There is a book about Blitz which contains rules - Blitz Theory by Jonathan
Maxwell, which has a forward by Walter Browne, the second edition is 2005,
first 1999, and is ISBN 0967775205. I can't remember if I reviewed it for
Chessville.


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I played an online 5/0 blitz tournament recently on a well-known
server; in one game, we came down to an ending with a rook and two
pawns on each side and no real distinguishing features except---- I
had a minute and a half left on my clock and the other guy had 9
seconds. He started repeatedly offering a draw. I did not accept and
ran him out of time and won.

He sent me a very angry message saying that the position was a dead
draw (true enough) and that I was REQUIRED to accept a draw. He was
to say the least unsportsmanlike in his language.

So! the very idea of blitz is to play a game taking 5 minutes - and time
management is paramount - that's the point of playing fast. Of course you
won this game fair and square! 1-0, no problems.

My contention is that clock management is part of blitz and that my
win was legitimate.

Is there any sort of written or unwritten rule about this?

Thanks for any insights from more experienced players.

See above.

I offer one more thing, which supercedes rules, and is no requirement at
all - but is a classy thing to do, if you can, and most of us would not do
it.

I know that in Lindsborg Kansas when Susan Polgar played World Champion
Anatoly Polgar, she had such a time advantage in one game on the clock, in a
position that was far from decided, that she offered a draw when she would
certainly would have won by simply playing more moves.

This is such a classy thing to do, that it supercedes any rules, just like
the spirit of the game is superior to whatever the current rules are. I
don't know about you, but offering a draw to a World Champion when you could
win is maybe not for us mortals, eh? But doing so seems more than merely
winning a game of chess.

Don't take this as a criticism - what would I do if I could win a game
against Karpov? I don't know. )) How hard it would be not to claim a fair
and square win!

I did once gave a draw to an IM in a simul who was lost because I felt sorry
for him, since he had been circling under the sun for 3 hours already, and
he was a good sport.

You are within your rights to absolutely claim your win, and if you want to
can claim more than a win, its a choice to join the Gods, such as in the
Polgar/Karpov example

Cordially, Phil Innes