Rant

Annoying things the person sitting across from me can do:


Shackey leg
heavy breathing
bad breath
lack of personal hygiene
constantly adjusting pieces
not putting piece in middle of square
banging the clock
banging the moves out
staring at you
talking to themselves
being late
being drunk
being a junior with a grate 1000 points below their true strengh
falling asleep.


I'm sure there are many more. Just letting of a little steam cos I'm having a bad over the board tourn at the moment. Ahhhh. Thats better!

The last one on the list got a good laugh out of me; i couldn't imagine ever falling asleep at the board. People actually do that?

Apparently Fischer fell asleep during a game. I think it was against Arthur Bisguier in '63. His opponent woke Fischer up and Fischer went on to win.

I'm bad at staring at my opponents. I like to watch people think. Some people just look at the board like they're comatose. I like it when people shake their heads back and forth while they calculate. I don't mean to do it to intimidate people I just like watching people's mannerisms when they're thinking deeply.

I don't mind if my opponent is drunk, and I encourage people to drink when they are playing me! lol 🙂

I played in Vegas once where I was out until about 4-5 in the morning, then got 2-3 hours of sleep, then played my next game at about 10 AM still having a pretty good "buzz" lol

I had one opponent here in Colorado who was going outside during the game, and came back reeking of weed.

The constantly adjusting of pieces is annoying no doubt.

Oh, I just remembered a couple more:

Saying check. Ok if the guys 8 years old or something, but not an adult. Please don't do it.


Pointing out the move they made if I was away from the board when they played it. If you don't think I will remember the position, why not take two moves, or give yourself another piece? Reset the board and say I was mated. Turn the board round if you think I have better position. Do anything just don't show me the move you made.

Originally posted by tuggernongy
The last one on the list got a good laugh out of me; i couldn't imagine ever falling asleep at the board. People actually do that?

Yeh, I had a guy do that on me. He said after that he had diabetes or something. I think it was because I was playing the Colle system.

He won the game.

Originally posted by TimmyBx
I had one opponent here in Colorado who was going outside during the game, and came back reeking of weed.

Weed relaxes some people and helps them concentrate better... i'm talking from experience of course.

Originally posted by hedonist
Oh, I just remembered a couple more:

Saying check. Ok if the guys 8 years old or something, but not an adult. Please don't do it.


Pointing out the move they made if I was away from the board when they played it. If you don't think I will remember the position, why not take two moves, or give yourself another piece? Reset the board and say I was mate ...[text shortened]... round if you think I have better position. Do anything just don't show me the move you made.

Check.

here is a list that I made a couple months ago of "mind games" I have seen at tournaments - some of them are duplicates of your list...

Complain about the pieces or board before the game
Eating at the Table (I have seen people eating full meals, not just snacks)
Constantly offering Draws (Kids love to do this)
Wearing sunglasses at the table
Making comments before the game to psych out the opponent
Wearing unusual or distracting clothing (cleavage for women)
arguing about stuff like the clock, use of a Monroi, etc
Not keeping score, or other rules violations, requiring a TD interaction
constantly moving around, sniffing, coughing, making noise
slamming the person's clock/slamming pieces
setting up your board, even if you have the white pieces.
Setting up your board, even if boards are already provided
Writing question marks after a person's move on your scoresheet
Having an attractive woman watch your game
Walking behind your opponent, and looking at the board over their shoulder
playing really slow on obvious moves/forced recaptures, etc
poor personal hygiene
constantly "adjusting" pieces
Playing with a non standard, or overly fancy board
Bringing a pet to the tournament
Having small children running around
Hovering chess parents

Originally posted by TimmyBx
(cleavage for women)

If she wants to show them off i'm sure she won't mind you talking about them... the entire game.

Originally posted by Trev33
Check.

Double Check!

Wearing unusual or distracting clothing (cleavage for women)

I expect "staring at your boobs" ranks pretty highly, for that matter.

People with yellow post-its next to their boards with "check all checks" written on it.

I'm sure there' a phrase banded around these parts about playing the position, not the opposition...