This is usually what I do as well.

-Ron


How would you feel if you sat down to play a game of chess and your opponent
asked you, "Do you know how 'en passant' works"?

You should geive your opponent credit for knowing as much about chess as you
do. If in a game situation if becomes obvious that he doesn't know the move
then you can be generous as you wish. Remember though that tournament chess is
touch move and while you may not mind if your opponent takes moves back other
players might especially if it changes the tournament result. I'm rather
generous about take backs but not always and I wonder to what extent the
tournament director can penalize your or your opponent should this occure and
he knows about it.

In article ,
(PJDBAD) wrote:


This is usually what I do as well.

-Ron


How would you feel if you sat down to play a game of chess and your opponent
asked you, "Do you know how 'en passant' works"?


I'd think they wanted to have some idea whether I knew what I was doing
or not. This is a fair question when playing in a casual setting, since
a lot of people who say they know how to play chess really don't.

You should geive your opponent credit for knowing as much about chess as you
do.

Why? I'm not particulary good, but I know a hell of a lot more than the
average American.


--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

In article ,
Ron wrote:

In article
,
Harold Buck wrote:



She can! Well, sometimes, if it makes the position repeat 3 times with
the same player to move. Oh, and I guess she has to announce her
intention to claim the draw before she moves the king the last time.

In the game in question, my pieces were rapidly approaching her king.
It wasn't a threefold.


Yeah, I figured. Probably someone claimed threefold rep against her once
by shuffling their king three times in a game, and she didn't get the
full picture.

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold Buck wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Nick) wrote:
John A Swartz wrote in
message ...
Many beginning chess books, especially ones aimed at young children,
almost make it sound as if the player is obligated to say "check".
Since the game otherwise passes with few words, many kids probably can't
resist the opportunity.

Sometimes I have played against inexperienced players who have acquired
deeply held but definitely unfounded beliefs about how chess must be played.
On a few occasions, I have made a checking move without announcing it, and
then I have been accused of cheating by my opponent, who initially had
failed to notice that he or she was in check. I have found it even more
difficult to convince those ignorant opponents that capturing 'en passant'
is a legal move.

I have met someone who complained that his recently purchased chess software
must be defective, and he was considering demanding a refund after its return.
His computer opponent had captured 'en passant', an utterly unexpected move
that convinced him that there must be a 'bug' in the software! :-)

What I usually do, if I forget to find out if they know about en passant
before the game, is to explain the rule after they make a pawn move that
would allow me to make an en passant capture. I then ask them if they
would like to change their move.

Mr Buck, thanks for your suggestion. I usually (unless my opponent has
behaved obnoxiously) am willing to allow some take-backs in unrated games.
Unfortunately, sometimes my liberal policy has apparently encouraged some
of my opponents to believe that they can demand a take-back as a right
(while not offering it to me; I don't ask for it) whenever they please.

--Nick

In article ,
(PJDBAD) wrote:


This is usually what I do as well.

-Ron


How would you feel if you sat down to play a game of chess and your opponent
asked you, "Do you know how 'en passant' works"?

You know what?

You can usually tell by how someone has played up to that point if
they're likely to understand en passant or not. I've never asked a
casual opponent, "You know if you play that, I can capture like this,
right?" and had them say, "Of course."

So obviously I'm picking up on some sort of clue that prevents me from
asking people if they know the rule or not if they happen to be IMs.

I'm rather
generous about take backs but not always and I wonder to what extent the
tournament director can penalize your or your opponent should this occure and
he knows about it.

I've only had a touch-move situation in one tournament game. My
opponent's position was dead lost anyway, but I said I didn't care, he
should move the piece he wants to move.

He moved the touched piece anyway, which probably hastened his
resignation by a few moves but not by more than that.

Of course I had a slightly selfish reason for not wanting him to lose
because of the touch move. He was rated several hundred points higher
than me and I had him. I didn't want my win tainted. To be honest I
hadn't thought about the implications for other players, however.

-Ron