Sportsmanship and time limits in Daily chess

Following on from some recent posts about sportsmanship, I have a suggestion to make.

Let me set the scene:

chess.com's sportsmanship policy expects that players will not, amongst other things, stall to make opponents wait unnecessarily.

Other members seem to be experiencing unnecessarily slow play in Daily games.

I’ve had recent experience of match opponents regularly taking 2 days or more per move, and in some cases leaving it until their time remaining is into minutes, in games of 3 days per move (in other words, nearly 72 hrs for a move!). This seems a blatant violation of the sportsmanship policy, as their online presence is publicly available and they are active on the site, doing other things.

So, in order to keep games moving at a reasonable speed, I am proposing:

Allow the time per move limit to stand but

Impose a time limit on every 10 moves.

For example, in a 3 day Daily game allow 3 days for any given move, but moves 1-10 are to be played within, say, 480 hours (equivalent to 20 days, or an average of up to 2 days per move). Some variation on this might be necessary where there is a significant time zone difference. A similar limit for moves 11-20 etc. with no roll-over of time saved by faster play early in the game. ‘Vacation’ should be allowed - time out is necessary for things other than chess! 

I think that this should be possible from a technical point of view, perhaps someone knows different!

What are your thoughts? 

It absolutely is not a violation of sportsmanssip to use every minute of a daily time control to make a move.

There are a lot of potential options for correspondence type games, but the current rules certainly allow the use of the given time.

Um. If you sign up for a game with a 1 day, 2 day, 3 day, or whatever day per move time control, then that's the control. It's not a violation of the rules or the TOS or whatever to use every minute of that time you're allotted down to the nanosecond. If you don't like the time control, then don't play it. Good grief.

Our American friends should read the 'sportsmanship' section which states that players should not  ' stall to make opponents wait unnecessarily.'

Yes, they can take every second allowed, but that's not sportsmanship. No surprise the Yanks don't get it.

It's not a violation of policy, as a moderator, @Martin_Stahl, said.

Conduct may rightly be judged as “unethical” or “unsporting” - but as explained…no action takes place unless a violation of the rules occurs.

There are many such examples of “gaming the system” in Daily to gain an advantage but remain within the rules. The rules as written are quite broad for internet play - accommodating all members equally.
An example of gaming Daily tournaments is to take vacation time at the start of the round. Not particularly advantages to observe opening moves in the early rounds- but in the last round of a tournament with a handful of remaining players- its a definite advantage … especially in thematic tournaments. A player is entitled to use their vacation time as they choose. The extreme would be to take months of vacation time and observe the other games in progress at the very start. Review the games and prepare for each opponent. Against the rules? No . Can anything be said ? No. Ethical ??? Seems nowadays anything goes. No question such behavior is unsportsmanlike by traditional thinking.

I don't see that as advantageous. Annoying yes. That is why there are no vacation tournaments.

using your time in a game isn't stalling lmao. I don't see how nationality plays into it either

The community policy of Chess.com (https://www.chess.com/legal/community) expressly forbids "mak[ing] your opponents wait unnecessarily", so I guess it comes down to what is considered unnecessary. Using all your time when the game is not for all intents and purposes decided I see no problem with, but using all your time when you are stuck in a forced mate or forced move or down to material that is unwinnable definitely fits the bill in my opinion and I would probably block the player after the game.

Sportsmanship

• Do not abort games frequently
• Do not make your opponents wait unnecessarily
• Do not disconnect or quit without resigning when lost
• Do not harass or accuse your opponents

Huh? Not an advantage?

I’m afraid that’s quite mistaken. 

Also if anyone is interested, I did a small blog post touching on ways I think chess.com could enhance the user experience that touches on daily games here: https://www.chess.com/blog/LeeEuler/recommendations-on-ways-chess-com-can-improve

A player can not be sanctioned for using 2 days 23hours and 59 minutes for every move in a 3 Day Daily game … regardless of the existing position of the game.

In the extreme- Mate in one and the opponent goes on vacation. Stuff happens. Staff will not intervene in any way. No rule has been violated.

Using the time you're allotted? Banned and reported, we can't tolerate such behavior on chess.com.

What would you consider "mak[ing] the opponent wait unnecessarily" in your opinion then/why would they make that a sportsmanship item?

Using allotted time… is that a violation of policy? I doubt it, considering all forms of chess have a time control here.

I see what you're saying, but then why would they put "mak[ing] the opponent wait unnecessarily" in their policy/what else could it mean?

For example, if you're in a 10 min game and your opponent takes 9:59 for a move hoping you'll time out, the argument could be made that they were just using their allotted time. But if that sort of thing isn't "mak[ing] the opponent wait unnecessarily", what is?

A good point. What and when does “unnecessary” warrant intervention?  Common sense allows us to make reasonable judgements as to  obvious human behavior - but are any rules specifically being violated? 

I'm not sure that someone can know whether or not they're wasting time or just thinking. Especially in a daily game, where the purpose of the time control is to give you a day/days to think over one specific move

@LeeEular- the discussion is primarily that of Time and Daily play. There are interventions by the server in Live games that end the game early if a player is stalling. There is no “stalling” enforcement in Daily. Players can use all their time for any and all moves without penalty.

In my book a lot of behavior that takes place is unsportsmanlike… but I’m old school. Aggressive trash talking, disruptive behavior, dirty flagging all seem to be viewed as just “part of the game” - anything to win attitude. Not viewed in any way as being below board.