Hi Members,

I always wondered if players prefer to aply the "Conditional" move function if available and why??

I always prefer to use it when I am in a 'dominant position on board and can predict with reasonable ceratinty what the opposition move will be. Also, it saves delays often experienced in longer tournament/game play which has  moves spread over many days per move!

There was a time it seemed that most of my opponents (as well as myself) were using conditional moves quite frequently.  I suppose it just isn't as popular an option as it once was!

I'm pretty new here, but I've used conditional moves a couple of times.  I like it for the reason already listed (saving time if the opponent's move is pretty certain), but it's also kind of a nice side-bet against myself to see how well I'm reading my opponent and the game state.  If I'm right, I've saved some time on the next move and gotten a little charge from predicting correctly...

I've never used it. How does it work?

trigs wrote: Conditional Moves are moves that you make ahead of time (i.e. before your opponent has a chance to move yet). you can set it up so that if your opponent makes the move you thought he would, then the computer will make the move you pre-selected.

Basic members are only able to specify one LINE (i.e. one sequence of moves). Premium members can specify any number of lines.

You can only set up Conditional Moves during your opponent's move.

Some people dislike them a lot.

I used it for the first time in a game. First three times were a waste because my opponent went a different way. Last time worked like a charm. A six move sequence that drove my opponent to resign rather than face an inevitable mate in just a few more moves. Very cool!

See-I told you it would work a charm.

Well play. It takes a minor genius to figure an opponnets' play 6 moves ahead, but for a first-timer, it sound's like you got LUCKY!!

I like to use them but occasionally but, when I have a particularly devious plan, I prefer to move the piece "manually" so I can laugh maniacally to myself as I make the killing move. 

Buwahahhahahaha

(I quite like it when people use them, makes the game go a lot quicker)

I don't see how anyone could have a legitimate problem with conditional moves. They just make the game go faster.

There is just one person in that other thread opposed to them, and just keeps repeating it over and over. I like making them for a few reasons:

1) Most obviously it saves time. This is a major factor for me as I'm in Australia so most of the time my opponent and I don't overlap in playing hours that much.

2) When I make a move with a particular line in mind, this ensures that it will be followed if the other player follows what I had in mind. I don't have to rethink it or worry about forgetting what I had in mind.

3) I think it may provide a psychological advantage if the other player sees that I can predict what he will do, especially if it is several moves in a row 

Just like everything else on this site, some people like it, some people don't.

Do what you like, just be polite about it.

I don't think it was lucky at all. There were just a lot of more or less forced exchanges that initially made sense for both and then turned in my favor. ;)

If I know what I'd do "if" my opponent plays a certain move, I set up the conditional move for it.  Sometimes I'll set up long sequences.  Often I later realize I put in a blunder on my part and I have to delete the whole thing! 

They save time.

Very true. If someone told me they dislike them, I would refrain from using it against that person if they could justify their dislike in a reasonable manner.

Spoken like a true Aussie! LMAO 

I used to use them all the time in the old days of "snail mail" correspondence chess on postcards.  In cases of obvious recaptures and forced moves they saved time and postage.

It's a bad habit to get into in the opening, though.  It's very easy to input book lines to a given position, but it always helps me understand that position better if I've moved deliberately to get to it - even if it's a position I've played many times.

Agreed. You should only program in conditional moves you have thought of yourself in the middle or end game. No book moves.