Wednesday 30 October 2019

Brave Sir Robin ran away

Speaking of taking a reputational hit as a chess player, I saw another example of this today.
I am currently playing in a club event, where a provisional draw is published in advance. So for the last week I knew who I was supposed to be playing this evening. More importantly, my opponent knew he was supposed to be playing me.
So when I turned up to the club this evening, I was not that surprised to be told that he had requested a half point bye, and that I would be paired against some one else. Even less surprising was that 10 minutes into the round, my original opponent turned up to watch the games. 
The trick he was trying to pull (and the club lets him get away with it), is to avoid having the black pieces against a stronger player. As I won my game we are now on the same points and will likely be paired in the next round, albeit with me playing black,

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We don't have any Sir Robins at our club, brave or otherwise, well not that I am aware. Sure, a half point bye is usually granted if requested, but we then don't see the person attend! I will keep an eagle eye out now. Probably convert the half point into a zero point bye, if it happens by design..