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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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-2 votes
0 answers
56 views

King checkmates king [closed]

When talking about kings putting kings in check/checkmate, why doesn’t anyone talk about backing up the space(s) that you had intended to move your king along for said execution? When it comes to the ...
-2 votes
2 answers
640 views

Why don't Hikaru, Fabi & Nepo buy out Liren so the 3 of them have a playoff to face Gukesh? [closed]

Edit on opinion-based close vote: It's most likely. 1 of my assumptions is wrong. I mean to ask which of the assumptions are wrong. However, if none of the assumptions are wrong, then I think this ...
42 votes
6 answers
21k views

What are the actions one can do against chess.com players who stop moving when they are in an objectively losing position and refuse to resign?

One of my opponents at chess.com just stopped moving after falling into objectively losing position, refused to resign, and made me wait for 20 minutes to claim a win by time. I've recently resumed ...
3 votes
4 answers
433 views

How large can a rating difference become before either player realizes it's not worth engaging in a game?

I think the relationship changes as rankings increase. For example, players with ratings lower than 1000 might be able to play all other players in that range and still enjoy themselves, but if a sub-...
1 vote
3 answers
3k views

Can Alireza Firouzja be accused of tournament manipulation in the 2024 FIDE Candidates?

This question's been bugging me since the end of round 13. Firouzja had black vs. co-leader Gukesh, and lost. The result gave Gukesh a half-point lead over the field and strongly affected the last ...
-2 votes
3 answers
223 views

How isn't a time management extension cheating / unethical?

An extension was released 3 years ago in 2021Feb: Hikaru and GothamChess Tell You to MOVE (Time Management Extension). After a certain amount of elapsed time, you get notified by a voice of Hikaru ...
0 votes
0 answers
71 views

Ethics of scratch boards in puzzles

Re these questions: would a board for calculating "non-blindfold" help GMs in slow games? Ethics of scratch boards in live games There is a built-in feature of a 'scratch board' in ...
10 votes
1 answer
571 views

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 ...
5 votes
8 answers
4k views

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 ...
10 votes
3 answers
4k views

"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 (...
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

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 ...
26 votes
4 answers
6k views

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, ...
6 votes
1 answer
427 views

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 ...
4 votes
1 answer
191 views

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 ...
3 votes
1 answer
119 views

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 ...
1 vote
1 answer
257 views

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 ...
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

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 ...
2 votes
2 answers
499 views

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 ...
6 votes
1 answer
667 views

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 ...
3 votes
1 answer
383 views

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 ...
-3 votes
2 answers
604 views

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 ...
-2 votes
1 answer
514 views

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 ...
25 votes
2 answers
7k views

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 ...
14 votes
2 answers
2k views

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 ...
6 votes
1 answer
406 views

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 ...
16 votes
1 answer
6k views

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 ...
19 votes
5 answers
6k views

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?
11 votes
6 answers
3k views

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 ...
4 votes
2 answers
337 views

"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 ...
49 votes
18 answers
12k views

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 ...
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

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 ...
50 votes
6 answers
17k views

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?
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

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). ...
0 votes
1 answer
200 views

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. ...
27 votes
16 answers
9k views

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 ...
24 votes
7 answers
11k views

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 ...
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

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, ...
0 votes
1 answer
143 views

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 ...
42 votes
8 answers
14k views

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 ...
38 votes
3 answers
7k views

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 ...
2 votes
2 answers
559 views

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 ...
21 votes
5 answers
6k views

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 ...
17 votes
6 answers
5k views

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 ...
34 votes
4 answers
8k views

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 ...
18 votes
8 answers
2k views

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 ...
22 votes
10 answers
10k views

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 ...
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

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 ...
7 votes
7 answers
10k views

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?
15 votes
4 answers
9k views

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 ...
10 votes
5 answers
2k views

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 ...