The hell of speed chess

Somewhere in hell, there is a cavernous hall filled with row upon row of people playing online speed chess. Their games bear not a trace of exuberance or wit. Instead, these wretched souls are confronted with utterly sterile positions, perhaps a lone king and rook on each side, but their flinty, remote adversaries will not agree to a draw. Instead, they shuffle the pieces back and forth – a pointless rook check here, a king sally there, and before long our infernal victims have run out of time, and lost. They curse at the injustice, and yet the next game is groundhog day.

If you play enough games online, you too will run into one of these unscrupulous opponents, who stop at nothing in pursuit of the full point. In those miserable final seconds, I find myself overcome by a mix of panic, boredom and misanthropy. By contrast, I harbour no ill-feeling for an opponent who plays for time in a hopeless position.