Let me twist up the question a little. Let’s say that you’re playing with someone who is employing gamesmanship and you recognize it. Would you then decide to counter back with some of your own, or would you just put it out of your head and not be affected? Please understand that if you say that you’d counter with gamesmanship, I’m not trying to paint you as a hypocrite or anything. I’m just wondering if it changes anything if the opponent pushes the issue, and if so, I’m wondering if it warrants a response. Almost like an opponent using gamesmanship is breaking a truce of mutual respect and then wouldn’t deserve respect in return.

Also keep in mind that I’m not talking about playing with certain people competitively for fun, where you can just decide not to play with them anymore if you don’t like it. I’m thinking more in terms of tournaments or leagues where you don’t choose the opponents and have to just get through and deal with it. I guess the basic question is, is there a time when all bets are off and war should be declared?

I do agree with you, though, that there’s probably not room for it in the basic philosophy of the game. But intense competition puts a different spin on things. Or, it does in practice, anyway, even if it shouldn’t.