Questions tagged [etiquette]
Questions regarding the written rules, or the unwritten customs, that concern proper behavior in the world of chess.
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Can one make a deal with their opponent over what opening to play?
In official tournaments, are the two players allowed to talk (before or at the start) of a match to compromise on openings, eg.
If white is good at the Sicilian but bad at the Caro-Kann and black is ...
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Overkilling the opponent
Every chess player has experienced this at least once in his life: An opponent who refuses to resign, even though being bare-kinged against a rook and 5 pawns...
Usually, kids are told to not be ...
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"Premove" in OTB game
Lately, a player of mine caused a minor kerfuffle by his habit of touching a piece to counter blitz even when the opponent had not finished the move.
Interestingly, I found nothing in the rules (...
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How do arbiters handle touch move complains where players deny?
So, two cases. Player A (A) and Player B (B)
Case 1
B touches a piece. A sees it. B plays something else. A complains to arbiter that B didn't play the touched piece. Arbiter didn't see that B ...
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Is there a recourse when a player does not resign in a clearly lost position?
I manage a chess club. Two 1900+ players A and B were playing. They reached a position where A had K+Q, and B had only K. They each had about an hour left on their clocks. B just waited the full hour, ...
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Is it ethical to take a draw in a winning position, if a draw is good enough?
Follow-up question to Is it ethical to take a zero-moves draw in the last round of a tournament if one is already assured of first place? I'm concentrating on this particular scenario from that ...
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Arbiter talking to player
So I've got a question regarding if an arbiter can talk to a player in this situation : My clock was running and I was thinking about the next move that I should make. I was already 10 minutes into ...
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Le Petit Tourette
A kid I occasionally see on tournaments has a tic - he makes compulsive noises. Kids obviously have more understanding of such stuff - noone ever complained about being disturbed or made any ado about ...
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Walkover -- what is this?
I've never seen this before. I was playing a game on ChessArena.com, and I ended up getting something called a "Walkover".
My rating on ChessArena for that game was 1090, and my opponent's ...
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Why do Ding and Nepo sign the board?
Both Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi signed the board with their pen in round 6 (an example video). I think I saw a similar thing in the previous rounds as well, but I have never seen such thing ...
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Farming: Is it unethical to gain rating by playing against only weaker players?
I like to win games, and I like to gain rating. I want to do this as much as possible without breaking any of the explicit rules. So a fortiori no engines or external assistance and no creating ...
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Is it ethical to take a zero-moves draw in the last round of a tournament if one is already assured of first place?
Suppose I'm playing in a small, 6-round tournament. I win the first five rounds, which also guarantees at least a share of 1st regardless of the results of the last round. What are the ethics of play ...
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Candidates 2013: could Ivanchuk have legally/ethically offered a draw (and thus make Kramnik champion)?
In the last round of the Candidates of the 2013 World Championship, there were two players left in contention. Kramnik (black vs. Ivanchuk) needed to outperform Carlsen (white vs. Svidler). In the ...
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Iuri Shkuro is part of the top peak FIDE blitz rating list (2800+) apparently by 'farming'
There's a Sep2020 reddit post by user ChessAddiction entitled 'How the Elo rating system works, and why "farming" lower rated players is not cheating.' I also ask about farming here: When is ...
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Why wouldn't Magnus Carlsen just farm rating points by playing weak tournaments to reach 2900 kinda like what Igors Rausis did? [duplicate]
Edit re close votes for opinion-based:
I edited question from don't/didn't to wouldn't. So now it's hypothetical for any player who happens to to have a peak rating of 2800+.
Voting this to be ...
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Etiquette question: a funny way to resign
Once, when I felt it was time to give up, instead of resigning in some conventional way such as knocking over my king, I saw that I had a helpmate in one, so I decided to go for that. This happened ...
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A specific draw etiquette
In one of my last games, I offered a draw. Now for what the rules don't say...
He had quite to chew on the offer. Half an hour he was sitting and pondered whether he could risk to play to win. I, on ...
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How strong should the evidence for cheating be, before you reveal it?
This is an extension of a question I asked previously here.
Somebody who can prove cheating beyond reasonable doubt might easily decide to tell the public about it all.
The main question is, what if ...
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Chess etiquette: Carlsen withdrawing from the tournament
Ben Finegold made this point during his streams, that even if Magnus Carlsen suspects either cheating on Hans Niemann's part or sabotage on the part of a member of his team, he should not have ...
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Is it improper etiquette to ask your opponent what his/her rating is before the game?
Suppose you're playing in a tournament. For the purpose of filling up your scoresheet, is it improper etiquette to ask your opponent what his/her rating is before the game?
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What do you do when an opponent asks for a score sheet after a game in which recording is not compulsory?
I wish to know how to handle a certain situation regarding chess etiquette. Consider the following:
I went for an OTB tournament recently - rapid 15 + 10 time control. Organizers stated that recording ...
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"Premoving" in blitz over the board [duplicate]
I'm myself a lightning-fast blitzer, but some (Ha. All.) have better dexterity than me. Some specialists make their move even before I could hit my own clock. This is especially annoying when Fischer ...
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How do you keep chess fun when your opponent constantly beats you?
How do you keep chess fun when the only person that wants to play against you beats you all the time? I am struggling to want to keep playing, because I get smashed all the time, and it is not fun ...
CommunityBot
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can players continue the game on mutual agreement in case of mobile ringing and arbiter noticing
In a situation where a mobile phone rings in the middle of the game should the offender's opponent call the arbiter and claim the win.
If claiming is not needed and if the arbiter decides to mark the ...
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Is it sportsmanlike to waste opponents' time by giving check at the end of the game?
In Blitz games, with very little time left for both players, is it acceptable to keep on checking the opponent and waste their time and win the game on time? Is that true sportsmanship?
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Can a Chess Federation lower their NM title standard so people can get the benefits of it?
From what I read in the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_title#National_titles it mentions
Some national chess federations award titles such as "National Master"
(NM). ...
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How to discourage distracting behaviour by a teenager?
I’m showing a 12 year old male how to play chess. While he has amazing abilities, he plays with the captured pieces, jumps around, leans over the board, knock pieces over that are still on the board. ...
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Is it ethical to tell your opponent how you are going to checkmate them?
I play online chess at 3 days per move. I like to tell my opponents how I'm going to checkmate them if they will never win. That way, that I won't waste time continuing the game. I also like to be ...
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In a online game, is it considered good etiquette to offer a draw when the opponent obviously misclicked?
For example, instead of capturing (and therefore exchanging) the queen on d8, white moved his queen from d1 to d7, and black can capture this queen for free. This is very likely the result of a ...
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Actual cases of a "frivolous draw offer"
Having been inspired by a recent question here, here is another.
FIDE §E11.5 prohibits "unreasonable offers of a draw". Some specific cases which might get frowned upon by your opponent, ...
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Can black make a draw offer?
I am playing a chess game and my opponent is black and he asked me if I would accept a draw since I have a King and a Knight while he has a King and a Bishop. I told him that he can make an offer and ...
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Do you say "good game" after a game in which your opponent played poorly?
Suppose you win a game in a noncompetitive way, when you know your opponent cannot feel good about his play. Maybe he dropped his queen early, to a simple tactic that should have been evident for a ...
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Is it bad etiquette to decline a draw offer when participating in a simul?
On LiChess, FM knightprince gave a simul where I participated (our game). I blundered a pawn played a pawn gambit, but managed to complicate things and won it back. Afterwards, the game would have ...
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Why is it inappropriate to take a photo with the trophy according to Carlsen?
In the press conference (at about 44:20) of World Chess Championship, Maurice Ashley invites Nepo and Carlsen to take a photo with the trophy but Carlsen says that he finds it inappropriate. Why is ...
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Why do some players consider it rude not to accept a rematch in online blitz? [closed]
I play a lot of online blitz, and frequently my opponent would offer a rematch after a game. Although I sometimes accept, I usually am more interested in analyzing the game to see if I can learn from ...
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What is the etiquette (or tournament rule) for the act of capturing a piece?
There are a few different possible ways of capturing an opponent's piece. You could:
Pick up both your piece and their piece simultaneously with both hands, then set your piece down where their piece ...
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Why do GMs repeat moves instead of offering a draw?
Watching recaps of the 2021 Candidates Tournaments, so many games end in consecutive repeating moves. I have a general impression that lots of top level games are drawn by repeating moves. Why do the ...
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Accidental moves in online chess
If your opponent makes an accidental move, e.g. by slipping the mouse, and it is obvious that is was accidental, how should you continue? Should you just play the best move as if your opponent's last ...
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How to minimise your opponent's fun in a game?
I play numerous online chess games and in this question I am self-centred: I play for two purposes:
to win the game, or when winning is unlikely, to draw the game.
to improve my chess skills, which ...
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Is analysing moves on separate board in correspondence chess ethical?
In Lichess, any form of external help (e.g. engines) is forbidden, even in correspondence chess. However, there is an option to open a separate board where one can make unlimited scratch moves.
I ...
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When you are winning, is it ethical to not go for a checkmate right away?
If you are leading a game, is it ethical to capture your opponent's pieces one by one or go straight for checkmate?
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I provided water bottle to my opponent, he drank it then lost on time due to the need of using bathroom. Is this unethical?
Many years ago, I was playing in a chess tournament. We had been at the board for at least three hours. My opponent had spent the entire time at the board trying to find good moves. I had the better ...
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How should one resign properly?
In some of the tournaments I've been to, there were pretty indecent people (some of whose licenses were revoked).
One of my friends had a terrible incident. At the end of the game, he was dominating ...
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Can Black always choose seating position and clock position?
Watching tournament and competitive club play, players playing black sometimes switch the clock to their dominant side before the game starts without asking.
Presumably, having the clock on your ...
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Is it forbidden to laugh when playing in a chess tournament?
I have read this, but it still hasn’t filled my brain yet. When I play chess, sometimes I'm often laughing and putting some pressure on my opponent. Is it forbidden in legal game? Is there a rule ...
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Resignation when a draw is offered
In a recent online game, I offered a draw when the endgame is clearly drawing. To my surprise, instead of replying to my draw offer, my opponent resigned. I have no idea why they did so and my best ...
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Are there any grandmasters who always play until checkmate?
Are there any high-level players who are either known for playing games out until the bitter end or have done so in famous circumstances? Is this considered poor etiquette (I'd imagine it would be ...
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Is it bad etiquette to keep playing in a clearly hopeless position?
Recently I played a blitz game (5m+5s) with an opponent with rating 1500+. I had a clearly losing endgame (K vs KQ). My opponent was not under any time pressure but he made a blunder and the game ...
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Is it bad etiquette to try to make an opponent lose on time when a position is clearly drawn?
The other day I was playing a rapid game (30 minutes each side) online. I got into time trouble but I managed to convert the position into a drawn endgame. (Not just a theoretical draw—a clear draw ...
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What are the rules around talking/ communicating during a chess game?
I heard in a youtube video that you are not allowed to talk to your opponent unless you are saying check or checkmate. Obviously, this rule is loosely enforced in casual play, but is this true?
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