Client side not recognizing a move, then player getting timed out as a result -- happens a lot in th

I'm seeing a new bug that I think is different from the disconnect bug that others are reporting. I've been playing 4-player-chess for a number of months, and this bug just started in the last week or two -- I think it coincides with the release in which we had to agree to new terms of service or rules about teaming.

Anyway, the bug symptom is as follows:

You are playing, your turn comes, and you make your move, but the client doesn't recognize the move, and your clock continues to tick as though you have not moved. You get no message about disconnecting, and it appears as if you are still fully connected.

It feels as if the client side code is getting confused when the mouse moves a piece and then abandons the move (such as moving to an illegal square) and then tries again, or holds the move for a couple of game cycles before completing the move... as one might do when thinking about the move. 

To be clear, this is happening to me mostly in games in which there appears to be no disconnect issue.

Thank you for this report. Please tell us if it happens again. (We restarted the server a few hours ago, but you played before the restart. I checked your archived games time.)

I also experienced a lag playing anti-chess. I could still chat and entered my move, no notice of disconnection that I could see, but 15 seconds to 30 seconds would get lost. 

I don't know. I've experienced it with connection issues. Or maybe I've just attributed it to connection issues.

This has happened to me repeatedly. The frontend is crap at getting back in sync. I've filed a bug in crazyhouse where it loses pieces. In 4 player, I have seen it take 10+ seconds to reconnect while I was able to load all kinds of other sites after a short disconnect. It's a common issue with the latest frontend shizzle when you have no way of invalidating what's basically a gigantic frontend cache. I've seen this before. Don't expect it to be fixed any time soon. Damn frontend script kiddies

Just so there's no hard feelings - I really appreciate what you guys did when the new version was launched, all those new variants are awesome! Still, it's frustrating when you lose lots of time with no clear indication what's going on - move is made, but something goes awry. So I'd be really glad if it could be sorted out at some point

@nutsyci: no, this is not lag. There is no way I have a 10+ sec lag on my connection.

Besides, if the chess.com server does not respond, there should be a connection issue displayed. Which it isn't in the case I am talking about - the red connection issue display goes away, but the app becomes unresponsive for a while, then suddenly the move is either processed and the game continues, or the move is reset and I have to redo it.

I've been having a bug where I try to move a piece and it won't move and I have to play a different move 

For all the folks that keep saying this is lag, this is different. You can have lag without this, and you can have this without lag.

This is the client side failing to recognize a move after the move has been made.

I believe the effect is similar to what we call "lag", but this is not indicative of an individual's computer network performance since this issue seems to be affecting dozens of players. 

lag : see definition of lag
verb...move slowly; delay
Relevance
A-ZLength
Synonyms for lag
verb move slowly; delay
decrease
diminish
fail
fall off
falter
slacken
slow
trail
wane
dally
dawdle
dillydally
drag
ebb
flag
hobble
idle
inch
jelly
limp
linger
loiter
lounge
plod
poke
procrastinate
retard
saunter
shuffle
slouch
stagger
stay
straggle
tail
tarry
tool
trudge
be behind
drag one's feet
get no place fast
hang back
inch along
lose strength
put off
slow up

I will add....hang up, stick, drag, unresponsive ( lagging )....

Regardless of whether it is server lag, due to our connection, or some other form of lag, such as when a network server, which isn't using ISP to allow people in a place of business to access a server in the same building, and it experiences lag, it is for other reasons, such as too many programs accessing the server's data simultaneously, or too many useless files in an archive, that are looked through each time, to access what is desired. 

Guys, stop talking about lag.

You can have a bug in the code, that has nothing to do with lag.

The only way this is possible is if the coder wrote the code in such a way that the code is very slowly processed, but it isn't likely. The way modern computers work, it doesn't matter if you cram 100 lines of code into one or break it up into 100, it still gets processed quite quickly.

If it hung at all from "bad" code, it simply never would work. There is a reason for the lag and the odds that it is a coding problem aren't likely. It is more likely a network issue. 

maybe you are playing an illegal move

Just happened to me again. I have moved the knight, as shown here, but the client doesn't recognize the move, and then the clock just clicks down. Screenshot included:

@christopher_parsons,

I have 25 years worth of experience as a developer, bugs are bugs for a reason, they aren't obvious to the developers, and they normally just crop up in odd circumstances... especially when javascript has to work well on 4-6 different browser brands and multiple versions. 

Based on the symptoms I'm seeing, I still 100% suspect a bug in the client side js code.

You might very well be right, but I think it's either server lag or network lag and not in the code. The only reason I think that is because it doesn't so intermittently. I started thinking about this when I contemplated that there is a regular chess.com server there was probably also one for the four player in a separate test server and maybe a different one for Connection by Android. They all have to communicate. I've also had to ask myself whether or not chess.com has allocated the same amount of resources to four-player chess as it has to its regular site, which I strongly doubt. So then I wonder if those resources are being pushed.

I will go one step further and say the following. If we saw some sort of discernible pattern such as every time someone tried to Castle Queen side or if every time red tried to move their King 1 square to the right from the starting position and it did that every time in those exact instances I would be completely inclined to agree with you but because no discernible pattern has emerged that anyone has noticed I'm going to stick to my theory despite your experience.

If you mean lag on the server side, then I agree it might be a contributing factor.

But my network is fine. 4-player-chess is the only web application having a problem, and this problem started for me exactly when they released some new code -- at least I assume they released some new code when we had to agree to the new TOS/no-team thing.