Has your opponent ever left the table cause they were losing

[Paul Bielby]

Last week I was playing in a match against the opposing captain and I offered my opponent a draw. It was his move but he got up and looked at the positions on the other boards before deciding on whether to accept my offer. I would regard this as both legal and sensible. He continued the game and went on to score the decisive win for his side to take the match.

Once some 30 years ago back in the days of adjournments and sealed moves I had sealed a move. We arranged the adjourment at his club in Hartlepool, some 30 miles from my home. I travelled to Hartlepool to continue the game and as soon he opened my sealed move he resigned. Even though he no longer plays chess as far as I know, I've still not forgiven him for the wasted evening (and 60 miles worth of petrol)!

[Ian Thompson]

Once some 30 years ago back in the days of adjournments and sealed moves I had sealed a move. We arranged the adjourment at his club in Hartlepool, some 30 miles from my home. I travelled to Hartlepool to continue the game and as soon he opened my sealed move he resigned. Even though he no longer plays chess as far as I know, I've still not forgiven him for the wasted evening (and 60 miles worth of petrol)!

The reasonableness, or otherwise, of that depends very much on the position and the likelihood of you having sealed the winning move.

I had an adjournment some years ago that also involved a 60 miles round trip for me. My opponent had sealed a blunder so the game only lasted another 4 moves, and he realised during the adjournment that he had sealed a blunder. He was quite right to continue the game. I might not have seen the win. I couldn't tell him I had seen the win because there were other reasonable sealed moves that didn't lose on the spot, but where the same winning tactic could still have arisen a move or two later. Obviously, I didn't want to draw his attention to a possible winning combination if he hadn't seen it himself.

[Clive Blackburn]

I used to be in the habit, when it was not my move, of wandering around the playing area looking at the other games. One reason that I stopped doing this so frequently was an experience that I had at a congress in Manchester.

I returned to my board after one such wander and saw that my clock was running but I couldn't see what move my opponent had made. When I asked him he said that he was still thinking about it, so I pressed the clock button and assumed that I had simply forgotten to press it after moving.

This happened twice more, even though I was absolutely certain that I had pressed my clock after my move. It did occur to me that my opponent might be starting my clock as soon as I left the table, although that didn't seem very likely. Anyway, I decided to stay at the board and see what was going on. I didn't have long to wait - a few minutes later, one of the players at the adjacent board made his move, reached over and pressed my opponent's clock!

I called the arbiter and explained the situation and he agreed to make an adjustment to the clocks (although in my opinion it was not enough of an adjustment). My opponent claimed never to have noticed anything and the player at the adjacent board was very apologetic. I remained at the table for the rest of the game, which was just as well as I twice had to stop the same player from pressing my clock again! My opponent eventually got into time trouble and I won the game.

These days I only occasionally leave the board, perhaps 3 or 4 times during a game to stretch my legs and clear my mind. I always return to the board as soon as I see that my opponent has made a move.

[Lee Bullock]

I saw something like this at the recent Paignton tournament. One player was a few moves away from being mated. So he got up and said to hes opponent Im leaving you can win on time. He returned about 10 minutes later after hes wife had told him off I think lol. So he sat at the board but instead of moving got a book out and started reading lol. After about another 20 minutes and people shaking heads etc he finally resigned

[Alex Holowczak]

So he got up and said to hes opponent Im leaving you can win on time.

If I witnessed that as an arbiter, and I was able to get the player in question to confirm he was leaving his opponent to win on time, I'd immediately use 13.4d (declare him to have lost the game) on this rule:

12.1 The players shall take no action that will bring the game of chess into disrepute.

[Alex McFarlane]

Even if the player didn't admit it, the act of reading a book on his move is highly suspect. An explanation of that behaviour would be interesting.

[Alex Holowczak]

Even if the player didn't admit it, the act of reading a book on his move is highly suspect. An explanation of that behaviour would be interesting.

Absolutely. I'd be wary of awarding the game to his opponent if he was away from the board, and the only evidence I had was that the player had said his opponent was going to leave him to lose on time. Would be a good way to cause an argument when the opponent returns to see the board has been set up, and complaining that he'd only been to the loo!

[Stewart Reuben]

It is becoming more and more common practice to shake hands at the end of the game. Indeed, this was part of the rules for the Grand Prix. I wouldn't like to see it enshrined in the Laws though.

[Lee Bullock]

Even if the player didn't admit it, the act of reading a book on his move is highly suspect. An explanation of that behaviour would be interesting.

Well I witnessed what had happened. The player in question was annoyed with hes opponent just because he wanted to move the clocks back at the time control. The rule at Paignton was just to leave the clocks as they was. A very silly reason to be annoyed as the other player did not do it to annoy hes opponent. He was just used to moving clocks back at the time control.

And yes I agree surely reading a book at the board is not allowed? I dont think the arbiters did anything. I cant recall.

[Stewart Reuben]

Paul Cooksey >I think I recall seeing it as advice from a famous trainer, possibly Dvoretsky, that if the game changes suddenly and you have time on you clock, then take a walk and clear your head.<

If it is your move and if you only walk around the playing area that is acceptable - just about. If you leave the playing venue it is against the Laws of course. I remember the late Bob Wade leaving the playing venue at Bognor in the 1950s for precisely the above reason, but at that time it wasn't mentioned in the Laws.