I think it would be a good idea, however, I think people will just abuse it when they are loosing ... Enough people abuse the clock when they are losing ... (i.e. they wait for a time out etc or the clock to run out).
Imagine what would happen if one could pause a game for a long period of time! The only way I would see if working is if the pause function worked on an agreement basis. I.e. The opponent has to agree to the "pause" ...
I totally agree with you about the abilitiy to abuse such a function. Good idea about the agreement! Maybe the agreement should be settled before started playing so both parts know the conditions of playing?
I've came up with an idea and that is to have a pause-function that can be activated ONCE a game. Then you could not abuse it. If you have to pause more then ONCE (if something else comes up) then you have to discard the game anyway... If you try to pause the game two times you will loose... What do you think of that? That should also be an easily implemented function (if the software is written correctly :-))
Having a pause function rather kills the time-limit, since one could pause the game and analyse it for as long as one wants.
Also, if I sit down to a game now, it is because I have time now. Granted, interruptions may occur, but if my opponent pauses the game and wants to recommence in two and a half hours' time, then I may not be free to play then. I think this would result in a lot of abandoned games. Better the current system. Play live chess only when you think you will be able to do so uninterrupted.
That said, it might be nice to have an unrated no-clock option. I think there may be a workaround for that though, using the analysis board.
Hello
I must begin to say I love this site! And all of its components that I have used as a free member. I'm playng both live-chess and online-chess, and I love both in different ways. When I'm going to play Live-chess I make sure that I have about two hours reserved for playing. Even though I have reserved that amount of time, life isn't always so predictable. In a middle of a game, I maybe have to fetch my children because they get sick for example, the microwave explodes or hells freezes over ;-) In these circumstances I just have to resign the game and that's a shame. I don't know about you guys, but I guess more then me has unpredictable lifes? :-) Wouldn't it be nice with a pause-function for a chess-game? What are your thoughts about that?