Undo a move

Originally posted by mwmiller
Nothing is being changed or added here.

Well, yes there is, in a way. By making it appear acceptable as some kind of commonly applied solution in these kind of discussions, some peer pressure might be added to go along with such request the next time. Not that everyone would be influenced like that but for me it wouldn't play the same anymore if I just had to decline an offered "blunder draw". Too many correspondence games have been already lost on accidental moves to start doing it differently now. Over time, some you win and some you lose because of these moves. So in my view it seems better to leave it at that and view acceptance of the error and possible loss as being the common expectation while not putting the ball in the court of the opponent, angling for some kind of good will or politeness to forgive.

Originally posted by deejee
Well, yes there is, in a way. By making it appear acceptable as some kind of commonly applied solution in these kind of discussions, some peer pressure might be added to go along with such request the next time. Not that everyone would be influenced like that but for me it wouldn't play the same anymore if I just had to decline an offered "blunder draw". Too ...[text shortened]... ball in the court of the opponent, angling for some kind of good will or politeness to forgive.

The first requirement is that both players would have to agree to these "take back" solutions. Without that nothing is going to happen. I don't really think that will be happening very often, so you probably don't need to worry about a big stampede of people rushing to take back moves and lower the standards of acceptable gamesmanship.

And if two players do agree and manage to get it done, it will not change the way the rest of us play the game.

Originally posted by mwmiller
The first requirement is that both players would have to agree to these "take back" solutions. Without that nothing is going to happen. I don't really think that will be happening very often, so you probably don't need to worry about a big stampede of people rushing to take back moves and lower the standards of acceptable gamesmanship.

And if two players do agree and manage to get it done, it will not change the way the rest of us play the game.

At the end of the day, if I make a mistake, I dont want to ask my opponent to take back a move. What happens if I go on to win the game? I personally would'nt take any pleasure from a win under those circumstances. What other people think is entirely up to them, but it's not for me.

Originally posted by steve45
At the end of the day, if I make a mistake, I dont want to ask my opponent to take back a move. What happens if I go on to win the game? I personally would'nt take any pleasure from a win under those circumstances. What other people think is entirely up to them, but it's not for me.

Same here. I don't play that way either.

But the OP asked if it could be done here and my original post was in response to that discussion.

Originally posted by deejee
Well, yes there is, in a way. By making it appear acceptable as some kind of commonly applied solution in these kind of discussions, some peer pressure might be added to go along with such request the next time. Not that everyone would be influenced like that but for me it wouldn't play the same anymore if I just had to decline an offered "blunder draw". Too ...[text shortened]... ball in the court of the opponent, angling for some kind of good will or politeness to forgive.

Well, the question in the O.P. was "can this be done?" and the answer is that it is possible provided the accidental move doesn't involve a capture, castling rights (even then it's possible to castle by hand), or a pawn move.

If two players want to do this then there are a number of reasons they shouldn't. But they really don't apply to Open Invite games, the effect on ratings is microscopic. In tournament and clan games it can affect the outcome for a group so shouldn't be done. Starting a game from a set-piece position (and hence unrated) would probably be the most ethical way forward then.

I don't think anyone will feel under pressure to do it. Just in the same way that it is not compulsory to accept draw offers and that that it is not compulsory to claim a win on time at the first opportunity doesn't pressurize people not to claim timeout wins.

Originally posted by steve45
But where would you draw the line. Every game where a blunder happens, would be getting restarted. At the end of the day, the point is that we want our opponents to make mistakes, because thats how we force a win.

You have to differentiate between blunders and technical errors. At least in my previous answer, I was referring to a technical error.

I have never asked and would never ask to take back or restart because of a blunder of my own. If you see your blunder milliseconds after you press submit move, it is still your own blunder.

A technical error happened to me however on a smartphone once. You know how this goes: on a small screen, your fingers have the size of a tree trunk relative to the chess board. So that's when I proposed to restart from the previous position in an unrated game (I resigned the first). I've never played on the smartphone since then.

Disregarding technical errors, takebacks should never be a part of the game of chess. However, they could be useful for learning purposes, which is why having them in unrated games could be acceptable.

Originally posted by mwmiller
I don't see any line that needs to be drawn.

The two options I suggested already exist and are between only the two players involved in a particular game. They would both have to be in agreement to do either action. If either one opposes, the game proceeds as usual.

Nothing is being changed or added here. During any regular game, either action is already an option on this site and does not require modification or approval from anyone.

what bobby fischer did in this situation?

his opponent said: j'adoube

Fischer agree with this and his opponent changed his movement.....

but a second j'adoube happen....

so no mercy this time.

from wiki:

Perhaps Matulović's most notorious transgression was against István Bilek at the Sousse Interzonal in 1967.[7] He played a losing move but then took it back after saying "j'adoube" ("I adjust" – spoken before adjusting pieces on their square, see touch-move rule). His opponent complained to the arbiter but the move was allowed to stand. This incident earned Matulović the nickname "J'adoubovic".[8][9][10][11][12][13] This reportedly happened several times, including in a game against Bobby Fischer