Moral quandary

[jonwat]

An opponent offers a draw at move 1, stating that he is playing too many games and should not have started this new tourney.

I suggest he plays on a few moves to see which openings develop before weeding out his games.

The opponent then proceeds to (deliberately?) hang a piece at move 2, and repeats his draw offer.

I'd have been happy to take the draw if I did not get an interesting opening, but now I'm a piece up. Should I take the piece and hope for his resignation, or let him have his draw? The game is effectively over as a sporting contest.

[tellymetwise]

You can obtain additional information on your opponent this way:

search for his info:
wins/loss/draw = 1/3/9 (13 games total)

search for his games:
total number of games involved: 18

and have a peek at how many games he offered a draw. (almost all)

Conclusion: .... that's how you want to interpreted it. Maybe he can't even play chess but got lucky with the one "timeout-win" he got.

As long as your opponent keeps on playing, you can just continue with the game as any other game, though with the oppertunity to accept draw on every move.


NB.
A draw and a resignation will adjust the rating of the both of you.
A timeout will only adjust the rating of the player who times out, if less then 10 moves have been made. Else both ratings will be adjusted.

[tellymetwise]

Here is an example game of his strength, playing black.

I guess your opponent should be rated 1100, but with all the draws managed to stay at 1466.

I should say, that's a way to play chess at high level

[jonwat]

Thenks for your replies to this and my other post.

I see that you have traced my opponent in question, though I treed to avoid naming him outright. Perhaps you have faced a similar dilemma?

Anyway, I am going to play on. Perhaps if he doesn't like it he may go awol?

[tellymetwise]

as long as 70% of his games end with a draw on move one, I doubt he would stop playing, just for the fun of it.

Just imagine, you just grasp the basics of chess and manage to convince your ops (though not chess technically) to accept a draw as if being equal in strength.
I can only say, that seems more efficient then bluffing with a fake sacrifice. I doubt that that would get a 70% efficiency rate.

[leonine]

It's not your fault this person started too many games (or whatever other excuse they want to use). My response from move 1 would have been "too many games?! Then resign." Weather or not you communicate with him is up to you but definently take the piece without regret and show no mercey.

Remember that players are warned on the match start screen...."Once a match has started, games cannot be aborted. So don't start anything you don't plan to finish."

[skhasan]

As long as your opponent keeps on playing, you can just continue with the game as any other game, though with the oppertunity to accept draw on every move.

Does this mean if I reject a draw offer from my opponent and after some move, the situation turns worse for me, I can accept the same draw offer that was offered many moves back

I think, this is not true and you have to start the negotiation afresh. At least, in this site you cannot do that. What is the rule in OTB ?

[tellymetwise]

Hello Hasan,

No, this can only be if your opponent offers you a draw wíth every move.
As the repeated offering of a draw is against Chess Etiquette (and annoying), you will only see it on very rare occasions.


Normally a draw is accepted at once, or declined and later offered by the other player, when convinced it is a drawed game.

Exception on this will be when the draw hangs on one move. One might see this move in advance and offer the draw (which is declined), and later repeat this offer when making thé draw move.

Additional:
you have the three move repetition and the 50 move rule which can draw a game ... if claimed!

[afilby]

.....what is the 50 move rule?

[kwright]

I signed up for too many games--apology to the jonwat et al. tournament. I am simply interested in playing a few games, which is what I have now on my roster. I was not trying to fanagle my rating, nor do I care much for my rating. I am simply in this to play chess

[skhasan]

.....what is the 50 move rule?

If for 50 moves (100 plys) the following things do not happen, then the game is considered draw if claimed by either of the player -
- pawn move
- capture

For this, he should declare beforehand that he is going to count.

In this site, I think draw happens automatically if the situation occurs.

I feel any irreversible move should reset the 50 move count, i.e. a castling should be included in the above list of moves. Or is it part of it ? If not, any specific reason for that ? One I can think of is its rarety at the endgames.

Thanks tellymetwise for your replies to my queries and for all your over 200 posts. They are highly valuable and informative.

[tellymetwise]

I signed up for too many games--apology to the jonwat et al. tournament.

For future reference, there are a couple of better ways to handle "too many games", which are less conspicious

- Try to discern who are fast (daily) repliers and try to finish these games first. You have some spare time for the other games to leave them be, for a while.
- Try to discern who you will certainly loose from and resign. But do try to play at least a couple of moves. Normally, within 15 moves it will be clear who has won. And with every move, you gain 2 days extra thinking time.
- Wait to see if there are some new players who don't continue playing (time outs) I noticed that there is one player who hasn't made a move (yet!). This might take care of 5 games for you.

But above all, try to play your games throughout.

Offering a draw on move one will be only accepted better if you play amongst people who know the "true" value of your offer. Wheter that may be, "here he comes again ..." or "he has never done that before ..."