My teenaged son plays live action video games with folks from all around the world. He told me that some of his opponents cheat by using lag switches during games. I asked him how it works, and he said that the opponent hits the lag switch at a crucial time giving that opponent time to maneuver something into better position. He says there's a risk of losing the connection totally if the switch isn't timed right.

Hmmm...

I began to wonder if there are folks on Chess.com LIVE who do something similar during matches, like hit a lag switch to give yourself more time to assess a various position, or even more sinister, to just keep lagging your own time while the opponent's time dwindles down. Now, I'm not a sore loser, but I've always been puzzled when I playing move for move with someone, and the moment I get an advantage of some sort, the lagging begins. And just as my son said, sometimes the switchers 'abandon' the game.

I'm not crazy; I've seen this too many times to be imagining it. Am I the only one?

it is possible, but not likely. live chess 1 is just laggy and buggy. :(

i think u r right,i lose many times due to lagging in winning position.

After years of frustration with certain patterns of lag--some opponents always seem to lag during close endgames--at a free chess server, some inquiries generated the explanation from a site administrator there that use of a toggle switch, perhaps homemade, and/or rapidly unplugging and plugging in one's internet wire could artificially produce lag. Certainly, there would be the danger of disconnection (but there disconnection leads to adjourned games).

The lag has grown worse, but seems not to follow the same pattern, at a pay site where I play most of my blitz.

OTOH, my suspicions of foul play almost always seem more intense when I am otherwise playing badly.

I think that some players do artificially manipulate their lag, but probably less often than I suspect them of it.

Since the recent upgrade of Live Chess here, the lag is not as bad as it was. It does still seem worse with opponents from certain countries.