What is your opinion about players who try to win on time when dead lost?

I hate it when my opponent is cleverly down on time but refuses to resign, instead hoping he has enough material advantage to steal my victory. If I'm only a few seconds up, fair enough but if you have a very short time left you should do the honourable thing and resign. Otherwise I have no respect for you as a human.

Opinions are like noses - everyone has one!

It's a game, all for fun. I once lost a game where I had 3 queens cause I had 1.3 secs left w/ no increment and couldn't even premove fast enough. It was funny. Don't take it personally, it just a big joke 

#90

1. Great comment.
2. It's from a master

I just played against a guy.

We were both on about 1:50 time and he was down 32 points. 32. And yet he still played on. Not resigning doesn't often strike me as strange but it did there. Funny, and I wasn't annoyed or anything, but it was a bit strange.

Saying someone tries to "cheese out a victory on time" is saying that someone who uses up too much time in the game is blameless - and that's clearly not true, so the quote is undeserved and cheap.

Anyone who gets him/her self in time trouble deserves whatever happens - including the opponent trying to stay out of mate until the clock runs out.

It's also why many games include incremental time.  I've had a game here where I was down to a few seconds with a one Pawn advantage with 10 seconds added each move and needed a lot of moves to transform that advantage into a new Queen.  Once I had established the advantage of The Opposition, I made moves in 2-3 seconds and, after getting back to a minute on my clock, had no trouble winning.

But, if I didn't have incremental time, I would have moved with less thinking time and maybe wouldn't have gained the one-Pawn advantage.

Making sure you have time is part of the game.

Agreed.

If a player runs out of time, it's nobody's fault but their own.

The frustration of getting flagged in a won game is understandable—but that frustration should be pointed at oneself, not at the opponent.

 

How do I feel about that? Well, aside of the cases, when opponent purposefully waits out the time for no reason or in order to annoy you, I actually think that playing "lost games" can benefit both sides. Especially you, the person that is pressed on time and have problems because of that. (and in following post, by "you" I mean not the creator of this topic, but the player being in mentioned situation in general.)

 

In short, if you are in winning position, but have problems because of time, it's only your fault for not being good enough to either use your time properly or opportunities that opponent creates.

 

And if you still win, but you are simply annoyed by the time lost on winning "easy win game", you can try to analyze your opponent's play and learn something from it (unless it's really a dead one), but still, your opponent was simply using the time he had allowed for his game and it's "fair". You can always try to play faster games, if you don't like waiting too much.

 

Playing lost games can be especially beneficial for opponent that is not really high rated and have much of room for improvement (well, we always have some ways to improve, even at high level ;-)).

 

And if you lose or barely win a winning position because of low time, then you definitely have much to learn and it's only your fault, if you lose. I have solid opinion about it, on which I will spend some time now.

 

For example, if as you say, the game is dead lost for your opponent, then you "should have no problem winning" it, right? If you, theoretically, have problems in such cases, then it means that you can still train and get better.

You can develop your judgement skills and ability to evaluate position properly.

You can get more familiar with certain positions or tactics, learn them better and learn to execute them quickly, learn to see danger and traps faster and improve your fast decision making.

If opponent plays desperately, then you can get surprised by some unusual moves that could confuse you, which is another thing for you to overcome - is this tactical sacrifice? Or maybe just some stupid move that doesn't pose any real threat? It's you that should be able to judge it properly!

 

If you are playing games with not much time or not much (or any) time increment, then you should use it wisely and be prepared for consequences of running low on it.

 

You are not too familiar with some mating patterns and it takes you too long to calculate or perform them? It's your fault, not your opponent's!

 

It takes you too long to notice the threat, pin, fork, zwischenzug etc. an you miss them, if pressed on time? It's only your fault!

 

Even if opponent is in lost position, but it's you that is unable to use this opportunity, because of being low on time, then it's not such an occurrence of losing that sucks, but you - use this experience to learn your weaknesses and fix them, so you can improve!

 

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Now, let's reverse sides.

 

When I play somewhere online, I am usually playing

• for fun
• to improve
• to win, and if I can't, then to at least draw

all at the same time.

So, even if the game is lost, I usually still keep playing. Sometimes instead of resigning I will rather do some stupid moves on purpose and let my opponent finish this quickly, but I usually try to fight back and do the best I can, using what I can. Be it my pieces or time, this is what defines the game with given time control and I am free to use them, in order to win.

 

They are at my disposal, They are my weapons.

 

If you play for fun, then much or less you have some fun anyway. If you play for improvement, you will use this experience to improve, no matter the result.

So, you are mostly playing for winning, because this is what matters at the end.

 

If you play in worse position, you can indeed try to confuse and rush your opponent, sometimes by very aggressive moves, but this is okay. It's actually good, as it is pressing you too, makes you try to foretell what kind of mistakes your opponent can make and exploit his weakness.

 

It's all part of the game. It's all part of the war. If it makes you uncomfortable or even to lose, then overcome it!

Get better and win the games, while being low on time. Improve quality of your rushed moves and your immediate judgement.

Learn how to use your time better and if opponent tries to time you out, crush him before that! (or learn to use your time better next time)

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So, I think that it is okay to play dead games, especially if you press your opponent and win because of their mistakes - it's only their fault for losing time or game. They simply were not good enough to not make a mistake or use the opportunity, so they improve.

 

And if it's you that is losing because of time, it's you that should improve :-)

 

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Also, even without time pressure, people can still blunder and change the result of the game. Remember Carlsen vs Nakamura from last London Chess Classic? ;-)

 

I think it's worth to play your (lost) games to the end, even without time problems for any side, as you can both still learn something from it and even actually not lose, if your opponent blunders!

And if the game is with significant time control and opponent have problems because of that? Then there's even more reason for it!! =)

 

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I hope this will be helpful or insightful for someone.

I don't know how people do this, write comments 2 pages long. I've written half pages, but still, too much work

Bruh, it's the other way around. If u can manage a mate with a few seconds left, u deserve victory

Because their winning duh. premoves also

I am just too talkative, a bad habit of mine ;-)

Hey "geniuses" its poor etic and gives you zero chess knowledge to win on time I do feel pitty for such players. I live in Mexico here the internet is much slower than on your countries, I lose so many games for interner lag, playing  using my phone which is slower but people here have so tiny self love that they need to win even when outplayed just so they can sleep that night. Have your pitty points you ll lose them ASAp

People not quite clear on the process:

Plays over 1000 Blitz games but sneers at people who win on time.

Micheal Jackson? 

Time is a parameter on which a game is played 

… and they all smell.

Not necessarily.  A friend from church had his nose removed due to cancer.

The OP closed his account 3+ months after the original question. The answer, of course, is that the ninny is likely to overdo a drawn position and end up with a loss.

You consider “down a piece” in the end game to be dead lost?

“I'm talking about dead, dead lost (down a piece in the endgame, etc)”

So if someone has one pawn less than their opponent in the end game, that’s “dead lost” to you? I don’t even think two or three pieces down is necessarily dead lost.

I have been annoyed plenty of times when people beat me on time rather than by strategy. But as one commentor stated, it’s real sweet then when I come back in another game and beat them by 0.1 seconds, even if I didn’t beat them through strategy. In fact, it’s even sweeter.

Consider the following scenario in real war: an army has an impenetrable fortress; they’re impossible to beat, so what does the opponent do? They surround the fortress and wait till they starve. Guess what that is? Winning on time. Time IS part of the strategy with blitz games. That’s why it’s called blitz and not “slowly strategize” game. If you want more time to beat your opponents your strategy, then play a slower game. Part of the fun of a faster game is precisely to beat them by the clock. If you don’t like it don’t play the blitz game.

And your final line about not liking people as human beings is just ridiculous. I think you need a vacation.