Message location

I find that opponents often miss my messages (unless they are just not wanting to respond, LOL). I miss them pretty often too, though. They aren't shown in a very obvious location, especially if you are scrolled down a bit which makes them roll off the screen. We've got all that empty space to the right of all the command links... why not put a message window there?

I second that. Newcomers often don't connect the "message opponent" link with a panel above the board until they've played several games, so any helpful advice to them now goes into a black hole.