Why would someone not want to play their best ?
Sandbagging
To get a lower rating so they could beat people I suppose. Anyway, I found the link (eventually). Thanks for replying.
There is no reason to sandbag here. None.
The World Open, on the other hand, provides 20,000 reasons to do so.
Is there another reason someone would lose 16 games in a row without playing a move?
You don't have to sandbag to play lower rated players here. YOu can set the range of players.
So, if your rating is 1800, you can set the range to 1200 - 1800 and guarantee you get lower rated players.
It would seem that sandbagging would be dangerous to your playing. You would have to do it for so long, that perhaps you become accustomed to playing weaker.
You don't have to sandbag to play lower rated players here. YOu can set the range of players.
The point of sandbagging is to troll stronger players. So what you do is intentionally lose to lower-rated players to make your rating seem barely above beginner level. Then you get matched with a strong player and proceed to crush them off the board. So to them, it looks like they got schooled by a beginner-rated player. Then you go back to intentionally losing to beginners. It's a pure trolling tactic that only scumbags get off on doing.
Thanks for a bit of back up on this. It seems obvious to me that this goes on occasionally. I did report this one player (first time I ever have), but nothing back so far. I would have thought that it would be an easy thing to detect automatically really.
I have found it is dangerous to assume that because you wouldn't do something, because it seems pointless, that no-one else would. People cheat in all walks of life, and their motives are not always obvious to someone without their particular mindset.
USCF OTB play actually encourages sandbagging and it is a much more common practice now than it was in the 70s for example .
Having a floor also encourages sandbagging , FIDE doesnt have a floor . I know an NM now who is in his 70s and can no longer compete consistently for the top prizes against masters but his floor is 2200 but he is forced to compete against them and the USCF refuses to change his floor though he no longer plays at master level . He has appealed to them because he wants to remain competitive and he cannot due to his floor . So far all his appeals have failed . Floors should at least be reconsidered in the event of a major medical problem ( stroke , etc ) and in the case of seniors when their abilities naturally decline ..... don't you think ?
GM Bisguier is the best argument I can think of against rating floors . He is in his mid 80s now and cannot go below his 2200 floor and in one of his most recent events he lost 4 of 5 games , 2 of them to A class players . Its ridiculous that they keep his rating at 2200 . His FIDE rating is under 2200 though .
in blitz tournaments especially in lower rated groups mostly sandbaggers win , they clearly are superior to other players in the same rating group.
Its not silly at all and you havent addressed the harm floors do to people like GM Bisguier ? I know there are class players who avoid having their rating go above a certain level so that they can avoid certain floors . Floors that would effectively prevent them from EVER being able to compete for a big class prize ..... like under 2000 , under 1800 , under 1600 etc . As for the problem with strong foreign players coming here they almost all have fide ratings , use their fide rating . They might try to lie about their fide rating but all you need is their real name and you can check . Some foreign countries also have their own separate national ratings , again you would need to know their real names ...
I don't get what the point would be of sandbagging here. If it was the World Open... obviously then people will sandbag.
There is no 'point' to you and I; however I would guess that a sandbagger gets a kick from beating someone with a much higher rating, and doesn't care about losing by choice on move 1 to someone they could easily beat if they chose.
That it happens here occasionally seems obvious to me; do you think it doesn't?
Regarding on-line chess, multiple time-outs, for whatever reason, are common and they results in large rating drops. Recently an opponent dropped about a 1000 points due to multiple resignations. I play on two other sites that have rating floors and that seems to work well, so maybe it is the answer.
Playing lower rated opponents doesn't improve your game much. I find playing tougher opponents a much more enjoyable challenge.
blitzjoker wrote:
I don't get what the point would be of sandbagging here. If it was the World Open... obviously then people will sandbag.
There is no 'point' to you and I; however I would guess that a sandbagger gets a kick from beating someone with a much higher rating, and doesn't care about losing by choice on move 1 to someone they could easily beat if they chose.
That it happens here occasionally seems obvious to me; do you think it doesn't?
I'm sure it happens occasionally online too but I'm not in much of a position to say as I haven't been here long. I imagine some people would get a kick out of doing it though to weaker players.. it is the internet after all. I'm not sure how strong the players are on here but I feel a bit guilty having to establish my rating here.. my USCF rating is a smidge over 2000 right now and I have to establish my rating here against players who may not expect it.
The system is quite good here when you start as your rating moves very fast (it might overshoot a bit).
I don't think sandbagging is that common here, though I have certainly seen a fair few cases. So if you find yourself struggling against a 1400...
How do you report someone for suspected sandbagging?