Opponents who "helpfully" write their name on your scoresheet

[Paul Habershon]

I am surprised that this is such a sensitive issue. I have very rarely had an opponent commandeer my score sheet without asking and it doesn't annoy me if they do. If I haven't memorised someone's name from a glimpse at the match sheet I could well ask them to write it for me, especially if it's Polish or similar and spattered with z's and k's. I quite like the idea of asking an opponent to write their name for me if they are famous or perhaps a junior who may become prime minister. I never played Rachel Reeves but she is not far off that post.

If someone asks for my name I have occasionally offered to write it for them, rather than dictate it, if I haven't already written it on my own scoresheet for them to copy. My surname can produce several variations, one assumption being (Miss) Havisham from Great Expectations.

[John Upham]

One way to raise ones opponents blood pressure is to enter the name of the opening incorrectly on a score sheet that has a field for it.

To hit the jackpot you could record the score (result) of the game at the beginning in one's own favour.

Hopefully someone will explain which FIDE rule is being broken in each case.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi John,

I suppose in the first case it could be deemed as a reminder of what you are going to play therefore infringing some rule about using your score sheet to aid you. In this respect is marking the time control (by a circle on say move 40) allowed. You are consulting something you have written down before the game starts.

As to the second instance giving yourself a 1-0 as White. I'm not sure. Is there a 'this could cause embarrassment to oneself' rule. ( a rule I've broken many times with the moves I have made...the posts I have posted...the jokes I have cracked...the clothes I have worn...the list is endless.)

[IM Jack Rudd]

Marking the time control is "matters relating to a claim" and therefore allowed.

[David Williams]

I've never done it. If someone does it to me I don't care. It's marginally useful. I probably won't be selling bound copies of my scoresheets in pristine copperplate.

If someone did it on the board next to me I'd see it as trivial. In any case it would be before the game started. But if someone made a fuss about it I would find that annoying and distracting.

[Andrew Zigmond]

My two cents. It also irritates me when an opponent does this although I generally appreciate it's done to be helpful so not worth kicking up a stink about. Given that the player can pretty much only do it in his opponent's absence it may be done to allow for the possibility that the opponent may arrive after the clocks have been started and then have to disturb neighbouring players by asking for the opponent's name (if a team sheet isn't readily available).

An opponent did do this to me at Blackpool last weekend although it was partly my fault as I was late and also he only did so on the detachable slip at the top and not the part of the scoresheet I retained.

[Alistair Campbell]

I experienced a variation on this theme last night when my opponent "borrowed" my pen between me writing my name on my scoresheet in advance of the game and returning to my seat to start. I'm used to being baffled at the board, but not normally that early.

[Derek Sinclair]

nothing wrong with what the OP described. Happy to write down my own name and ask them to do theirs, then we swap back.

Chess etiquette and all that

[Andrew Smith]

I actually find it quite helpful as long as their handwriting is decipherable. But one issue that does sometimes cause me a problem occurs because of my dreadful habit of turning up late to matches. Sometimes, the teams teamsheets inadvertently get covered up by the match captains, and because I don't want to disturb things, I sometimes start games ( and even finish them !) without knowing who my opponent was
It's maybe the environment or my my opponents demeanor, that might deter me from asking who he is. It happened a couple of weeks ago in an away match at Wimbledon. I arrived 15 minutes late, couldn't see a team sheet of either captain so I just sat down and played
It was board 1, so I knew he must be a strong player, and once the game got going, it didn't really matter who he was as I was going to try and beat him anyway! At some point he overtook me in time consumption, and I took the oppotunity to ask a team mate who I was playing but his reply was I guess, useful but not completely helpful !
He just said he's an/the IM.....?!
The game ended, still without me knowing who he was. But we exchanged a bit of analysis and discussion about the game and he was a very pleasant chap. I still didn't find out exactly who he was until after the match had finished , when i asked one of their team

[NickFaulks]

I sometimes start games ( and even finish them !) without knowing who my opponent was

I do that routinely - the glasses I find best for playing chess are useless for reading. You find out when the match result appears on the league's website.

[Roger de Coverly]

I do that routinely - the glasses I find best for playing chess are useless for reading. You find out when the match result appears on the league's website.

Those of us who maintain a meticulous database of who we've played and the result will always want the details of opponents. If you include scorebooks, the database can date back more than fifty years.

There's always the question , "do you have a grade/rating?". One answer is "yes", otherwise it can be a bit like disclosing what you play against the Sicilian.

[Mick Norris]

I sometimes start games ( and even finish them !) without knowing who my opponent was

I do that routinely - the glasses I find best for playing chess are useless for reading. You find out when the match result appears on the league's website.

That's interesting Nick, I stumbled across using my reading glasses when playing a while back, and found it an improvement to just putting them on to write down the move

As for the original point, is this a Yorkshire thing?

[Jon Tait]

Everything about my opponents irritates me.

[Jon Tait]

And it seems no one has any argument with that.

[Peter Ackley]

Sometimes not knowing who your opponent does help. In the London league I beat an IM with 1.c4 g5 - I had no idea who I was playing. In the Frome congress, after a Saturday evening sampling fine ciders I failed to read the pairings correctly and thought I was playing someone graded 120. It was a hard-fought game where we both went to the wire with me trying to grind out a win with bishops of opposite colours. Only after the game when I could focus better did I realise my opponent was on the line above and graded 220.

I can't disagree with you Jon as how you feel about other people is down to each individual. It's who you are and no-one has the right to challenge this (within, of course, reason). I know, for example, that my failure to put my pint glass on a beer mat irritates you!!!