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What is vacation abuse?
What is vacation abuse?
Updated over 3 months ago

Vacation abuse occurs when players use their vacation time solely to prolong games that are clearly and hopelessly lost. This misuse of the vacation feature is not in the spirit of fair play. Please use vacation time honestly, only when you are unable to make a move for an extended period.

Consequences of vacation abuse

Chess.com reserves the right to adjudicate any game if we determine that a player is using vacation time to intentionally delay a game in a lost position. Abusing vacation time may result in a warning and, potentially, account closure.

How Chess.com discourages vacation abuse

To discourage the frivolous use of vacation time, we have implemented a one-day minimum on vacation duration:

  • All vacation times will consume a minimum of 24 hours.

  • If you use vacation for only 5 minutes, 24 hours will still be deducted from your remaining vacation time.

  • If you use vacation for 23 hours, 24 hours will be deducted.

  • If you use vacation for 25 hours, then only 25 hours (not 48) will be used.

Reporting vacation abuse

Keep in mind that if your opponent has a significant number of games ongoing apart from the one(s) with you, they are probably not being abusive. Remember, they cannot move in any of their games while on vacation.

If you suspect that an opponent is abusing vacation time, please contact our Support team and we'll review your report.

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