Sour otb chess experience

Hey all

I usually dont like to complain about the way that other players play the game but...

disclaimer: vent/rant coming up.

So I go down to the local chess club and have a pretty sour experience, and when I say "local" I should probably explain a bit: I'm in Europe for on a pretty big work contract for 6 month.

Also I only took 3 days off over christmas because I'd planned these 2 weeks off for skiing with some mates from home (Australia). And guess what? I broke my arm a few days in and I had to cut my skiing holiday short . I went back London a few days early to get some rest and do a bit of work from home. 

Anyways, back onto the topic of chess...

So am having to move and hit the clock with one hand - but since we play games of 30min each, I figured that the extra second it takes for me to hit the clock wont really matter.

Just to reiterate - Im really really peeved about my arm and loosing a weeks skiing.

So the guy I'm playing is known for being really competitive and showing poor "sportsmanship" (yes i know its not a sport, but you get what I mean). He's also pretty weak, so doesnt win often. I'm probably about mid-range in skill at this club, hes probably bottom 2.

For whatever reason, I dont play a particularily good game and end up reaching the below position (sorry I cant get the full game up)

At this point I said to him "its a draw, mate, no one can win". He says nothing but continues playing, pretty fast.

Also, we're not playing as part of a tourney/comp, this month is meant to be 'friendly' games...

At first I just think that he can't see that it is a stalemate, like I said, he's not very strong. After a few moves I say again "look, you can see its a draw now cant you? no one can win." He responds saying "yea I will" and points at the clock (yes, thats right he did actually do this!) and continues playing. The clock reads about 11min for him and 9 min for me left. As I said before, I cant hit the clock quickly, there was no way i could win. We moved pieces for a minute or so and some other people started telling him that it was a draw, but he kept saying that he'd win etc. Finally the head of the club came over and said to him that it was a draw (by this stage we'd wasted 3-4 minutes, moving the same pieces in circles, him avoiding stalemate by repetition). He still refused to accept it.

I'd finally had enough, so just stood and said to the club head "yes, it is a draw" and walked away.

Afterwards I'm waiting at the bus stop (cant ride my motorbike, guess why...) and the fellow comes over and says "I won that game you know" and when I kept my mouth shut and ignored is presence he added "youre a pretty sore looser".

done. rant ended

what a petty player. The sad part is you probably could help him to become a stronger player if he would learn to make friends and have them help him become better.

Lifeis full of these guys. If you want to waste your time to educate him say that the TD is allowed to declare a game a draw in positions where there is a clearly drawn position or you can demand to have a clock with an increment to avoid such petty time wins. 

Lol, a sore drawer.

He's got serious mental issues.

Just FYI:  If this comes up in a tournament game, you can aim for draw by 50 moves without a pawn push or capture.  You should be able to make 50 moves in 9 minutes easily; just shuffle your bishop back and forth.

I get peeved when people elect to waste 3 mins of my time on here in completely drawn positions but to do it OTB (with 9 mins on your clock) is astounding really.

That was a pretty bad club head. When he said it was a draw, it should have been the end of it. Of course it's tricky to walk away from the game because you can lose on time. In a serious game, insist the referee makes a decision.

I'm not seeing the arm problem. You're only allowed to play with one hand anyway. I know with (for example) the left hand it can be a tad slower, but not by much. I play with the left hand often when I'm holding a pen or drinking coffee.

Anyway, people can sometimes be jerks, even over nothing. Get the referee early and don't let it get to you.

Hope you get well soon.

Since it was just a friendly game it's no big deal, right?

What you should have done is: put your bishop on c5 (that way you can't blunder it) and just play "short" moves Kh2-g1-h2 (if he plays Kg3 then Bd6+) and start counting moves ALOUD.

OTOH, you could have said to him:"Mate, since a win is such a rare treat to you I'll resign."

Seriously?!  How is that even possible?...

 Does anyone else have a problem with language like this ??

Nope, just you (okay, next time we'll have him say poofter instead).

It certainly took me by surprise at first, I thought it was some sort of ironic joke. Then I realised he just hates 'faggots'.

Ooh, so now you hate him (bet that evens things up).

Wait?!  What?  He hates faggots?

Is that an Irish thing or something?

I don't get the joke.

Yes, it is an Irish thing:

If only Kotov would've included this in Think Like a Grandmaster (it might've saved me a lot of grief). 

 you make it sound like it is alright to move with one hand and hit the clock with the other hand. -if you could.
I have always played with the rule you have to hit the clock with the same hand you play. so I don't see the disadvantage.
6.7b

but I how annoying it is to only be able to use one hand as I broke my arm as an entlisted private in the army once.

I'm never sure what to think of this. It seems you broke off the game before the game had ended and put the blame on the opponent. If your opponent doesn't agree with a draw offer, no problem, you can just play some more moves before claiming the draw

This hasn't happened once to me, or in the club, since I started going there, but if someone was being a jackass like this during a friendly game, I'd most likely just end it and ask if anyone else was interested in a game instead. No energy should be wasted on d-bags such as this one.

You agreed on the time control, and your opponent took advantage of it. gg.