I have a question regarding distracting behavior by an opponent during a tournament game. What is a player’s right regarding restriction of opponent’s behavior during a game? Let’s forget about the obvious breaches of etiquette. I’m concerned about more subtle behaviors. For instance, if your opponent spins a pen in his hand (or a piece) while you are playing, close enough to the board that you see it while you are calculating your move, and it distracts you from your thought process, can you ask him to stop? If your opponent stands behind you when its your move to the point that you can ‘feel’ him there, can you ask him to move? What if your opponent has very bad breath, and leans close to the board, to the point that you can smell it just sitting back in your chair? Can you ask him to freshen his breath, or not sit close to the board? It is my assumption that the determinant of whether there is a rule violation is whether an opponent’s behavior is distracting enough as to cause an inability to complete one’s move evaluation. I would appreciate a response from a seasoned tournament director in this matter.
Yes. Politely say “Please stop tapping your pen on the table.” In many cases it’s not deliberate. It may just be a nervous tic. On occasion I’ve had opponents ask me to stop tapping the stylus for my mon roi. Sometimes I get so caught up in the game, I’m not even aware of I’m doing it.
Yes. Once again ask them not to stand so close. This behavior I find tends to be a little more deliberate, so I tend to be a little firmer, but still polite in my request.
That’s a tough one. I don’t think people deliberately come to the board with bad breath. In fact I think some people are truly embarrassed if it’s brought up. You might bring a tin of Altoids to the board, open up, and tell your opponent to help himself. Periodically take one yourself. There are several members of my club that bring a tin of mints to the table, and pop one or two of them in their mouth during the course of the game. They always offer them to the opponent.
20G covers annoying behavior. “It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner whatsoever. A direct upon a complaint by the opponent has discretion to decide whether any particular behavior is in violation of this rule, and to impose penalties.”
As a player I try to resolve the issue with the opponent first before getting the director involved. If I receive this complaint as a director I try to work with the players to resolve it. Usually telling the player to stop is enough.
There’s no way to give a general answer to this. It’s at the discretion of the TD. If he thinks that the behavior is objectively distracting, he’ll tell the player to stop. But it’s not a blank check (“Make him stop looking at me” won’t fly.) It can only be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Polly and John,
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my query. I’m particularly happy to know that I am within my rights and the rules to politely request a cessation of annoying/distracting behaviors. I have been able to make these requests in more obvious situations (an opponent humming or tapping a piece on the table, but have been reluctant to do so when it is more subtle. Also, being a TD, I now feel more capable in addressing the matter in tournaments. So, thank you for myself and for any future tournament participants.
Chaitanya Neuhaus
Hope you do not mind my comment, it is not related to your questions but you may find it interesting if not amusing. I do not play in many tournaments, and because of that, I feel I was taken off guard.
I was in a tournament which was a mix bag of rating as low 1200 to 1900. My rating at the time may have been high 1500 or low 1600 cannot remember. I made it through the field quite well and taking out a 1700, and 1800+ player along the way. Mean while the one 1900 player was also having no difficulty and also undefeated. Must add the tables were set up in one long line, with your opponents across from you, and with other players on your left and right. We were given an hour and a half break before the final round, and I was seated at the number one table with the other undefeated player. So I decided to go to the gym, sit in the sauna, take a shower, and it really clear me up for the final round!
When I came back, the tables were rearranged, the number #1 table was taken away from the rest, and it was just one square table. Most of us brought our own chess sets, and he set his chess set up, and I said how they were not the standard pieces and his bishops looked alot like the pawns. He was very argumentative, so i got one of the director to decide and he agreed. Once we got passed that, we began to play, this lady, (found out it was his wife) pulled a chair right up to our table, with her short dress swinging her legs. I asked her if she mind moving back slightly and she did, about 1/2 inch. By this time this 1900 rated player if he was trying to disrupt my thoughts he totally succeeded, I blundered the opening and shortly after I just knocked my king over and left. I had not prepared myself for this part, I guess you can call it tactics. So now I only play coffee table chess with good friends!
I have an interesting question on this topic.
When I play a game I tend to eat a few Starbursts. You know, the individually wrapped chewing candies. When I say a few, I mean I bring a one pound bag for a three game tournament, two pounds for five rounds, etc.
So, I eat ALOT of them and have seen people laught at the stack of wrappers that builds as I play through a game. I always offer some to the players that sit around me and from time to time other players who know me will stop by and grab a few.
I wonder if me eating these could be considered a distraction. What does everyone think?
~charlie
by carerros on Fri May 21, 2010 9:28 am #191018
I have an interesting question on this topic.
When I play a game I tend to eat a few Starbursts. You know, the individually wrapped chewing candies. When I say a few, I mean I bring a one pound bag for a three game tournament, two pounds for five rounds, etc.
So, I eat ALOT of them and have seen people laught at the stack of wrappers that builds as I play through a game. I always offer some to the players that sit around me and from time to time other players who know me will stop by and grab a few.
I wonder if me eating these could be considered a distraction. What does everyone think?
~charlie
Do you Burp??
That’s funny because my friend, Wayne, uses Sweet Tarts to keep his concentration on the game.
Wayne will suck on a Sweet Tart while playing and that will help him focus and not move too quickly.
I actually like Starbursts better than Sweet Tarts. Do you think you could move to Illinois and come to Peoria? I would enjoy having some Starbursts to nosh on…
Well for the record, I don’t burp.
And I don’t think I will be moving to IL anytime soon. However, I’m from Milwaukee and I’m trying to get my wife to approve a trip home where I can also hit up a few chess tournments so maybe something in Chicago.
One never knows…
I, too, like to chew Starburst candy when I play in tournaments. It helps me focus on playing, and I think I do better with sugar coursing through my veins while playing chess. I have wondered if I was disturbing my oponent and surrounding players. I am very self-conscious about opening the wrappers, which I do do gingerly.
I’ve always had my suspicion that with younger players a sugar rush tends to worsen their game rather than improve it.
Well, I’m 30 so I don’t know if that puts me in the younger group or not. It is hard to tell with chess players where the age limits break down.
But I haven’t tried to play any regular rated games in the past year and a half without Starbursts. And I will say that my rating has jumped over that time but I have done more studing so I can’t give all the credit to the sugar.
I would risk a test to see if this is the case but I don’t want to lose too many rating points right now.
One player in my club eats energy bars during the game. The wrappers are really noisy. It can be distracting.
The answer to this is relatively simple:
Since you know this player will inevitably have some energy bars with him before the game, you simply come with some zip lock sandwich sized bags. They’re inexpensive. Before the quiet time playing occurs, present him with 2 or 3 of these bags asking him to unwrap the energy bars with their loud wrapping before the games start. He can keep the opened power bars in the zip lock bags nice and fresh until he wants to eat them.
I think the idea of constantly eating candy (or energy bars) is to avoid the “sugar rush” and subsequent let down. So, instead of a sugar high followed by a sugar low you get a continual influx of sugar to give you an added flow of energy. I have no idea if there is any basis in fact to my ‘theory’ of a sugar flow.
On another note I remember one tournament where I was sick, but still played in the event. There was a small playing room, and an even smaller side room for the skittles. My hacking cough was so bad that for one of the rounds the TD put me and my opponent in the side room away from the other games!
Finally, I have to ask about a snoring opponent. I have twice seen players lieterally fall asleep at the board during a game. In both of those cases they eventually started snoring. One time was in a small invitational tournament, and I do not know if the player woke on his own or was awakened to avoid the noise of the snoring. In the second case Jerry Hanken even wrote that he awoke on his own and then proceeded to blunder away the game. This was at the 2006 US Open in Chicago. At the time I got his opponent [who I knew] to look at me and then I put my hands together and tilted my head against my hands and closed my eyes. I then removed the pose, shrugged my shoulders and walked away. So, if the opponent doesn’t awaken or complain about the player should the TD wake the player if the snoring may be disturbing nearby games? Please note that my wording was chosed to indicate that nobody has complained to the TD about the noise of the snoring.
Larry S. Cohen
Also, addressing the ‘spectator so close you can feel them,’ are rules 20M1-M6, which state that spectators have no special privileges. There are some nuances about whether the spectator is also a player, and that directors still have discretion (repeated complaints with no apparent reason may be disregarded.) But the director does not have to investigate the facts whether a spectator is distracting or not.
Edit to add… I forgot to say Welcome to the Forums!
I’ve been fortunate that I’ve never played a rude opponent in a rated game. Well, I can think of one rude guy, but he wasn’t rude during the game itself.
HOWEVER, I’ve had numerous problems with other inconsiderate chess players who will not keep their noise out of the playing room. At one tourney, this contributed to my loss in the final round, a game in which I missed an easy win I normally would not miss. And if I would have won that game, I would have tied for first in my section.
Yes, this is a sore subject for me. 
I am also a TD, so I would be interested in knowing what TDs can do about players who are habitually inconsiderate toward other players. (Frankly, I would have no problem with, after one warning, booting them out of the tourny and banning them from the playing area.)
I’ve found that, if a stern warning doesn’t work, standing in the playing area glowering at them for a while usually does. Oderint dum metuant.
All good suggested solutions. There is another that is even more difficult, IMO. The heavy cigarette smoker who reeks of tobacco from six feet away. I don’t have a clue as to what one can do, short of just hoping he expires before the next tournament. Thoughts??
I too am very sensitive to smell of tobacco. I hate it when I’m playing a smoker or have people sitting near me who smoke. They come back from take a cigarette break, and about all I can do hold my nose until the smell subsides somewhat. Unfortunately I have no right to tell them to stop indulging in a nasty, smelly habit. As long as the player is not smoking in the tournament room or other places prohibited by the organizer or hotel, there’s not a darn thing we can do about the smell they bring back to the table.