Answers.Body: <p>I do not know what other players do. I pause because I</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>have time on the clock,</li>
  <li>am (at Lichess classical 1590) not a strong player,</li>
  <li>am not a quick calculator,</li>
  <li>have insufficiently memorized some basic mating patterns, and</li>
  <li>do not wish to blunder.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>If your opponent still has time left on his or her clock, do you know a reason he or she should not pause?</p>
  
  <p>When an annoyed online opponent of mine (usually an opponent who is losing) demands that I move faster, I merely</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>kill the chat so that I can finish the game in peace and</li>
  <li>block the opponent so that he or she need suffer no further annoyance in connection with me during future games.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Meanwhile, if my opponent prefers not to wait while I use the time on my clock to think, then he or she can always resign.</p>
  
  <p>Admittedly, it is indeed slightly impolite to run one's clock down <em>for the mere sake of running it down,</em> but I seem to encounter this peculiar form of impoliteness in no more than five percent of all games. When I do encounter it, I relax, stretch my legs, review the game's earlier moves, read a nonchess book, catch up on the news, do chores, attend to children, etc., and don't let the play bother me much. Otherwise, the time on a player's clock is the player's to use as he or she sees fit. A player owes no explanation of a thinking pause, not even before delivering mate.</p>
  
  <p>A sportsman should probably not presume to instruct an opponent regarding how fast to think.</p>
  
  <p>As to whether cheating is occurring, I have no idea. I doubt that it happens much in my games. It isn't happening on my end; and on the other end, who knows? Insofar as cheaters are not especially targeting me and insofar as the online platform on which one plays makes a reasonable effort to detect and deter cheating, I have not found it profitable to worry too much about that.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-03-30T11:30:25.570Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-03-30T11:30:25.570Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: thb
Body: <p>Are they already so happy about the victory or is this behavior of the cheat program? I don’t believe in what they think over the simplest move.</p>
  
Tags: <checkmate><cheating>
Title: Why do people make a huge pause before making even a simple checkmate?
ThreadText: # Why do people make a huge pause before making even a simple checkmate?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-29)
  
  Are they already so happy about the victory or is this behavior of the cheat program? I don’t believe in what they think over the simplest move.
  
  **Tags:** checkmate, cheating
  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2019-03-30. Score: 2
  
  I do not know what other players do. I pause because I
  
  * have time on the clock,
  * am (at Lichess classical 1590) not a strong player,
  * am not a quick calculator,
  * have insufficiently memorized some basic mating patterns, and
  * do not wish to blunder.
  
  If your opponent still has time left on his or her clock, do you know a reason he or she should not pause?
  
  When an annoyed online opponent of mine (usually an opponent who is losing) demands that I move faster, I merely
  
  * kill the chat so that I can finish the game in peace and
  * block the opponent so that he or she need suffer no further annoyance in connection with me during future games.
  
  Meanwhile, if my opponent prefers not to wait while I use the time on my clock to think, then he or she can always resign.
  
  Admittedly, it is indeed slightly impolite to run one's clock down *for the mere sake of running it down,* but I seem to encounter this peculiar form of impoliteness in no more than five percent of all games. When I do encounter it, I relax, stretch my legs, review the game's earlier moves, read a nonchess book, catch up on the news, do chores, attend to children, etc., and don't let the play bother me much. Otherwise, the time on a player's clock is the player's to use as he or she sees fit. A player owes no explanation of a thinking pause, not even before delivering mate.
  
  A sportsman should probably not presume to instruct an opponent regarding how fast to think.
  
  As to whether cheating is occurring, I have no idea. I doubt that it happens much in my games. It isn't happening on my end; and on the other end, who knows? Insofar as cheaters are not especially targeting me and insofar as the online platform on which one plays makes a reasonable effort to detect and deter cheating, I have not found it profitable to worry too much about that.
  
  
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