
I've had a game where 7 moves into the game the lady I was playing started complaining about the light. Insisted that we relocate the board to be under a different but identical looking light and then set up the board wrong at the new location removing my last move and then she proceeded to make another move effectively giving her two moves in a row.
The other game of note is one where my opponent blundered allowing me to fork his king and queen and he began to openly beg me not to take advantage of his mistake. I felt a little bad, but I took that Queen!
My other favorite was from a game I was observing where one old guy was loudly mumbling to himself while playing. The TD came over and quietly asked him to be silent, to which he replied very loudly causing every player in the tournament to turn around, "What! Speak up I'm deaf!"
it was about 2 years ago, omeone i was playing an adult he started swearing after i beat him.
In Portugal (where I leave), we shake hands but we say good game and not good luck
tonydal wrote:
Fromper wrote:
Torctimes wrote:
A fairly highly rated player told me he recently played in a tournament where his opponent would make his move and then stand directly behind him while he was contemplating his own move. Rather bizarre but apparently legal.
Bobby Fischer was known for doing this occasionally, but not on every move.
So was Botvinnik. I do it too, come to think of it (to see what the position looks like from your opponent's point of view).
If your opponent does do it constantly though, you can conceivably complain to the TD that he's bothering you.
I think Petrosian did it to Fischer and Fischer complained
Momadu wrote:
orangehonda wrote:
For whatever reason none of it bothered me and I was able to treat it just I was just glad I didn't get paired with the 11 yr old scholastic kid who would suddenly stand after every other move, always slapped the clock hard, and would adjust pieces (and offer draws) during his opponent's turn -- I couldn't decide if I would just deal with it or complain to the TD about 10 times to settle the kid down.
I have seen my share of odd behavior at tourneys, but this reference by orangehonda makes me laugh. I do not mind the getting-up from the table but sometimes I have to ask if the kids are angry at the clock for some reason. And seriously, do these young people have OCD, they readjust the pieces a thousand times and say "J'adoube" for every adjusted piece.
I played a guy like that once too. Maybe it really is OCD.
....Rusty Potter?
All of the above is why I would never play in a Chess tournament. My oddest experience was a long time OTB opponent who cheated. I'd glanced at my mobile phone after making my move, looked up just in time to see him silently slide a rook along his back rank, nestled behind his other rook, a nice battering ram was now lined up on my position. I've got to say it was well done, really quiet. Then he made another move! Shameful.
Anyway, this rook move was actually a mistake. I moved a bishop and pinned his front rook against his king then moved in and swiped rook for bishop and went on to squash him.
Generally if you're going to cheat the idea is to give yourself some sort of advantage so in that respect it was quite odd. I thought about it long and hard and elected not to bring it up. I forgive him, technically. However, this is a guy I would usually play off handedly, for fun, secretly working on my speed game. Not any more, I vowed that his punishment should be to be utterly crushed everytime he dares to play Chess with me. I've been keeping track too, the score is 78-0 in my favour.
There was a guy having a sandwich whilst playing me, and a bit of mayo dropped on the board, and he leaned over and licked the board. I almost gave up chess for 2 weeks. But i cant because i am addicted like ivanchuk 8)
this made me laugh until tears rolled down my face and my jaw hurt