Basic Trope: A person throws a match to avoid retribution from their known Sore Loser opponent.
- Basic Trope: Alice is about to win a Chess game against Bob, but when she notices him scowling at her and growling "If I lose I swear I'm gonna rip your-", she forfeits and lets him win.
- Exaggerated: Alice is one move away from winning when she suddenly hears a mechanical click and looks up from her pondering to see Bob has just put a gun to her forehead. Alice, with a very nervous smile, moves her piece to a position where Bob can win.
- Downplayed: Alice is about to make an advantageous move against Bob, but upon seeing him crack his knuckles and glare at her, she chooses a less advantageous move.
- Justified: Bob's reputation for beating up people who win against him proceeds him.
- Inverted:
- Bob is so overconfident at winning, he lets Alice wins so she won't be sad.
- Bob threatens to beat up Alice if she doesn't gives her all, even if that would lead to Bob losing.
- Bob runs away and forfeits the game when he sees so much as Alice giving him an annoyed look, thinking she intends the worst for him.
- Parodied: Bob threatens to invoke this on someone who he really shouldn't.
- Defied:
- Alice refuses to be so easily intimidated and keeps on playing even if it means getting hurt.
- Bob chooses to swallow his pride.
- Implied: Charlie, who is nursing a black eye and was known to be Bob's previous opponent, looks at Alice and shakes his head when she's about to make a winning move.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob gets barred from competitions because of such conduct. it doesn't help instead looking like a badass not to be triffled with, Bob ends up showing he's an insecure twat who can't accept losing.
- Bob eventually decides to see how much farther he can push the envelope, leading to people deciding to enable greater and greater atrocities.
- Bob's actual skills start rusting away because he's never really lost, and thus when matched with the not-easily-intimidated Carl, Bob loses, making him suffer a breakdown.
- Played for Drama:
- Because of Bob's bad attitude, nobody dares to play anything with him, leaving him very lonely and regretfully realising what his bad sportsmanship has led to.
- Alice was already a Bully Magnet, but her decision to face off against Bob, win or lose, makes the bullying go from awful to brutal.
- Played for Horror: When someone talks about how it's better to let Bob win, they say "other players don't rip off their opponent's arms and beat them to death with them." Alice snarks about how that is a line from A New Hope, and not even the exact quote at that. Guess how Bob kills Alice when they face off and she pisses him off by winning come the second act?
