Repeating moves online

[Joey Stewart]

I'm sure you have experienced this situation online (and perhaps even over the board too) where you are defending someone's reckless aggression and find a way to block their attack... So they move the piece somewhere else to continue the attack.... Then you block it again.... They come back to the original square.... You have no choice but to continue to block, assuming it will be a draw.... They then play a blunder and lose the game.

Over the board it would be rare to see a game thrown away in this manner but online it seems surprisingly common when the opportunity to repeat presents itself, almost as though these players are so utterly belligerent that they would rather lose a good position then possibly concede a draw or play exchanges of any type whatsoever. Whatever the reason, I find an intense satisfaction in ruining the game of any player with that mindset of all out attack.

[Richard Bates]

It’s almost as if people don’t care about online blitz chess that much...

[Phil Neatherway]

It’s almost as if people don’t care about online blitz chess that much...

Perish the thought!

[Brian Egdell]

My own experience puts me, to my chagrin, much too often in the position of being the player who blunders and loses due to trying too hard to win an unwinnable game, and that is often in cases like you describe where I ought to repeat position and draw. I am particularly liable to do this if I had an advantage which I have thrown away.

From that experience I can tell you that it has nothing to do with preferring to lose rather than draw. Belligerence, though, does indeed come into it. Frustration at failing to win a game which I should have won makes me blind to danger.

My guess is that you can best interpret your opponents' suicidal tendencies in that light. And yes, enjoy the satisfaction!