Conditional move system -- Fancy gadget or just plain bad manners?
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Wow! Ask a silly question... -- or a GOOD one for that matter! I am flat-out amazed at the responding. I don't know who the coolest chess ever is as was (refering to another column), But I think every one of you guys has a shot at it1
The conditional moves thing is useful when your opponent has a very limited number of moves. For example if you take his queen with your queen, and he only had a single pawn guarding his queen, you are gonna be fairly sure his next move will be to capture your queen with the pawn so you move onto the next move.
Mike, when I first started playing on chess.com, I used the conditional move option where my opponent only made a move every other day or so, to speed things along. But then my evil twin took over and I started using it in an attempt to freak my opponent out--like I KNEW what he was going to do. I decided that WAS disrespectful, and stopped. Now I still use it for opponents who I think move too infrequently.
I think it depends on your psychology. I've played a few people who have anticipated my every move and I just laugh 3 moves into it. I've done the same many times and I'm not sure how it goes down, but I'm pretty sure certain types of people would hate it.
If I'm playing somebody deadly slow and I have no other games to deal with, then I might go back to them and add a few conditional moves. Also, if I see a forced checkmate without any response for a while, I might program that in too.
The other thing that some other people have mentioned is that you often go through analsyis of moves and eventually get back to the game and half forget what you wanted to do. I've done that many times and entered a move I later remembered was wrong or I needed to do something else first. Since chess.com doesn't let you open multiple analysis board, I got into the habit of copying the position into another board editor where I could replay the analysis so as not to do this, but it got a bit painful and I've given up.
I still don't think there are any reasonable downsides to conditional moves.
I was going to post an opinion here but I can't type with my dick.
Very funny, David. Is that another thing I can look forward to losing as I get older?
Feb 24, 2011
0
#28
DC-poc wrote:
Fezzik wrote:
In all sites, I get swamped if I have more than 30 games going, during the summer when I can devote large chunks of time to chess! That takes up nearly 3 hours a day! Many sites limit players to 200 games maximum.
If you are playing at 2 days per move, and you spend an average of only 1 minute on each game, 300 games will take up two and half hours of your day, every day!
1 minute? Meh, that's a long think for me!
Seriously.
I'm going to go challenge Fezzik to a game of 1 0.
drmow11n wrote:
First, while it's no doubt a very clever programmin accomplishment, I really have to wonder what purpose it really serves. I find it difficult to believe that it is a useful learning tool insofar as it mostly detaches the player from the game. Because the player is not actually involved in the moves in question, there is less opportunity for learning.
I'm pretty sure that the conditional move system hasn't been intended as a learning tool but rather serves other purposes that are well explained in the earlier posts. However, that doesn't mean that it can't be used to assist in learning.
I think it could be used when practicing prohphylactic thinking (taking account the opponents resources) and accurate calculation of variations: force yourself to make at least one conditional move every turn. Furthermore this move should be in answer to what you think is your opponents best reply to your move. Of course if the events are of forced nature longer lines can (and should) be calculated and executed. One should obviously do prohplylactic thinking regardless whether using conditional moves or not but knowing that the planned line will be played should the opponent make the expected reply should give some extra motivation to do this process properly.
Shakaali wrote:
drmow11n wrote:
First, while it's no doubt a very clever programmin accomplishment, I really have to wonder what purpose it really serves. I find it difficult to believe that it is a useful learning tool insofar as it mostly detaches the player from the game. Because the player is not actually involved in the moves in question, there is less opportunity for learning.
I'm pretty sure that the conditional move system hasn't been intended as a learning tool but rather serves other purposes that are well explained in the earlier posts. However, that doesn't mean that it can't be used to assist in learning.
I think it could be used when practicing prohphylactic thinking (taking account the opponents resources) and accurate calculation of variations: force yourself to make at least one conditional move every turn. Furthermore this move should be in answer to what you think is your opponents best reply to your move. Of course if the events are of forced nature longer lines can (and should) be calculated and executed. One should obviously do prohplylactic thinking regardless whether using conditional moves or not but knowing that the planned line will be played should the opponent make the expected reply should give some extra motivation to do this process properly.
Wow! Ask a quesion -- stupid, good, or indifferent -- and one gets a whole bunch of great answers! Mind you, I'm not sure about the issue of typing with one's dick, but I'm broadminded!
I use conditional moves occasionally, but only when my opponent's move is obvious. Like swapping pieces, or if he's in check and only has one legal move. It does speed it up and lets him think about making another move while the game is still in front of him.
Oh and as far as typing with your dick is concerned, how does everyone else manage to keep from hitting 5 or 6 keys at the same time?
When is the game, I wanna watch.
Clearly, he is betting on currency that he wouldn't be too devastated to lose.
Serbia still uses dinars though.
The only way to use the conditional move system is to predict your opponent's moves. So it's not like there's any pre-programming going on, outside of your opponent just knowing what you might play and pre-playing his own move. I use it for opening from time to time, espeically when I have games with 3-5 day waits (per move). Truly though it's a little odd that you have concerns about having an artifical feeling when playing chess when you are chosing to play it on the Internet. Just my 2 cents, though, I do understand what you are saying, just that's it's a bit ironic. :)
Sometimes a reply is pretty obvious, so why waste time? I use it occasionally.
The purpose of conditional moves (as I see it) is to accelerate the game through the stages where mundane moves have to be played. If you have come to a 5-move forced sequence (not necessarily strictly forced, but if your opponent wants to maintain equality etc.) then what is the point in potentially playing one ply every 2 days? This means it takes 20 days to get through a set of moves you both knew were going to be played anyway.
With the conditional move system, this can all be done in moments, even when one of the players isn't actually at their computer! And for this reason, it is incredibly useful.
The rebirth of Nytik! They finally let you out of your cage? Welcome back to the forums.