English Chess Forum

Firstly, hello everyone. Just joined forum and this is my first post.

I was wondering what people find the most annoying thing(s) when they are playing a competetive match. Whether it's an individual club match, or a team event.

I'll kick off with a starter for 10: 'Talkers/Whisperers'

So many times I have been deep in concentration (well trying at least) when I become more aware of the talking / whispering around me and find it difficult to concentrate. A quick "Sshhhh!" tends to quieten things down only for about 1-2 minutes before it starts up again.

Of course there are different types of talker:

1. Those who wish to have a full blown post-game anaylsis with their opponent as soon as they finish their game, regardless of how many other games are still on the go.

2. General talkers (who are actually chess players themselves, so should know better), who seem oblivious to the fact that people are trying to concentrate.

3. Spectators of your match who 'whisper' to someone standing next to them about how you could win, if only you played this, or black should play that, seemingly not realising that you are only actually 2-3 feet further away, and can clearly hear what they are saying!

There are more, but I'll stop there, as I can feel my blood pressure rising.

Is there something that annoys you as much as this?

Ken McNulty wrote:So many times I have been deep in concentration (well trying at least) when I become more aware of the talking / whispering around me and find it difficult to concentrate. A quick "Sshhhh!" tends to quieten things down only for about 1-2 minutes before it starts up again.

If I'm playing a game on a nearby/adjacent board, then I get annoyed by the "Sshhhh!", rather than the inevitable mumbling. That tends to be far louder and more sudden, so it's net effect is that it's far more distracting than the mumbling was.

This is a problem with some arbiters; their attempts to quieten people to the extent where they're making more noise by quietening people than they would be if they just let the noise continue. Which seems to be counter-productive to me...

Hi Ken,

I think I was distracted more by arbiters than players in my surprise 4NCL appearance that lasted for six hours earlier this month

LozCooper wrote:Hi Ken,

I think I was distracted more by arbiters than players in my surprise 4NCL appearance that lasted for six hours earlier this month

If you end up playing in the Big Slick International, It will be interesting to see whether I as the arbiter can disturb you more than the other 29 players combined.

This one is a difficult call for arbiters. I might well let a small amount of noise go if none of the players shows any sign of being disturbed, but as soon as even one is, I feel duty bound to quell it.

People who eat at the board. Not sweet eaters but
those have a bloody picnic at the board.

If it happens again to me I'm going to take out my false teeth
and start cleaning and picking at them on my side of the board.
Perhaps even dunk them in a cup of tea.

Let's see if he still has an appetite then?

I fail to understand why people don't recognise that putting chess pieces in a box is very noisy. Sure they are clearing up which is nice of them, but it takes about 5 seconds to do and I'm sure the players still playing would be happy to perform this function when everyone has finished. I often shout to tell people to shut up when the noise is completely unacceptable. Did this near the end of the London Chess Classic Open when me and the oppo were down to a minute or two each and Williams-Hebden had just finished and the crowd decided to start clapping and murmur loudly.

Andrew Stone wrote:I fail to understand why people don't recognise that putting chess pieces in a box is very noisy..

In a match, it can feel as if the player(s) still playing have been abandoned to their fate. It's much less annoying for the just the pieces to be reset, even better if the game result is indicated in the style used in the 4NCL.

Different things distract different people.At the recent Sheffield Weekend Congress I was distracted by a player who was drinking bottles of beer at approx 10:00 in the morning . Noise doesnt bother me in the slightest....

I once had an opponent leave the board for some time during the game and return with a McDonalds bag. He asked me if he minded him eating at the board, I thought nothing particularly unusual and said no. He then proceded to remove the bread from his Big Mac and eat the burgers, sauce, gherkins and all. At the board. With his fingers. Didn't bother to wipe his hands at all.

He shall remain nameless but it was an American player at the Lloyds Bank Masters sometime in the 80's. I was only 14 or 15. The only time I've refused to shake hands with my opponent after a game...

Happily I won the game!

Over the years I have been both victim and offender of being slightly noisy and distracting. Perhaps arbiters could be more stricter. Persistent offenders who are continuously disruptive should perhaps be warned. Maybe point deduction or being banned for a round penalty could change things.

Ken McNulty wrote:Is there something that annoys you as much as this?

Yes, people making list of things that annoy them and pointing the finger to complain.

Funny thing is, if I look at my opponents complaining about "distractions" during the game, it happens much more often to the people losing games than to the people winning against me. Go figure...

Paolo Casaschi wrote:Funny thing is, if I look at my opponents complaining about "distractions" during the game, it happens much more often to the people losing games than to the people winning against me. Go figure...

Or the people in massive time trouble. I seem to remember one player who continually left the room during his game - even when down to five minutes on his clock before a time control - and then complained about the whispers required to add the 15 minutes to the clock for the quickplay finish...

Hard to choose among:

(1) the gentleman who produced loud double sniffs every few minutes throughout the entire game;

(2) the second gentleman who cleared his throat every ten or fifteen minutes in a very deliberate manner (Erh-HERM!) - after a time I found myself waiting tensely for the next one, like that Chinese torture that involves slowly dripping water on to the same spot on one's face; and

(3) the third, much younger gentleman who chewed gum noisily and vigorously for the whole of our encounter.

(The first two examples were inadvertent, which I think is what's being asked about here. Deliberate distraction probably belongs on its own thread. But I'm uncharitable enough to believe that the third was at least partly intentional.)

LozCooper wrote:
I think I was distracted more by arbiters than players

Simon Ansell wrote:The only time I've refused to shake hands with my opponent after a game...

Simon, I'm always wary of shaking someones hand after they have excused themselves from the board stating that they are "nipping to the loo", then make it back to the board in suspiciously quick time!