Book version of TRON 1982 gives some rather tragic insight into what may have been going through the minds of both Crom and Flynn during their fight
Crom thinks Flynn’s decided to convert to Red and is gonna kill Crom to prove he’s serious about it
Flynn thinks this is just another training match
As usual no one in the whole scene knows what’s going on.
….
AAH forgot to include the most messed-up part
why does Crom lose?
Because Flynn (thinking this isn’t serious) tries to go easy on him, and Crom (thinking Flynn is seriously trying to kill him) misinterprets the “easy” shot as a trick
see what not being free to communicate can do to everything