Time Outs Revisited

Due to the storms crossing the central US the last few days, I was delayed in travel and had neither the opportunity to move nor to put myself on vacation status. Two of my opponents, both of whom were down either materially or in position, were obviously lying in wait to pull the trigger on the TO. Neither sent a message and both claimed their wins (and I use the term lightly) within an hour or so of the deadline.

While I have TO'd other players as well, I wait at least 24 hours before sending a reminder and another 24 after that. Why? Because I respect the game too much to take a cheap win. And because I respect my own ability as a player too much to take a win on a technicality when I have the opportunity to win (or lose) on my own merits. I play the very toughtest opponents who'll consent to play against me, which might make my rating somewhat lower than it would be otherwise but also shows that every one of my 1600+ points actually means something. If I wanted to use tactics like those of my two opponents, I'd have at least 250 points more than I do; and they'd be worthless points in my own eyes.

Well, I'm not going to give the names of these two short-fuse game grabbers; anyone interested can look them up in my archived games. But I will never play either again. If I cannot respect an opponent--and sad to say I have no respect whatsoever for these two loss-dodging clowns--I won't play him. So there are now two people, out of about 3,000, who are on my do not play list. I've never yet deleted a game, whether from a player with a rating of 900 or 1900. But I'll never play either of these two characters again. If you can't take a loss like a man, stay away from people who can.

While your opponents were within their rights to claim the wins, I tend to view timeout wins with similar disdain to how you see them. I've currently got two games going on where I could time my opponent out (no vacation flag either), but I'm still waiting a while, and have send a reminder and a PM to both. I'm hoping they'll move soon so that I wouldn't have to time them out.

I love the game, and do not want unfinished games to distort my rating to be higher than my actual playing strenght warrants. "Timeouts" in over the board play are different, because there the time you have on your clock is a part of the game - if you run out of time, then it's a time-allocation error in your part, and there's only yourself to blame. However, in correspondence chess dependent on the Internet, any number of things beyond your control can go wrong to delay you a day or two over the limit. For those reasons I tend to wait at least two days over the limit before timing my opponent out.

But since this kind of a policy isn't in the rules, nor is it "officially" endorsed, I can't really blame opponents who would time me out quickly if I missed my move-deadline. I don't like it, and wouldn't want those kinds of "wins" on my record, but people differ in the ways they value things, and I'll live with that.

-Jarno

How about this.

Player A fails to move and has exceeded the time out limit.
Normally Player B could claim the game regardless of the position.

I know it is less than ideal, but what is the 'site' then performed a plain piece value comparison. Say Player A is a Queen up => +8.

Then:
1. If Player B points > Player A points:
Player B can claim immediately.

2 If Player B points = Player A points
There is a one day delay given automatically before Player B can
claim.

3. If Player A points > Player B points:
Then for each additional point Player A is ahead, he gets an extra
day allowance (so if Q up then 8 days extra).

I know this cannot take into account positional advantages, but it may stop some of the disagrements.

Just a thought... 🙂

[I've also convieniently disregarded all the programming this would require 😀 ]

...that was a friendly invite w/ a smiley face🙂 No hard feelings

Originally posted by fexkorn
I think that gets too complicated. The rating system works the way it is. Ultimately, lost points now means increased points w/ future wins. Your rating is a pretty good indicator of where your skill level is. If you are particularly concerened, you could always play 14 or 21 day timeouts.

btw lazaraus...I seem to remember two very quick timeouts you ...[text shortened]... ke a couple of rematches w/ 7 day time outs given the fact that I don't play too many weekends.

You can't remember the game because it did not exist!!😳 I'm sorry to have called you out for something you did not do! It was someone else w/ a similar name. You have my sincerest apologies and a couple of challenges to boot.

Franklin

Originally posted by fexkorn
You can't remember the game because it did not exist!!😳 I'm sorry to have called you out for something you did not do! It was someone else w/ a similar name. You have my sincerest apologies and a couple of challenges to boot.

Franklin

I think the fellow with the similar name was probably one of the two characters who pulled the quick trigger on me 😉

Just had to vent steam there; the last thing a guy needs after being caught in storms during his Thanksgiving vacation is to drop two games to a couple of self-parodies who think the object of the game is to watch a clock and collect meaningless points under an equally meaningless alias. I was looking forward to finishing those games; who knows, if they had played 'em out they might have won on their own merits instead of meteorology's.

But then again... NOT! 😀

What, then, are time limits for? If we are to extend the timeout period for people that do not play, just make the timeout period longer, and then we really can play correspondence chess. Most of us just want to play chess, and it really is frustrating to wait, and wait, and wait. I assume RHP knew what they were doing when they put in some sort of limits to eliminate games that go on forever.

In basketball, does the losing coach say, "only ten more seconds! We were going to sink that 3 pointer!", or in hockey, or in football, etc. Now some might say that these games really matter, but a hundred game season, when almost every team makes the playoffs anyway? But I digress...

I am truly sorry that you had to lose a couple of games due to your situation, but really, how long are we supposed to wait? What IS a timeout period for?

Would those games be Game 319554 and Game 327772?

It's interesting to see thier other games and how often they have won by timeouts in other games. And one player is provisional still!

They have a right to timeout and I don't think it's unfair, just cheap.

Originally posted by emyth
What, then, are time limits for?

Originally posted by Coletti
Would those games be Game 319554 and Game 327772?

It's interesting to see thier other games and how often they have won by timeouts in other games. And one player is provisional still!

They have a right to timeout and I don't think it's unfair, just cheap.

I'm not convinced I agree with the general sentiment here. As a new, non-member player, who starts 7 day games, it does get annoying to have someone take even longer than that long agreed time. With limited games, I say take timeouts when they appear unless the vacation marker is on, for the simple reason that then you can play other games...

Originally posted by EddieT
Two of my opponents, both of whom were down either materially or in position, were obviously lying in wait to pull the trigger on the TO. Neither sent a message and both claimed their wins (and I use the term lightly) within an hour or so of the deadline.