Question About Sportsmanship

Hey guys, I’m just a below-average player (range from 850-950), but I have a question that’s been bothering me and I was hoping you all could help me out. At the end of a recent game, I had my opponent’s king pinned in a corner somewhat with my bishop and pawn guarding each other. Other than his king, he only had a bishop. Knowing that I had my two previously-mentioned pieces guarding one another, all I had to do was keep my king off of his bishop’s colored squares, not repeat the same three moves, and I would win on time. I had about a minute more than he did in a 10-minute game. He offered me a couple of draws and I declined them, because I knew I could win on time, to which he responded “way to win, nice sportsmanship 👍🏼.” I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong and figured a win was better than a draw. This ending might happen more than I first thought but it’s the first time I’ve ever been apart of one. Thoughts?

You played a legal game and he was sore for losing on time. That’s why I always play with increment to avoid such situations. He would be wise to do so also or be ok with losing on time in such scenarios.

It's kind of blurry. I would accept a draw in such situation, but I do not hate you for deciding to flag. To all those who will call you a bad sport I have one word: increment. Play time controls with increment and you'll never have to lose on time in dead drawn positions

Your opponent had over a minute left, so he could have got a draw under the 50 move rule.

 

What is the 50-move rule?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty-move_rule#:~:text=The%20fifty-move%20rule%20in,the%20opponent%20completing%20a%20turn).

As mentioned he had well over a minute left when the ending was reached and he could literally have premoved every single move, so losing on time is completely on him and I wouldn’t feel remotely bad about it. 

Appreciate the responses everyone.

As with most things online.  This divides people into two groups. 

Those that understand the clock is part of the game.

Those that think winning on time is poor sportsmanship.

My .02? 

You did nothing wrong.

I think you did nothing wrong. This is just my opinion. Time is part of the game and you managed yours better hence if you win it shouldnt be questionable just because of time. Everyone of us have a choice wheter or not to accept a draw and you had every right to do whatever you wanted. Dont bother yourself with his sarcastic comment about your sportsmanship. I would even dare to say his sportsmanship was poor, not yours. I hope this clears things up for you. Have a nice day ! :)

Sure, that's how I'd feel about one of my opponents, but his opponent was rated 800 and playing a 10 minute game. Many of these guys don't even have premoves enabled.

To put it in terms of one of your games, say you had 12 seconds and your opponent had 8. You do have a pawn so you can reset the 50 move timer but other than that it's a completely dead opposite bishop endgame (not even a way to "sac" a pawn to catch a bad premove). Would you accept a draw or try to win on time?

In these situations I accept a draw.

If there are still pawns to punish their premoves, then too bad, I'll win... but if it's purely "0.1 seconds per premoves will still make you lose" then I don't do it.

@smasports

In most positions I think winning on time is fine. In your particular game I would have accepted a draw.

But also, it's not such a big foul. if I'd been your opponent I wouldn't have messaged you or anything. I'd just think you're a kid or otherwise not very experienced.

Yeah I do agree with all of that and I would generally take a draw in your scenario, particularly if they don’t have mating material. If there’s a pair of blocked pawns somewhere in the mix (meaning I could lose) then it’s more of a judgement call - I’ve had such games where they’ve offered a draw and I’ve missed it, and then I’ve offered one back and they miss it, and by the time I’ve done with all the messing about with draws, I’ve lost on time lol. 

Also, if you get a some lag, lag compensation might get you extra time while premoving! (but honestly, idk how you could get more lag in one instance without wasting the time you have on your clock)

Yeah, chess.com always has some lag. 

On an imaginary server with zero lag, even if you could stack premoves, if two fast humans are playing, then 0.1 seconds is not enough time to stack premoves for a prolonged sequence.

But on chess.com, even with a good connection, there's more than enough time to stack premoves indefinitely because due to lag you always have more than 0.1 seconds.

https://www.chess.com/game/live/20871643113?username=smasports he thought for 42 seconds on one move but the moves before that were premoves... he might have disconnected but in any case you were well within your rights to flag.