Why are you taking so long?!
Finally got my replacement mobo up and running last night and it's running like a champ! Good to have the 'ol puter back. I'm not complaining about my laptop but it's not even in the same league as my desktop. It was taking about five minutes to load Fritz on that little thing. Poor guy.
Played two games on FICS last night. It was against the same guy but he did so bad in the first game that he wanted a rematch. I try not to turn down rematch requests if I win the first one because I always play the same opening and if the other guy/gal has a new idea on how to beat it I want to see it so I can add that to my toolbox.
However, during the second game I got the dreaded "Why are you taking so long on this move?!" Note the exclamation point. I felt bad so I explained that I just started in November and I'm not good enough to see the answers to most positions yet, blah, blah, blah. So after appologizing I made my moves in 15 seconds or less and basically threw the game in a couple of minutes (this was confirmed by Fritz in the post-mortem). I don't think he meant to win that way but as a beginner, I don't know about how you guys were, I am very sensitive to the "taking a long time" thing. I know I'm not as fast as most people at my rating level, and because of that it is sometimes hard to find people willing to play games with me. Do you think a 1900 player wants to lose their edge by playing a 1500 player? Anyway, just another road bump on the path of a beginner.
Also played a few games on Pogo. Good grief the endgame is agonizing! I was up a bunch of material but still couldn't checkmate the guy. He finally resigned after I queened one of my pawns. To me it is really embarassing to play a tough game all the way to the end and then flounder around in the endgame. I can't wait to go through "Winning Chess Endings".
4 Comments:
You have to harden yourself for this. Rules come first, etiquette is nice, but not obliged.
In fact your opponent is very impolite.
He loses the first round, so an big mouth is not in place. If he had taken more time, he wouldn't have lost, so what is he talking about?
Next thing is you have allready a clock which will punish you, so there is no reason for him to complain about that.
Embarrassment seems to be your problem here. No need for that!
No opponent will ever have a problem with the fact that you are not so good allready. Because they are compensated for everything by winning from you. These points are enough satisfying for them, so don't feel pity for them.
The same holds true for not winning with much more wood in your hands.
At my level the etiquette says: when you are a lot behind in material you give up. They didn't give up, so they -again- were impolite. So here too is no reason to be ashamed.
When you get more experienced in tournaments you will find an unique opportunity in cases where your opponent starts to loose his patience. Because impatience is very bad for his play.
So by being more annoying for him wil let him make mistakes.
Remember: chess is war!
Wow, I didn't know that. I need to work on knowing when to give up too. I usually make the other guy checkmate me. How do you know if you can draw or not?
Actually, I didn't want the other guy on Pogo to give up because I need practice in my endgame. I was just frustrated at MY handling of the ending. I like it when my opponent punishes me for my mistakes because then I get to learn something.
I really like the part about tournament play. I never played in a tournament but I should have thought about the psychological impact of playing face to face can have on people's game. I'll need to enter a tournament ASAP so I can get that experience. Thanks TS.
PS
I agree with Tempo. It is very impolite to ask an oppoenent why they are taking so long? All such comments should be ignored in a timed game. Take as much time as you like. That's why you agreed to a time control.
It is never impolite to continue playing so long as you see some chances in the position. If you are obviously beaten but you don't see it, then play on. Your oppoenent will give you a lesson which is valuable. I never consider it impolite of someone not to resign. Stubborness is a virtue in chess.
All I'm going to say is that Don and Tempo are right on the money.
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