Poor Sportsmanship and Internet Chess: Your Thoughts and Stories

So for the second time in a couple weeks I came across another poor sport on Yahoo Chess.  In this case, after playing to a draw he thought that typing "ur an idiot", booting me from the table, and running from the room would be appropriate.  Aside from being unsportsmanlike the comment didn't make much sense considering that I was able to dominate most of the game, despite his rating being about 50 points higher than mine.  He had also used the "wait hate" tactic after he started losing, which fortunately I can play multiple games at once on Yahoo so it doesn't affect me.

So what's the deal with these people?  Are they just complete losers who try to boost their self-esteem by acting like anonymous internet F***-Tards?  Could you imagine what would happen if someone did that OTB?  Do you have any experiences and thoughts on the subject of poor sports on internet chess?

Also, I saw that InstantChess has a method for reporting abusing dialog along with scroll bar for limiting chat to phrases, as well as a mute option for conversation.  Any suggestions for the best places to play in regards to dealing with poor sports?  It can really take the fun out of playing internet chess.

There should be some method of flagging poor sports, like a halo of flies encircling their Yahoo avatar.

I would recommend chess.coms live chess. The help team work hard to keep it as pleasant and civil a place as possible. Places like yahoo that are unmoderated will inevitably be overloaded with people who are not all all concerned about anyone else's experience. That fact is that the internet is packed full of mischievous and/or nasty people. But we have to be understanding - alot of them are children! When I was a child the internet didn't exist but I know that I would have behaved like a brat if it had and I got on it :-).

With a well moderated live playing site, limitations such as restricting chat to phrases should not be necessary. People find ways to get around automated moderation so that's why live here is so good - there's nearly always a a moderator present. You can report people who are abusive by following the report abuse link at the bottom of any page on the main site. Alternatively you can message any moderator or ask any free mod to join a game with you so you can discuss your issue in private.

The only poor sportmanship I have experienced on chess.com came from me! That aside: accusing your opponent of cheating is (allegedly) becoming more commonplace.

Man yahoo is the real deal for poor sports, Its like a wild safari of different specimens.  You gotta watch the ones who remove the 10 minute per move limit and dissapear for the night once they start losing.  Another fun exhibit is the ones who hit you with a quick "you suck" moments before booting you (after your win)

Have you noticed that Canadians almost invariably (Tunatin excepted) use niceness as a subtle weapon. Only yesterday, a Canadian I was playing said - and I quote: "You are the best player I have had to play this far". How am I supposed to win against him/her after a compliment like that? (This is a hypothetical question as I am losing anyway). Thank heavens for Tunatin .

Quix wrote:

But we have to be understanding - alot of them are children! When I was a child the internet didn't exist but I know that I would have behaved like a brat if it had and I got on it :-).

Hey man I'm 13 and I've never acted like that. In fact it has happened many times to me to play on yahoo and have this exactly dialogue.

someone: how old r u?

kosmeg:13

someone: I'm (something along 20-35)

(after I'm a piece up)

someone:@@@@

someone:@@@@

and after I'm two pieces up they just close the game window and I have to wait until they ran out of time.

I've almost stopped playing on yahoo because of this thing and now I usually play on chess.com

But, do not say it's children who do this, because most of the time it happen's to me, it's a grown-up man who can't accept he's beaten from a 13-year-old boy.

Oops! Tunatin lives about 23.5 hours from Montréal (by car). My mistake!

Meanwhile, back at poor sportmanship... I find it inconsiderate when someone's move is inconsistent with their comment - or vice versa.

Here's a couple articles I came across relating to poor sportsmanship and internet chess.  The mention of computer-aided cheaters and poor sportsmanship reminds me of some very "skilled" yet very unsportsmanlike players I had played against way back.  It seems highly unlikely that someone would put in years of hard work and study just to be able to verbally berate someone while beating them at a game of chess.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Realm/8655/ENGLISH/Part5_ENG.htm

Thanks everyone, for all the insight.  Somehow I overlooked that chess.com has its own game server, which I think I'll make my main place to play chess.

It's very poor sportsmanship to delete your posts. It makes earlier replies look silly.

Play on real chess sites, not yahoo and probably the only rude people you'll play are members of the "NEVER RESIGN! and maybe start playing slowly once losing" bunch. When meeting such an individual the best course of action is promoting all pawns to knights and taking as many moves as possible to mate them.

My personal ethos on sportsmanship on the live chess here.

*Insults, attempts to put you off, people who type a lengthy conversation opener and hit enter just as the clock starts ticking (presumably to get a time advantage while you read and reply) - just ignore it, or if your focus does not allow it, disable chat. That's what it's for. On the other hand, if they insults are very trollish and genuinely hurtful, report them. I don't know if the game chat is logged here, because it would mean a lot of overhead, but certainly I'm sure a staff member will monitor and investigate someone suspected of abuse.

*The immediate chat disabler. This guy has decided ahead of time that if you start winning he will repeatedly offer draws you won't accept, or simply make you wait thirty minutes for the points. Why they need to disable chat is beyond me, perhaps they think its annoying for you not to be able to swear and curse at your opponent. It actually works in your favour, because you don't waste any time typing. When the draw offers start coming in, don't waste time clicking decline each time, just make your moves. If he or she (but lets face it, the bad sport is male 99% of time) wants to waste more of their clock clicking "offer draw" then so be it.

*General stalling and refusal to resign. Do not instantly assume that every staller is a bad sport. In fact, you're a bad sport if you complain about them, it's their time and they should be allowed to use it as they wish. If you start complaining they'll get the rise they are after. I keep a few chess books by the monitor and I read while waiting. Its very Zen!
You have to remember that not all your opponents will understand a position as you do, and sometimes when someone wants to play out a lost its because they are saying "I don't know how to win from there, please demonstrate." This lesson is a privelege you owe them if you want the win.

They may also have not seen enough of your chess to know that you are capable of winning, in which case they are asking you to prove your ability... and so prove it you must, regardless of wether you consider it offensive. They may also have their eye on a stalemate idea you have overlooked... very embarrassing for you to draw after you have spent 10 minutes cursing and demanding that your opponent resign because you will certainly win. Serves you right really, as you likely wouldn't fall for it if you'd just focused in the game.

Sometimes, I don't feel like giving a chess lesson, because I feel that my opponent is stalling needlessly for the sake of it. In this case, win it sloppily, and in a roundabout manner, obfuscate the technique. This has a twofold advantage of both *not* improving their game and possibly making them undersestimate your endgame ability for later games.

Yes, its annoying to have to wait for an opponents timer to run out in say, a 60minute game, but if you were not prepared to sit down for two hours to see the result, then don't play a game with those controls.

*Post game excusers. These are the funniest, people who refuse to admit you got them. You should try to see the funny side (silently), and take it as a compliment that the line you played was so excruciating for them. In TB, when you have a winning position (its usually a much higher rated player than yourself, and in fact my best win was such an example). They purposefully make a blunder, like throwing away the queen, and give you an "I slipped" trophy, trying to convince themselves and others that the game was lost by a terrible error, and not by strong play on your part. The same thing can happen on live,I had an example were I gave up my queen to get into a strong fortess, with plenty of time-wasting options, as I had 2 minutes more on my clock than my opponent. I would have won on time easily, but my opponent started saying "move! move dammit!" then closed the window, as if there was a bug. Of course, there was only about 4 minutes on my clock, so if he hadn't seen a move from me surely he could have waited and won on time! (he started demanding moves 5-10 seconds after his last move) A more common one is pretending to get disconnected when you get stuck. As if "x has closed the game window" and "x has disconnected" are one and the same!

The thing you have to remember is that losing at chess can be a rough and painful thing, and many of us have probably reacted unsportingly ourselves at some point. With sore losers, I'm usually trying be nice. I know I played better, they know I played better, and of course there is always a rematch if they want to prove it. There is no need to be aggressive to your opponent about this, have a little compassion because they are feeling bad because they lost. Tell them they were unlucky and offer them a rematch if they'd like to get some points back. If they make a pretend blunder in a lost TB position, ask them (don't demand, be friendly) what they would have played if they could do it over. Usually, they won't respond to the message. I mean *really* be nice though, don't send some snide message that's dripping with sarcasm and holds venom between the lines.

Once in a while, they'll get back to you a couple of days later with an incisive continuation that will knock your socks off (and egg on your face if you've been talking big), or possibly even an apology and a game offer. Sometimes people need to cool off a little, a loosing streak can make a bad sport of the most tranquil man. A little friendly conversation might be just what they need.

Suggestion to above, if he offers a draw and does not move before offering, let his time expire if he is dumb enough to allow that.

He very possibly was enjoying the game and didn't want you to take an early resign, I doubt it was intended to put you off. More likely, he was trying to be a good sport, not a bad one!

However "Dude, you rock at this game!" when I'm winning has often prompted an immediate blunder from me.... its difficult to be sure if someone intends a compliment or wants to induce overconfidence, though both effects are generally caused.

I have a guy on my friends whom I'm fond of, and enjoying playing. However, 50% of his chat dialogue is making excuses for his game because he's drinking. Its very off-putting, especially when he plays very reasonable chess whilst doing it, actually its my attempts to tell him that he's doing just fine that genuinely distratc me from my game and prompt an error. You know who you are - sometimes you make me want to hunt you down and drown you in wine!! =p

Sometimes I feel that everybody will accuse anyone and anything of cheating. Here's a story:

A couple years ago I wrote a chess engine. I registered an account for it with the Computer designation at FICS. They allow computers to play as long as they are designated as a computer. This way everyone knows who is a computer and who is not. My program wasn't that great, it played at about 1700 blitz rating. So it had some interesting games against humans.

There was a particular problem with the way it was written (which I later fixed) that caused it to outright blunder a piece on occasion. (This was a problem with not searching to quiescence, but the technical details aren't so important.) The program played several games in a row against one opponent, winning a few with very nice tactical play in complex positions, but a couple times making this sad mistake of hanging material very simply.

At this point, the opponent accused my computer program of being a cheater! It was registered as a computer account, so I asked him how he thought it was cheating. He claimed a human was making a moves for the computer. Well isn't that flipping the cheating problem on its head. I guess for some people they think they are being cheated no matter what.

Loomis,

Paranoia     =   Just because you THINK everyone is 'out to get you'   does not mean that they aren't. .....

The Internet, by nature of its anonymity, tends to bring out the worst in a lot of people, in a lot of situations.  That said, Internet chess certainly hasn't cornered the market on bad behavior.

I recall distinctly from my club days a fellow who, upon losing a game, frequently pitched a full-on temper tantrum -- knocking the pieces onto the floor, throwing them across the room, and so on.  You'd think from that description that he was 5 years old, but no, he had to have been at least in his mid-20s.  Ridiculous.

Fortunately, such displays are the exception, rather than the norm.

Content removed by site moderator.  Inappropriate content (violation of the terms of service), specifically, inappropriate for all ages - will be removed.

regards,

moderator

I read your blog and was not surprised to find a story about exactly what I was expecting. You're not the first.

Something not unrelated happened to me recently.

I was white, we had reached the position after:

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nc3 Qh4 4.Nf3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Qe4 6.e3 Qf4??

basically hanging his queen on my e-pawn.

My opponent proceeded to immediately offer a draw... too quickly I now realise, supposedly like "oops, can we start over?". Now capturing the queen was no fun, I had him totally outdeveloped and outcentered, and I was looking forward to destroying him with a fast and brutal kingside attack...

so Instead of 7.exf4, I play 7.Bd3, and write "Let you off. But offering a draw was unsporting." He then abandoned the game immediately!

It dawned on me afterwards that he realised he was going to lose, and purposefully hung the queen in the hope that I would go for a restart, which presumably I wasn't going to actually get; as he was almost 100 points lower rated, clearly he stood to gain from the transaction... and offering the queen was no issue if he thought he was lost anyway.

It always amuses me when someone perceives that you have outplayed them, but hopes that you haven't noticed it yourself...

stop playing on YAHOO!

today, i was beating this guy right, and he his chess.com rating was 150 over mine, so after cutting piece by piece on his side, he says he made an accident, and like i said it happens and it was ok, then after i kept on playing he calls me an idiot, after i beat him he kept discracing himself by calling me an idiot after i won, and i checked out the dudes profile and he was like 30 years older than me, a person like that should not be such a sore loser.

last week after i beat another guy the dude swears,he calls me a B----- (clue: female dog) so threatend him saying ill report him if he continues.

thats my story...