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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Korinin38 on 2024-06-12 07:18:54+00:00.
Disclaimer
Non-native speaker, if you spot a mistake please put it under the designated OP comment to keep the comments organized, thank you. TL;DR at the bottom.
Setup
This happened while I was in middle school at a certain math tournament called "math battle". To tell the story, I need to first explain the rules. I'll try to do this as brief as possible.
The rules are similar to other math tournaments, with two main features. First - it's a team competition, and every battle goes between two teams. Second - every solution has to be presented by a speaker, and refuted by an opponent from the other team.
To get points as a speaker, you present your solution. To get them as an opponent, you refute the correctness of speaker's points by spotting mistakes in their solution and getting points for these mistakes in stead of the speaker.
When the speaker is done presenting, they have to say "presentation over". This is to avoid any confusion and interruption from the opponent, as any mistake noted before these words can be spotted by the speaker and fixed on the spot, thus giving no points to the opponent.
Overall, the point distribution is managed by the judge.
Story
As this is a team competition, there are rules that prohibit players from being in the same role more than twice. Because of this, our captain decided to delegate presentation of the extra problem they solved to me. They explained the solution to me (I got abt half of that) and sent me on my way to the blackboard.
In this state, the solution barely holds, and the opponent sees that.
When I start making mistakes, they interrupt my presentation to point that out.
As I'm aware of the rules, I try to notify them: "Please save your questions for after the presentation is over".
This helps a bit, though only a bit: the second I misplace a digit, I hear another correction. "Please save your questions for after the presentation is over".
At one point it becomes really irritating, as it's hard to present a solution when you barely understand it AND there is someone constantly noticing the mistakes.
When I'm almost done presenting the solution (now as full of holes as swiss cheese), I take about three seconds to catch my breath and try to say "presentation over" when at that perfect moment when I open my mouth, they interrupt me again.
Cue malicious compliance.
Instead of finishing what I tried to say, separating the section when speaker gets points from the section when opponent gets points, I decide to stand back and watch.
The opponent obliterates my solution, telling why it does not work, and the way it should've been solved. Instead of arguing, I simply say "You are right, that's how you supposed to do it, thank you".
And when they're done, they indicate the end of their rebuttal by saying
"I agree with the solution to the problem after corrections made~"
at which point I interrupt them with
"Oh yeah, presentation over, you may ask your questions now".
Not getting what I was implying, the opponent finished their rebuttal and returned to their team.
Now is the time the judge distributes the points.
Judge: "Ok, the corrections made by opposition are significant, thus worth-"
Me: "I'm sorry, but all the corrections from opposition were made during the presentation."
There is a brief silence in the room.
Judge: "... Oh, you're right. All points go to the speaker."
The most precious moments were when we heard the captain of the other team scolding my opponent for their impatience.
We won that battle, sadly not thanks to that maneuver, though that was the highlight of the game.
TL;DR
At this math competition, you don't get points for the questions you asked during presentation. Despite being reminded that, the opponent interrupted speaker several times, which led to them not getting the points for all the valid arguments.