Strange But True

I used to write an article called "Strange But True" for a chess magazine years ago. It was a compilation of strange things that happened at chess tournaments. Well, today I'd like to share something with my chess friends that would've been a candidate for that theme.

I was playing in a tournament in Warren, Michigan today when there was some commotion by one of the top experts sitting next to me on board 5. Vestor Wilson is his name. For those of you who don't know Vestor, he's an ex-rated Master and makes his living hustling chess Experts and below for $5 bucks a game.

In fact, Vestor plays so much speed chess that while playing in the tournament he could often be found playing blitz in the next room for a few dollars per game while his tournament clock was running. Needless to say, this did not make Vestor a popular man and after many complaints he was forced to stop playing blitz while his game was in progress.

So we're playing in a Game in 75/min which really means you set the clocks at 70 min and turn on the 5-second time delay. Of course even 75 min for a game is way to much time for a speed addict like Vestor and when I looked over during the commotion I saw that Vestor had 45 min left on his clock while his opponent only had around 20 min. But Vestor, used to his style, was slamming pieces down as if he was on his last minute in sudden death.

Yeah, making instantaneous moves and slamming the piece down is a psychological ploy some players like to use. It often aggravates their opponents to the point that they start moving quickly - something you never want to do against a blitz master.

And so it was that Vestor's opponent became razzled and BAM! BAM! BAM! Vestor promotes a pawn to the queening square - see's there's no extra queen piece available because the queens are still on the board, and slams down a bishop to replace the pawn then smashes the clock.

All this was very annoying, especially for myself, cause I was losing my game to an Expert who misplayed the opening but was beating me anyways. 🙁

So then as I'm trying to think through a deep combination Vestor jumps up and screams at his opponent! "You can't do that!" and he reaches down and moves the guy's rook back to where it was saying, "It's pinned!" .

They start arguing... Vestor calls for the TD. His opponent calls for the TD. Everyone looks at the position. Vestor claims that his opponent made an illegal move because his rook is pinned to his king by his 2nd queen. His opponent says, "That's NOT a queen! You promoted it to a Bishop!"

Oh, lordy, lordy... ""That's NOT a bishop stupid! That's a QUEEN! There ARE no queens available so I put a bishop on the square! Vestor screams.

So now the question comes up... when he pushed the pawn to the queening square did he say "Queen"?

Now all the games around us have stopped. And people are asking me (cause I was sitting next to him), "Did he say 'queen'?" Vestor admits he didn't say "queen", but argues that it was the only logical choice.

The TD looks confused... Heck, we're all confused. After a brief moment to regain his composure the TD asks Vestor again, "Did you promote the pawn to a queen?" Vestor says, "Yes". Then he asks, "Did you announce that you were promoting the pawn to a queen?" Vestor said "No, it was obvious".

So the TD ruled that the promoted piece was a bishop! Cost Vestor his win, but ya-know somehow I can't feel sorry for the guy.

Seems like the correct call by the tournament director.

Originally posted by arrakis
I used to write an article called "Strange But True" for a chess magazine years ago. It was a compilation of strange things that happened at chess tournaments. Well, today I'd like to share something with my chess friends that would've been a candidate for that theme.

I was playing in a tournament in Warren, Michigan today when there was some commotion by ...[text shortened]... but ya-know somehow I can't feel sorry for the guy.

Had you still been writing that article, no doubt this would've made it.

Good post, recced.

That is a great story.

Originally posted by arrakis
I used to write an article called "Strange But True" for a chess magazine years ago. It was a compilation of strange things that happened at chess tournaments. Well, today I'd like to share something with my chess friends that would've been a candidate for that theme.

I was playing in a tournament in Warren, Michigan today when there was some commotion by but ya-know somehow I can't feel sorry for the guy.

Good story, but I like chess hustlers so I feel bad for Vestor. 🙁

Wow.... good story. Playing OTB can be far different than playing online. A friend of mine who's a local hero in chess, so to speak, represented his hometown to this regional tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia some years ago. Some GMs and IMs from around the region were also competing.

It happened that he was up against an IM in a very difficult game. And then in the middle game, my friend blundered and lost a piece. But the game was so closed that even a piece up, the IM found it very difficult to penetrate through. It seemed that my friend's position was at the brink of desaster, but somehow he managed to hang on. That's how the game went on for quite a long time. In the end most of the other games were over, and people were already concentrating on this particular board. Then suddenly the IM offerred my friend a draw. He was taken aback. He was down a piece and apparently had no chance for a draw even, let alone a win. It didn't take him long to accept the draw. And so that was the official result of that game.

That night when they were all having dinner together at the hotel lobby, my friend met the IM again and was curious to know the reason for offerring the draw. Imagine how my friend felt when the IM told him that actually when the IM offerred the draw, his flag has dropped! For some strange reason, nobody paid attention to the clock! Actually, my friend won that game on time.

Now I am not very well versed about tournament rules. But I am just wondering, if a player's time if finished, isn't the game over automatically? Can a draw by agreement cancel out the time factor?

Originally posted by ckoh1965
Wow.... good story. Playing OTB can be far different than playing online. A friend of mine who's a local hero in chess, so to speak, represented his hometown to this regional tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia some years ago. Some GMs and IMs from around the region were also competing.

It happened that he was up against an IM in a very difficult game. ...[text shortened]... ed, isn't the game over automatically? Can a draw by agreement cancel out the time factor?

Indeed, the win must be claimed for the game to be won (Although I have no experience with this as I've only very rarely played OTB.) I clearly remember a story in "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" where Tal's opponent's flag dropped, and Tal's coach (Maybe team captian, friend, or other relation) had to hold Tal's hand back from making a move or the win would not have counted and the game would have continued.

Originally posted by cmsMaster
Indeed, the win must be claimed for the game to be won (Although I have no experience with this as I've only very rarely played OTB.) I clearly remember a story in "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" where Tal's opponent's flag dropped, and Tal's coach (Maybe team captian, friend, or other relation) had to hold Tal's hand back from making a move or the win would not have counted and the game would have continued.

Is that allowed? Can a non-player intervene like that? Surely that is unfair?

Originally posted by arrakis

So now the question comes up... when he pushed the pawn to the queening square did he say "Queen"?

In Finland that does not matter. If one wants to promote pawn to a queen, one has to go and find a queen. And putting rook upsidedown isnt allowed.

I am amazed Vestor (if he is such an experienced player) was that naive.

Originally posted by ckoh1965
Is that allowed? Can a non-player intervene like that? Surely that is unfair?

no thats not allowed. No outsider can intervene.

Originally posted by ckoh1965


But I am just wondering, if a player's time if finished, isn't the game over automatically? Can a draw by agreement cancel out the time factor?

no. he must claim win on time before the game is over.

I was under the impression (though I may be mistaken) that if a player runs out of time and neither play notices it, but a player notices it later on, then the player with time remaining wins(except when the player with time has insufficient material to mate, in which case it's a draw). A quite interesting scenario would be when both players eventually run out of time, without the other one realizing it, and they keep playing far beyond the original time controls.

Originally posted by chesskid001
I was under the impression (though I may be mistaken) that if a player runs out of time and neither play notices it, but a player notices it later on, then the player with time remaining wins.

No, and I've seen players who resign a game then look and see that their opponent's flag is down, but they lose anyway because they didn't call the flag drop before the game concluded. Once the game is concluded, such as resigning or agreeing to a draw, the clock means nothing.

Originally posted by leepound
That is a great story.

Thanks to you and everyone who gave me support. I really appreciate the feedback.