Serves me right...

I was playing an interesting Semi-Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit (where it looked like I had just taken the advantage) on FICS when my opponent disconnected. I sent him a message that I hoped we could continue the game.

My opponent signed back on, I offered a resumption of the game, but, he started one with another player.

When that game ended, I again offered a resumption. Instead of accepting, my opponent disconnected. I never got a response to my message.

Although I have been through disconnection hassles on FICS before (see "A Sneaky Way to Defeat the Jerome Gambit") I forgot that none of the above was relevant when it came to the adjudication of a game. The rules state

The outcome of an adjudication is primarily based on position and clocks. Who disconnected is rarely a decisive factor.

I was confident in my position, so I requested an ajudication.

My mistake.

It turns out that out of 35 possible moves that my opponent could make, 33 left me with a winning advantage, and one led to a drawn game. One move, however – one that I had not seen – led to a winning game for Black.

So the game was adjudicated a win for Black.

Which leads me to wonder, would my opponent ever have agreed to resume our game? If so, would he have found the one winning move? If not, did my own request for adjudication turn a game in which I still had practical chances into one in which I was dead lost?

Something to think about...