Rematches

I always assume most chess players are rational, objective and growth-mindset in outlook so it amazes me how many of my opponents only rematch when they win and fail to rematch when they lose. Also just had an opponent who was rematching against me repeatedly in a match where I was consistently ahead. As soon my opponent got in the lead they refused to rematch.

It happens A LOT. Is there anyone on here going to admit to doing it and explain their reasons?

I offer a rematch about 50% of the times when I win (I try to do it more frequently nowadays), it is accepted quite a few times; I almost never offer a rematch when I lose, but I accept it almost always when it's offered to me. The exceptions are when I must be really annoyed about my weak performance.

I always wondered why rational chess players bother themselves with re-matches. with unlimited supply of opponents whole feature is pretty much useless. Let alone pondering other player's motives is fruitless. That is only their concern not yours. Just press new-opponent button and move on

@petri999 said in #3:
> I always wondered why rational chess players bother themselves with re-matches. with unlimited supply of opponents whole feature is pretty much useless. Let alone pondering other player's motives is fruitless. That is only their concern not yours. Just press new-opponent button and move on
I guess rematches can have benefits for both sides: the winner of the first game can defend his superiority and win another game, while the loser can have vengeance from the first game.

Also, in my case, I see people I've already played quite frequently here and I like to offer a rematch just because I remember I liked the previous games.

@AndrewMolloy said in #1:
> I always assume most chess players are rational, objective and growth-mindset in outlook so it amazes me how many of my opponents only rematch when they win and fail to rematch when they lose. Also just had an opponent who was rematching against me repeatedly in a match where I was consistently ahead. As soon my opponent got in the lead they refused to rematch.
>
> It happens A LOT. Is there anyone on here going to admit to doing it and explain their reasons?

Noone owes you a rematch. Nor does accepting a rematch one or more times mean they have to accept it another time.

If you can't handle rejection, don't offer a rematch.

@Abigail-III said in #5:
> Noone owes you a rematch. Nor does accepting a rematch one or more times mean they have to accept it another time.
>
> If you can't handle rejection, don't offer a rematch.

I know they don't owe me one. I can handle rejection. You're missing the point. I am just surprised that a good proportion of chess players on here can seem quite churlish when it comes to rematches and oneupmanship.

Why does it matter? Maybe it doesn't but I'd venture to say any truly strong chess player wouldn't have that mindset because to get truly good at something you have to put your ego aside and serve the greater goal of just trying to get better at chess.

I accept rematches almost always in causal games, but I don't necessarily offer them. But in rated games I almost never accept rematches because I usually play 1 rated game at a time, analyse it and not play another one until later or on a different day to avoid tilt, with the exception of when I'm in an arena or I'm having a good day.

I prefer to immediately analyze my game versus doing a rematch, no matter if I won or lost.

@AndrewMolloy in the case you described they probably wanted revenge and as soon as they got it didn’t rematch again. you should never really rematch in longer time controls anyways because you should play other opponents to adapt to different playing styles. Also some people don’t rematch after they gain rating (true of when you are higher rated) and others are saw when they lose