There is a tournament parameter for timeouts. Default is at 10% which seems high to me. I’m at 2.5% timeouts. I lost a few games when I was at a bothy with no wifi.
Anyone can have stuff happen that means they miss moving in time. Timing out from a lost position instead of resigning is just bad manners though.

I think no grading points are awarded with lessthan 4 moves. So if someone signs up for a tournament and never makes a single move, a per a current one of mine, nobodys grades are affected.

Crazy legs I really enjoyed that last game thanks, for a couple of moves in the middle I thought I was almost going to be able to counter. Apologies in advance if I am a bit slow moving until the weekend

Just lost the r2 games to nosedive and JLyon. It’s brutal at this level – no margin for blunders at all.
Probably should spend more time for each move , I’m used to playing 5min games.

Just lost the r2 games to nosedive and JLyon. It’s brutal at this level – no margin for blunders at all.

@dti – you were doing very well until the queen move – I can see you wanted to force a queen exchange but you missed the knight fork. I actually felt a bit embarrassed making the move, sorry about that! It was a very good game up until then. I’ve had similar games turn on a single blunder so I know how you feel. If you’re up for a 15 or 30 min game anytime, drop an invite.

The Championship tournament is quite embarrassing too, I’ve won the majority of my games on timeouts. One game I should have lost and the guy just abandoned. One game the other guy should have finished me off a while ago but he doesn’t seem to know his endgames so I’ve clawed my way back to level pegging. And the 800 level player who was suspiciously good has vanished, I’m assuming someone reported him for cheating.

The Championship tournament is quite embarrassing too, I’ve won the majority of my games on timeouts. One game I should have lost and the guy just abandoned. One game the other guy should have finished me off a while ago but he doesn’t seem to know his endgames so I’ve clawed my way back to level pegging. And the 800 level player who was suspiciously good has vanished, I’m assuming someone reported him for cheating.

Which is the advantage of playing games with people here on STW that you sort of know. Nobody is going to be a dick. Though to be fair the worst I have had on Chess.com is people joining a tournament then not playing any games and one bit of vacation abuse.

Though to be fair the worst I have had on Chess.com is people joining a tournament then not playing any games and one bit of vacation abuse.

This Championship Tournament clearly states that it’s a demanding schedule, lots of timeouts etc, please don’t enter (or please withdraw) if you don’t think you can handle it etc.

% timeout at the moment is 85% ! That’s insane. I’ve just won another game after 59 moves each, the guy didn’t make it back in time – whether he abandoned intentionally or not I have no idea although he might have been feeling pissed off after I blundered, he had the advantage and should have won but had no idea how to finish it off and I managed to crawl back to level pegging. Maybe he got upset at that?

I’ve only got 4 games left in this first round and so far I’ve won 12 games on timeout and only 6 games through checkmate/resignation. Based on everyone’s rankings I’d have expected about a 2/3rds win rate, not an 80%+!

I’ve only got 4 games left in this first round and so far I’ve won 12 games on timeout and only 6 games through checkmate/resignation. Based on everyone’s rankings I’d have expected about a 2/3rds win rate, not an 80%+!

The only issue with too many games being won on timeout (where you weren’t clearly ahead) is grade inflation. Which matters if you are entering tournaments with an upper grading limit close to your grade.

Lost my first game in the Championship tournament today (albeit against a higher ranked player). I’m winning the other game against him.

Out of 22 games, it’ll be 20 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss. That isn’t as impressive as it sounds – a majority of those wins were simply timeouts.

Anyway, STW T5 is drawing to the conclusion of it’s current round, looks like the next round will be starting in a couple of days or so. Should give a final round of 5 of us I think?

Tournament 6 is ticking along nicely 51% complete now. I do like the format of playing both as white and black concurrently.

In one of my non STW games my opponent has offered a draw. We both have Kings and 2 rooks. But I am 5 pawns up!

Hmm. Need to think

@irc ‘s favourite, the mighty Stafford Gambit got me a win against @2bit in STW T5.

I actually feel a bit bad on this now, I’ve progressed a fair bit since the start of the STW tournaments so I might bow out of any more since my rating is now 1600 which is rather unfair on everyone else. However, huge thanks to everyone who’s played, I’ve learnt loads. Looking forwards to the final couple of games. 🙂

Quite amazingly, I’m through the first round of the Championship tournament too. The only guy who could have got a higher score overall timed out a couple of his games. See how I go next round…

In one of my non STW games my opponent has offered a draw. We both have Kings and 2 rooks. But I am 5 pawns up!

Hmm. Need to think

An act of desperation ;-0

And another draw offer. Same game.

6 moves later. About to lose his rook when my pawn queens. Expecting another draw offer any moment.

Has anyone else encountered cheating on Chess.com? I’ve played there for a few years now and never really thought about it but a few recent games have changed my mind on the matter.

I can’t say conclusively that opponents are cheating but post match analysis shows very high accuracy (these are low ranking games too ~700 rapid rating) with very little time taken per move (30 min games)

Has anyone else encountered cheating on Chess.com? I’ve played there for a few years now and never really thought about it but a few recent games have changed my mind on the matter.

There was an 800-ranked player I was paired with in the Daily Championship tournament that’s going on at the moment who was suspiciously good. He disappeared about half way through so I’m guessing someone else reported him for cheating.

That said, ranking doesn’t always tell everything, it can be artificially inflated if for example a lot of your opponents time out and it can be artificially deflated if you intentionally lose games (which people do, it allows them to enter lower ranking tournaments and “win”) or if you time out a lot of your games.

There’s a good YouTube channel from a guy called GothamChess who quite often exposes cheaters – worth a watch to see how it’s done.

Obviously it’s open to cheating. I mainly play daily chess. I have the theory that as there is no time limitation anyone who wanted to cheat would be operating at a higher level in the 1900 upwards bracket.

Short games can have very high accuracy because much of the game can be following opening theory. As using theory is allowed. Once a game goes into the middle game and up to 40 – 60 move territory players in the 1000-1600 range will always have errors or a blunder or two. If they don’t I’d be suspicious but I can’t think of any near perfect games apart from short games.

Tournament 6 is nearly complete. I for one, am keen to be in tournament 7 if anyone is considering arranging it : )

Me too (JeremyDog)

Me too (JeremyDog)

Ooh, another tournament where you can beat me ; )

Count me in (kprook) for T7 when it starts. Really enjoying these.

I’ve been playing in some Blitz tournaments on chess.com – there’s some going on all the time. Usually 3, 5 or 10 min time per player.

It’s quite frustrating, there’s been a few games where I’ve been way up, maybe a couple of moves away from checkmate and then run out of time. 🙁

Yes I have found that the 10 minute games are the best balance

gauss1777
Free Member
Me too (JeremyDog)

Ooh, another tournament where you can beat me ; )

2 crazy games! Skin of my teeth in both. I have really enjoyed playing people of a similar level.

How about a specific opening tournament? Perhaps a traditional opening like a French or Caro-kann?

Not the Petrov though… that just leads to draws right… :p :p

2 crazy games! Skin of my teeth in both. I have really enjoyed playing people of a similar level.

Indeed, I’ve enjoyed all the STW tournaments I’ve been in, but this has been especially good. It might be good to see if the same people want to go again, with anyone else interested free to join in.

So T5 and T6 are well on their way to finishing.

For the next STW tournament. Same as T5? Everyone in one tournament. Then after Round 1 the losers into another tournament. As per T6.

Count me in for T7 please (KevinPhilipsBong) 😊

So T5 and T6 are well on their way to finishing.

For the next STW tournament. Same as T5? Everyone in one tournament. Then after Round 1 the losers into another tournament. As per T6.

Sounds great, thanks irc. Please include me: Django2357
Personally I liked the two games against each opponent being played concurrently, as in T6.

Can you add me to T7 please ?

I am doing so badly at the moment. So so badly. But count me in anyway 🙂

Count me in please-Chessron99

Congratulations chessron I couldn’t get the W against Danny 😭. Happy with 2nd & looking forward to the next tournament.

ctk/JeremyDog/Tom

@ctk – That was an epic end game battle and the king v king + pawn ending is something that I’ve been running through endless lessons in Chessable.

Decent accuracy from both of us as well – 80+ (think you were 83.something and I was 81.something).

Yeah was fun. Just wish when I started getting my king involved I moved it up and across the board rather than just across.

OK. STW T7 set up. I’ve invited everone who started T5 along with CTK. Anyone else who wants in reply to this thread with Chess.com username.

Same idea as T5. Losers in Round 1 go into new tournament – T8. So everyone gets more than one round of games.
24 hours per move but vacation option open for anyone who needs extra time.

1 game at a time for each opponent. I’ve 20+ games in various tournaments just now. Another 10 becomes a stretch.

https://www.chess.com/tournament/stw-t7

Its an invite only tournament you may need to click the link in your chess.com messages to join.

Just seen the invite pop up. I’ll decline if that’s OK – partly because I feel bad winning most of my games in STW tournaments and partly cos I’ve already got a few other games on the go.

Having said about the winning, that’s only in Daily Play which I wasn’t great at initially. I’ve been playing the 10-min Blitz games a lot and quite routinely getting annihilated. Stupid mistakes, missing moves. My rating tumbled by about 200 points in a succession of defeats the other night. 🙁

@irc please could you send me an invite?

aejames on chess.com

ta

and thanks for organising again

@drew27

Invite sent.

Anyone invited can join at this link I think

https://www.chess.com/tournament/stw-t7/join/f307f2