Russell Sherwood Sunday, January 2, 2022
Dodgy Dealings
CC has always had a few areas where players have been manipulated. These were (and are) more numerous in Postal events but do still exist in server games, even with the advent of powerful chess engines.
A few to be familiar with:
- Draw offers in lost positions. Not as common as it used to be but this still happens on occasion.
- Soft draw offers – these often take place in the game chat rather than a formal draw offer. Usually these follow messages over several moves of how the position is drawn, how the evaluation is 0.0, how it is stupid to go on…… Here, the key is to evaluate the position for yourself: A zero evaluation is not a draw!!
- Soft abuse – this is tricky to show but game messages from opponents, which does not really meet the threshold for abuse but can be annoying or unsettling. Typically, this follows a draw offer that has been turned down. In of these cases, contact the TD, who can silence the chat.
- Chatty opponent: In itself this is definitely not a problem, but on occasion I have had opponents who attempt to initiate a detailed discussion, when you are short of time on the clock. I did think this was something that only happened to officials, but from talking to friends it does happen to others.
- Time Bandits – DMD and other issues are something of a issue, but a bigger issue can be some Tournament Directors who seem to have an issue identifying DMD. If you suspect your opponent is breaking the Code of Conduct and your TD refuses to act, ALWAYS, contact your National Federation. They can give an independent view and more importantly can support your ongoing appeal.
CorrespondenceChessTipoftheWeek
