What's the best sportsmanship you experienced?

All Things Chess
41

I what was my largest prize ever, I was tied with another high A player going into the sixth round of a Thanksgiving weekend tournament in Memphis in the late 70’s. The organizers were on some sort of “no short draw” kick (supposed to be something like 25 or 30 moves) and both of us had pulled our share of upsets. The prizes gave us $300 each for a draw, $100 more for a final round win, and lose well over $100 for a final round loss. Such was the atmosphere that I didn’t even want to be seen with him when he started a polite conversation. Anyway, I went into the game with at attitude of play solid, don’t stick your neck out, play for a win if you can do so without risk, and don’t make your opponent mad. He offered a draw after about 15 moves which I accepted. The finally gave us our checks but later their club newsletter had an article with a headline of “Pre-arranged draws”.

If someone want to see real fighting chess in the final round, look on boards 2, 3, or 4 in the final round but please leave the top board out of it unless you want to open a new can of worms.

42

I seriously doubt that. It’s not because I think such a thing would be impossible, but because there would be no need. It’s fairly common practice where splitting first and second place would provide a much better payday than one player losing and being thrust into a large tie for second, for the players to not really play, whether they’re friends or not. If there is no player even close to being able to catch them in basis of rating, that’ll happen a lot. I seriously doubt there was any collusion.

Alex Relyea

43

I just had a young fellow compliment my strong move during the game. I just wrote about it here in the game of the week: cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/

44

I don’t understand the problem with the GM draw. Both players want a draw, so why can’t they have it? They’ve obviously played well up until that point and why should they have to risk losing lots of money when a draw would obtain it at much smaller risk. It’s the same thing you learn in chess…why enter a sharp variation, when you can enter another with good rewards and little risk?

45

Another example of good sportsmanship - I recently witnessed a rated game where the clocks had been set wrong. The time control was GAME/2 hrs, it was about time for the round to be over, and both players’ analog clocks were at about 6:30. They were both in time trouble, but the really amazing thing is that when one said “your minute hand just touched the mark”, the second agreed that he had lost on time!

46

He agreed incorrectly, too. In that situation, the player loses on time when the hand just passes the mark, i.e. when there is a white space between the hand and the clockwise side of the mark.

Bill Smythe

47

Best sportsmanship …

My vote goes to the Oklahoma Chess Team led by Team Captain Frank Berry. The annual match with the Texas Chess Team (known as the REAL Red River Shootout) is always challenging. Every board is significant towards the final outcome. Frank and his team always show a lot of class and it’s a pleasure playing no matter which side of the Red River you hail from. :laughing:

48

One of the best sportsmanship in chess that I saw was during the 1989 World Championship Candidates match between Karpov and Hjartarson of Iceland. It snowed before the scheduled start of the round. Karpov looking out the window of his hotel realized there would be delays in gettting to the tournament site so he left early and arrived on time.
Hjartarson didn’t realize the snow would cause delays (in Iceland they apparently clear snow from the roads faster than they do in Seattle.)
So Hjartarson was late for the match. But Karpov magnanimously declined to have Hjartarson’s clock started until he arrived.
Don Schultz

49

I am scratching my head to come up with “the best”, and unfortunately I don’t have anything to rival some of the great anecdotes here. Very enjoyable thread, btw. But also I have been watching the “best sportsmanship” thread slowly lose ground (in post #) to its evil cousin, the “worst sportsmanship” thread, in the past few days! :unamused: :open_mouth: So I did have one fairly trivial story from a recent game to share - to try to shift this back to center a bit.

(That said, I have a more entertaining one to post in the evil cousin thread… a little later. So the best I can promise is to not worsen the imbalance.) :open_mouth: :laughing:

Our club, I suspect, is not atypical. We have a nice range of adults in terms of age, skill, and background - for the most part, a pretty social and cordial group (until, of course, the games begin!). And several kids of middle school/junior high age - anchored by a master’s son and his friends - most of which the master either currently gives lessons to, or has recently given lessons to. And unfortunately, virtually no women - but that’s subject for a different thread(s).

Back to the kids. They make up about 20% of our numbers, and for the most part are pretty solid players - with ratings in the D/C groupings (and a couple B); pretty decent for that age span. And as many of you know (and also have the battle scars), these kids are typically on a sharp rating rise slope - with their calculated (fairly, based on cumulative performance) rating often trailing their true, current ability by something like 150-200 points.

Anyway I’m playing one of the youngest - maybe 11 years old - a young man that I had beaten once before, but not easily. And although he’s rated about 300 points below me - once again this night, he’s giving me a battle, really making me work. I am at about move 33 and in real time pressure (maybe about a minute left), and he - like most of these kids - has only used a fraction of his time. (That’s demoralizing in itself - their rising 1300-1400 appears much, much more effortless than my struggling/sagging 1450-1500… oh well.) The point is, in this game I have worked hard (for me) to win a pawn, and now with the endgame approaching, my King position, too, is superior.

So I should win this game. Except… there it is, that da*ned clock. Tick, tick, TICK.

After his move 38 I spot an advantageous Q-check, which I make. It looks like I’ll win another pawn with it, but then I realize I’m mistaken - he interpolates a piece with an attack elsewhere, negating my threat. But still not a problem, except… tick, TICK. 8 seconds; then 4. I grab my Queen and make another move that looks like a logical double attack, but not with check this time. I hit my clock soundly, as it reads: 0:02, indicating move 40. Ahhhh.

At this point I recall (!) that I’ve got a need to get up, long overdue, as I’ve had a couple coffees and water without ‘compensation’ for a couple hours. Having ignored that is now, I realize, physically uncomfortable. I mumble something stupid like, “ah, forty”… and start to get up. But now I see a look in the kid’s eyes that I hadn’t seen before - and it was a bit freightening, halting me in my movement out of my chair. Normally reserved, his eyes were bugging out of his head - and he was unusually animated. With a good balance of excitement and respect, he blurted, “But - you can resign, now.” HUH?!? Instantly it hit me. My King, although on the 7th rank, was effectively on the 8th as it was trapped on a2 behind my a and b pawns (on the 6th) - and he had clear sailing to the 7th and 8th with his Rook and Queen. My double attack was meaningless, as it would be an elementary mate in 2.

I stood up with as much composure as I could muster, but I was very upset - 0% at my opponent; 100% at myself. I had blown a won game on move 40 by inviting an elementary mate, and of course it wasn’t going to be missed. It was the second week in a row that I had made a serious blunder (although this was by far the worse of the two), and I was very upset at myself.

Here was the sportsmanship part. The young man was initially gleeful and of course, happy to cash in the point. In that he did NOT overcelebrate, certainly not for an 11-year old. But then, in about a second and half, he saw and understood my disappointment. His mood changed instantly, as he tried to console me(!). “Don’t feel bad. You had a winning game. You played great, and only lost because you had time trouble.” That attitude, of course, made me feel better about the whole thing and I congratulated the kid in a double measure for his win, and his sportsmanship. After all, I had as much time as he did - I just mismanaged it, which is very much a part of the game. He deserved to win for his better play (including better time management), and I was happy for him - particularly for the remarkable (given his age) compassion in my moment of ‘pain’.

Never happy to lose a point, I could at least really enjoy that young man’s reaction. Of course I related the story to my own kids the next day; my youngest is his age, and I’d hope she’d have a similar reaction to that kind of situation.

Btw, that kid’s rating has continued its climb - and will probably eclipse mine before too long. Good for him.

50

Be sure to mention this to his parents. They will appreciate knowing they are doing something right. :slight_smile:

51

KARPOV was a playing champion and too often painted as a villianous puppet of the evil Soviet Empire. I think he was overshadowed unfairly by following in FISCHER’s footsteps and never having the opportunity to prove who was the better player. He was a much greater threat than SPASKY and was cheated out of his destiny.

52

I disagree that he was cheated. Yes, it would have been great if he played Fischer, and as one of many Fischer-era fans I would have been rooting for Bobby. But at the same time, since Bobby defaulted - Karpov should not be (then, or now) denied in the slightest any measure of his championship. He was ready to play; his opponent forfeited.

Simple chess arithmetic: both had the opportunity, and Karpov proved himself better. 1-0.

53

Thanks; you are certainly right. His dad is always there, and although I’d not talked to him previously, I did say something about it to him afterwards - which he clearly enjoyed.

54

Snow in the Pacific Northwest? That never happens! I would expect Seattle to be “snowed” by such an event.

I went to college in Portland, Oregon, a similar location where it never snows. The one time it did in my four years there, there was a total of half an inch of snow, and it paralyzed the city. I was on a city bus when the driver discovered, quite by accident, the technique of rocking his vehicle back and forth to get it unstuck. Earlier that same day, I had seen an auto driver try to get to the top of a hill by gunning his engine all the way from the bottom. He made it up 3/4 of the way, several times, before sliding back down.

Bill Smythe

55

A number of years ago I played in a quad at the Manhattan CC when it was at Carnegie Hall. It was a very strange quad, 3 1800s and GM Ron Henley. I was #2 in the quad and played GM Henley in the last round. I gave him a pretty good game before eventually losing. He spent almost an hour with me afterward going over the game, and showing me where I had gone wrong and what I could have done to improve my position.

It was probably the best $20 I ever spent on chess. 3 rated games and a lesson with a Grandmaster!

56

A wonderful fellow named Harry Wexler told me after I beat him in the Unity Chess Open last Saturday,

“I just want you to know that you did not deserve to win that game! and that that tactic you used to get my rook was a BS tactic! And you’re not a good player! And you were twirling your pencil!”

I was then very much a sportsman when i did not hit him in the face. :slight_smile: I just told him he was a sore loser and told him off a bit. over 20 witnesses in the room can attest to the truth of this story.

After the confrontation with him though I could not calm down or stop shaking my legs. I lost my concentration and lost my 4th and final game and only tied for 1st when all I needed to do was draw it. I don’t blame Harry for me blowing my last game though as much as my decision to stop smoking cigarettes the day before and my decision to drink 4 huge glasses of soda during the first 6 hours of the 8 hour event. I was crashing hard from all the sugar and corn syrup and whatever else they put in that junk. 48 hours without nicotine probably wasn’t a super smart idea in retrospect either. :slight_smile:

57

Saw a very young player at a club tell a newbie adult about how one is supposed to behave before and after a game: shake hands before and after the game, follow the rules, not make excuses for losing, and try to learn something from each game. The new player told the kid’s parents that when the child was ready to play in his first tournament he would buy him a membership in the USCF. Bought hot chocolate for both of them. Money well spent.

58

Some possible snappy replies:

“If you couldn’t win a game I deserved to lose, then you failed to deserve to win even more than I did.”

“But, apparently, good enough to beat you.”

Bill Smythe

59

Harry does have a way about him. :wink: You should know it is never his fault when he loses.