I am starting to think that the problem isn't people deliberately dropping games but the chess.com's servers are losing the connection. I just lost a connection on a live game but I was still able to do email and even able to access other webpages using another device so I suspect it is an internal problem with chess.com
And volcanoes.
"Since I know if I just got up and walked away from the table at a club house, I'd be rightfully drug out in the street and beat."
Wow! Tough neighbourhood :) I like it when they walk away because it gives me more of *their* time to study the position. If I get bored with that then I can go study the opening. If they do come back, hoping that I've walked away, I hear the "clunk". Then they have little time left to play. Opps there goe sthe clunk! Time to play...
I just posted a request to add a link to block a user on the live chess page so we can at our discretion decide who we don't want to play again when we believe we've had our time abused. I'm finding the frequency of rude players is increasing.
I'm sure in the thousands of live chess games I've played I've inadvertently disconnected a few times or gotten distracted and forgotten about a game, or when I rarely play on my phone there's a bad connection, but I never intentionally waste anyone's time and almost invariably resign the moment I give up playing. I don't understand why other's can't be at least that reasonable and mature.
The worst case is when a player makes you wait over 5 minutes in a 10 minute or longer game because they stop moving. That *really* sucks. Fortunately it is relatively rare compared to players that disconnect and make one wait 2 minutes. That is typical.
But please, don't make me go to all the trouble of navigating multiple screens away from the live chess page to block a user that pulls that stunt on me.
@now_and_zen: You do not need to navigate to another screen in order to block someone. The option already appears in a menu when one right-clicks on a member's username in Live Chess, like this:
It doesn't work on the member name shown on game board. It's on the member name shown in the text/chat area in the game status. The name isn't underscored, so there's no indication it's a link or clickable at all. The area doesn't look like it has any clickable elements, so that's a flaw in the design (minor easily fixed flaw).
However it's a great feature and will save me a lot of time. I'd like to see a block button or link somewhere but just a preference.
I spent a few minutes, in 15:10, trying to develop a strategy in a bogged down situation and just before I made my inspired move the guy resigned! Fair enough, easy win, and a good game up to that point. But why do this? I was perhaps less bogged down, but the win was far from certain. Maybe he was a bullet player on a rest break :)
I have a solution that you can implement. An option for you to challenge a players status. If you suspect they have abandoned game, you can send them a notice giving them 60 seconds to reply back. If they don't they get an abandoned game. I hate waiting 10 minutes for my game to end so I can start a new one. Please implement this in updates!
it is not a big deal, just bock that player!!!! you want the match and will never have to face the same sore loser.
Happy playing!!!!
How is this still such an issue?
Vicount.... I think any number of the suggestions here dating back to like 2011 would work. It's ridiculous that you can't report users for doing this... if they do it for a certain % of games, they should be banned. It's that simple. Chess.com just won't do anything about it. It doesn't make sense that you get punished for aborting games, but not abandoning, which is much more annoying
So I just played a game here on the servers and this user Larsani intentionally disconnected himself when he lost a piece.
When an opponent stops playing in a lost position and lets his time run out or disconnects instead of resigning, I block him. There are more than enough players here who play fairly to waste our time on immature poor losers. I recommend that others block them too. They'll get the message as their game seeks take longer and longer to fill.
ViscountVonJames, I understand that some disconnections are no fault of the opponent. But when an opponent disconnects immediately after losing his queen or right before a forced mate, the chances that the disconnection was unintentional are slim to none.
Vicount, I'm talking about when they leave the game running and I have to wait for their time to go to 0 on a 12 minute game. Disconnecting is one thing and understandable.. But seems like 1/2 the games I win, I end up having to wait for them to totally run out of time. Maybe the equation can be something like if they lose on time and their last turn takes 50% of the total time, it's considered a malicious abandonment
[...]
The issue is not timing out but people deliberately abandoning the game in a clearly lost position rather than simply resigning. Timing out happens and is no big deal but if you are playing a fifteen minute game and the opponent lets his clock run out for almost the full fifteen minutes it is rather irritating.
Someone posted here as well that they thought nothing of letting thier clock run out even on longer games when they are losing which is totally outrageous.
Exactly. There are two sides to the coin. On the one hand, connectivity issues shouldn't lead to time-outs:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/suggestions/android-browser-disconnections-cause-losses
On the other hand, bad sportsmanship should be punished if only because it's annoying. It's annoying to myself and others. If it's a fifteen minute clock, and you spend ten minutes on one move, that's almost certainly abused and should get flagged for review. Who could possibly disagree with that notion?