Berserking is "poor sportsmanship?"

@lurarose

"That being said it's a dumb idea to berserk unless you are stronger than your opponent, or need the extra points. It's a big disadvantage."

That would be presupposing that all players either play only to win or to win or get placed in the tournament. But the original poster said that he plays bezerk because of the element of 'fun' that he gets from it. So why would it be 'dumb' to play in a way that makes you enjoy the game and the challenge more? Some people really aren't obsessed with winning every game or taking tournaments so seriously that they only play bezerk as a last chance way to get back in contention for the trophy. So it would be dumb to bezerk and give up half of your time if you seriously wanted to win, but in other ways to bezerk can be fulfilling win/lose or draw.

@Toscani

That's a really great point you made and one I think most people have completely overlooked. I don't think bezerking is bad sportsmanship but that's absolutely correct what you say that the person who should have the advantage is at a disadvantage as they lose a quarter of their thinking time. In fact, both players have exactly the same thinking time and yet the player who didn't choose to bezerk will be under more stress as he/she is constrained by less game time and thinking time when it wasn't he/she who chose to bezerk. I hope everyone reads your point as I'm sure most have never considered that.

if you sign up for a lichess tournament then you consent to your opponent being able to berserk; if you don't like it, don't play tourneys. besides, tournaments are not the place to get quality, lengthy games, they are only made to see who can get more points quicker

@Toscani

the only reason why someone would find berserking disrespectful is if they see it as shoving into their opponent's face that they can beat them even with half of their time taken away, which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion

@TheLordOfTheBoard ... I don't think @Toscani was saying bezerking is bad sportsmanship but he hit on an ulterior valid point. And sometimes, we still agree to the conditions of an event even if we have a small problem with some of them. But it is true, looking at it from the angle Toscani pointed out, there is a certain disadvantage for the player not beserking and probably more stress on each of his moves because of it. I enjoy watching players bezerking and admire greatly how anyone can make good moves so rapidly. So I've absolutely nothing against it yet can still acknowledge a valid point when one is made. (@Tosconi - excuse me for answering in your absence and hope I didn't presuppose too much.)

@cheapthought just looking back at it chess girl was just mad

and what a three way tie

I'm sorry, @The-Chess-Death-Cult but I don't see how berzerking is a disavantage for the person being berzerked against. Yes, in theory there is overall less time in the game, but if the person's opponent was going to play as fast as possible anyways, it wouldn't make a difference. Even without the berzerk options people would still play as fast as possible since the point of these tourneys is to win as many games as possible, so if somebody cuts their time in half or not, it's up to the the opponent to play well using the alotted time that he has. When you play 1, 3, 5 minutes, you're accepting that YOU and ONLY YOU have that much time to win. The opponent's clock shouldn't even come to mind.

@LeonStolzz you're trying very badly to refute a valid point. Not you nor anyone else can start presupposing what players might or might not do with more time. And are you seriously suggesting that in a sticky situation, with an extra 30 seconds, they would still move as fast as possible regardless? Even when they have some seconds to look over the position? Surely not. Who would have a policy of play as fast as possible regardless of time??? I'm sorry but that makes no sense to me and seems like you are purposely trying to undermine a great point made by someone else. I really don't like stuff like that so will leave this reply but will not be reading your response let alone replying any further. What you say just makes absolutely no sense and someone who played as fast as possible regardless of time almost certainly wouldn't be much of a chess player. Just makes no sense at all. Wish you well anyway.

@LeonStolzz

No. Its a fact. Berserking can and often does give the berserking player advantage. This isnt always true but when a experienced player berserks a inexp player there is definitely a advantage.

This is due to many factors; but it mainly comes down to:
Game:
Berserker: Moves almost instantly.
NonBerserkers Clock is ticking down and they now feel it is necessary to move faster than they normally would.

Berserker 'appears' to not take any time to think; when in reality they get all of their opps time to think up the correct move.

Then when non berserker moves; berserker knows wht to do; they instant move; back to non berserker rinse and repeat.

It is very common to see inexp non berserks lose games VIA TIME to berserkers.

I'm not complaining about berserking. i do it a lot. Im just stating that it is a advantage; but really only against people who are inexperienced either in the variant or in the TC or against zerking in general.