Anticipate move

Originally posted by Gastel
One question is whether this site is intended to replicate traditional correspondence chess digitally, or to extend traditional correspondence chess from where it was once.

I would say, EXTEND, but I'm just one person. It is a question that deserves to be spec'd before the feature is built. Like I said, I *think* that one of the competitor sites locks you in to your line once it is defined. They probably spec'd it out using traditional cc rules/standards. But i see no reason to do that here.

I wouldn't want the my loaded moves to be displayed. AND I wouldn't want it to be shown that I have a preloaded move. Why is this necessary?

D

[EDIT] And I think that you should be able to change your preloaded moves at any stage.

Originally posted by tmetzler
I would say, EXTEND, but I'm just one person. It is a question that deserves to be spec'd before the feature is built. Like I said, I *think* that one of the competitor sites locks you in to your line once it is defined. They probably spec'd it out using traditional cc rules/standards. But i see no reason to do that here.

I'm an EXTEND kinda guy too, but I think many people here probably like the digitization and convinence of a favored pasttime. I would never have tried paper correspondence chess, but accessibility of the internet (and the awesomeness of Russ), made this happen for me here.

Originally posted by huckleberryhound
i have never lost a game by timeout.

preloading moves would be missused just like the vacation flag, and in my opinion, giving more advantage to the higher ranked players.


One alternative would be to put time constrictions on those using this option. Say if the game was 3/7, the next move could be made 3 days later (and possibly a timebank c ...[text shortened]... dvantages in using it are too much, surely you can agree on that. . .fair play and all that wot?

Sorry to jump in in the middle. There are a few scores of responses I have yet to read, so sorry if this is repetitive (of course none of us would be reading if we didn't have time on our hands anyway 🙂 ).

I think it would be very hard for a higher rated player to gain a lot of advantage out of this feature. To rely on anticipated moves to extend my vacation would be very risky. After all, a higher rated player can really only anticpate what another good player would do. A poor player would usually thwart the advantage by not making the predicted move.

Also, for these time controls (I think 1 day game is as low as it goes), I think it benefits both players to have preloaded moves even if only one of them actually uses the feature. If I enter my move, and my opponent does not move for 5 minutes, I walk away from the computer, or begin looking at something else. I may then not notice the next move until 10 or 15 minutes after it is made. But if it was preloaded, I press submit on one move and voila, without being distracted by another game, or reading a child a bedtime story, I'm on to my next move. Cuts down on my time usage as well as my opponents.

I don't know how hard it would be to test, but how many games are actually timed out for reasons other than indifference? I've never come close to timing out a game, and I have not heard of it happening except when someone abandons their chess games for a period of indifference.

And don't forget, conditional moves are a tried and tested part of correspondence chess, which also has time controls.

Originally posted by XanthosNZ
Yeah nice going talking about Queen's Gambit after 1. e4.
So wait, a player has the possibility to be able to leave the game for 9 days assuming that 1) he knows exactly which opening his opponent will play (possible if they've played before), 2) The opponent waits as long as possible between opening moves, 3) The opponent doesn't preload his opening move ...[text shortened]... he right option however keeping the status quo because it's familiar isn't either.

Furthermore...

If my opponent figures out my openings to the point that he can preload 5 or 6 moves on my, then you have to figure that I also know the moves I will make at least as well as my opponent. If I always play Nc6 after 1.e4,e5 2.Nf3 then by no means am I going to take 3 days to play Nc6. As soon as I play e5, I instantly get a Nf3 reply and before leaving the site I enter Nc6. Or possibly I think "aha", my opponent has been scouting me, perhaps I should mix it up a bit with d6.

Wow, glad I bumped my thread. Got quite the reply. Only sorry I didn't check it to notice that such an argument was going on.

Anyway, I started the chat so I'll go over the thread to date quickly.

There is no advantage to be gained. If there is a timeout then you can move once and then sit back and burn your timeout again while you think, if you are pressed for time. If you think that maybe I should have had the chance to burn my timeout and maybe forfeit, then you really are playing chess for the wrong reasons.

If there is no timeout then it is a pretty hectic game and you'd assume people were logged in anyway. I've never played in a game like this online though.

If it was thought that there was some advantage, people could opt not to use the feature as a part of the challenge facility. That Hound idiot (arguing and not reading and giving credit to the responses) would pretty quickly learn that there was no disadvantage and start accepting the games as most people would like the feature.

The feature would be invisible to my opponent in my thinking. I'd have no problem with my opponent seeing an icon to say there are preloaded moves though, but to show the moves would be unnecessary. Could be an option I guess.

I would have thought I could set some moves like this, as black, before a move has been made: (for example only, I think it would be much more useful in the mid-game)

e4, e5; d3, d5
e4, e5; Nf3, Nd6
d4, d5;

If my opponent plays e4 to start the game then the third line is ditched immediately. My e5 move is made and if I now come back to the board my preloaded moves are sitting there like this:

d3, d5
Nf3, Nd6

I can edit them or remove them, though until I do they are loaded and will be acted upon if my opponent makes one of these moves.

Absolutely identical to if I was sitting at my computer.

Thanks to whoever mentioned gameknot or whatever it is, I'm going to give it a try.

I can't see how this could really be contentious, or overly tricky programming-wise, and am surprised that 16 months after hearing it is a to-do job it doesn't seem to have become a done job.

Any thoughts Russ, or any site programmers out there?

Sam.

Conditional moves - marvellous idea... I cannot for the life of me think why they are a bad idea.

enter as many as you want, (well whatever is reasonable)

Line 1: If opponent plays X, I want to play Y, If W then C
Line 2: If opponent plays X, I want to play Y, If X then B
Line 3: If opponent plays A, I want to play R

There is no time advantage per se, it is the same as if I responded immediately. If the opponent responds immediately, or uses an unforeseen move, I still only have timeout days to move as before...