What do you do if your opponent asks you for a take back?
Tell him or her no if they throw a tantrum and start cursing you mute them when I use to play online opponents would get mad and tell me enjoy the wait and let their clock time out :(
That 'gentleman's chess' gracious reminder ..."Don't forget I'm on your Queen there, mate" when your friend genuinely overlooks the obvious, can occasionally backfire.
Once, when playing such a friend, I'd plotted like a champion to bag his Queen and 'gracious reminders' didn't come in to it. When I made the triumphant, brilliant, game-winning move, my 'friend' -quick as a wink- planted a lightning right: right on my chin! Because I didn't warn him! The game was abandoned of course and I -understandably- refused to play him again.
But we did have enjoyable games and competition just there and then was limited and eventually I succumbed to his pleas (and promises!).
I forgive more readilly than I forget and my pride still rankled; physical retribution was out of the question and his apologies -though no doubt sincere- didn't negate that bloody king-hit. What was I to do ?!
The businessman in my friend though understood due costs and when competition between us did resume, each game cost him a handsome nugget of hash.
My pride was happilly satisfied.
Since then- and that was the early 80's- it's been touch-move every time.
timbeau: are you talking about chess or boxing? Surprising how wound up people get over a game of chess... you would think our very lives depended on the victory. I think learning to lose graciously is an important part of developing to a higher level. It's only the amateur that does these petty things. If you are truly serious about chess and devote enough time to play, and study, you will develop accordingly. Of course, it does help if you started when you were like 6, but I think even if you start as an adult, as long as you are willing to devote a lot of time to chess, and be prepared to be like a child again for the first few years, then you can reach a respectable standard in the 18-1900 or perhaps higher. I only started playing last year and my rank is slowly and continually increasing from abysmal 900s to 1600 in live standard, not on chess.com though, on FICS.
FWIW I give take backs for obvious mouse slips like Kg1 instead of 0-0 or if they were going to recapture my queen or something and it stops 1 move short. I'd rather not have the game end abruptly because of a move my opponent didn't intend to make.
But regular old blunders, yeah, that's too bad. If you don't like it resign and we can play another.
Chess.com doesn't have a button for take back requests, though it should IMO.
While some mistakes are mistakes in thinking (a person made a move that he thought was good but was indeed a blunder), many others are clearly or likely mouse slips.
If the move seems likely to have been a mouse slip, I think a takeback request is a fair one, and should be granted. If it seems to be a mistake in thinking, then I think it is up to the other player to grant or deny as he sees fit.
Winning a game because your opponent's mouse malfunctioned is hardly a fair or honourable way to win a game IMO, to not even have the opportunity to ask for a takeback (as per chess.com's lack of a takeback request button) seems like an undue limitation to me.
Tao999: Yeah, you have a good point, after all, a mouse-slip is not something that would ever happen in real-world chess, it's one of the hazards of playing on line, like losing because your Internet goes off, or winning because your opponent disconnected. None of these things happen at the board. Of course the board has its own hazards, like accidentally touching a piece and then being told you have to move it because it's touch move. And some players will actually force you to move that piece. I've had mouse-slips before as I have a wireless mouse and if the battery is low then occasionally it shorts out during a move. I usually resign if that happens!
Agreed, there is no good analogy to a mouse slip or a internet disconnection In real-world play, unless a person happens to feel some need to adjust a random piece and forgets the "j'adobe" statement. It is a shame to lose a game (or even win it sometimes, especially longer/closer games) due to a technical error that is not the fault of the player.
I would like to see a takeback button with the choice to disable it for both players at once, either pre-game (via a menu) or in-game if an opponent is spamming the takeback button without good reason (though I suppose a 2 or 3 time limit on takebacks would accomplish the same thing).
On servers without take backs and when their queen stops 1 move short of an obvious recapture I find a reasonable waiting move and let them finish the move they started heh.
On "Online Chess" here at Chess.com I noticed there is an optional takeback feature that can be checked but I never checked the box. Is that the same thing you guys are talking about?
That 'gentleman's chess' gracious reminder ..."Don't forget I'm on your Queen there, mate" when your friend genuinely overlooks the obvious, can occasionally backfire.
Once, when playing such a friend, I'd plotted like a champion to bag his Queen and 'gracious reminders' didn't come in to it. When I made the triumphant, brilliant, game-winning move, my 'friend' -quick as a wink- planted a lightning right: right on my chin! Because I didn't warn him! The game was abandoned of course and I -understandably- refused to play him again.
But we did have enjoyable games and competition just there and then was limited and eventually I succumbed to his pleas (and promises!).
I forgive more readilly than I forget and my pride still rankled; physical retribution was out of the question and his apologies -though no doubt sincere- didn't negate that bloody king-hit. What was I to do ?!
The businessman in my friend though understood due costs and when competition between us did resume, each game cost him a handsome nugget of hash.
My pride was happilly satisfied.
Since then- and that was the early 80's- it's been touch-move every time.
^same
On "Online Chess" here at Chess.com I noticed there is an optional takeback feature that can be checked but I never checked the box. Is that the same thing you guys are talking about?
I think we are talking more about the "live" chess (eg. 5 mins each to play) more so than "online" (correspondence) chess. In "online" chess there is the feature to not make the move go through until you press an additional button, which should all but eliminate mouse slips.
On "Online Chess" here at Chess.com I noticed there is an optional takeback feature that can be checked but I never checked the box. Is that the same thing you guys are talking about?
I think we are talking more about the "live" chess (eg. 5 mins each to play) more so than "online" (correspondence) chess. In "online" chess there is the feature to not make the move go through until you press an additional button, which should all but eliminate mouse slips.
Thanks and yes I've gathered as much, but I'm not talking about the submit button.
When you go to create a "new" game for open seek in online chess, I noticed there is a tickbox for "takebacks".
I am just wondering if anyone knows if that's to allow opponents the option to request a takeback for their move like we're talking about or if it is for something else entirely different.
When you go to create a "new" game for open seek in online chess, I noticed there is a tickbox for "takebacks".
i noticed it too, but never used it.... ! you can choose: rated: yes, no, take back
I wouldn't ask for a take back but I have been offered one before which I thought was nice, so I have given a new player a take back to save his queen. He then beat me, haha. Lol. ;)
my fat fingers have lost more games-
Chess.com doesn't have a button for take back requests, though it should IMO.
While some mistakes are mistakes in thinking (a person made a move that he thought was good but was indeed a blunder), many others are clearly or likely mouse slips.
If the move seems likely to have been a mouse slip, I think a takeback request is a fair one, and should be granted. If it seems to be a mistake in thinking, then I think it is up to the other player to grant or deny as he sees fit.
Winning a game because your opponent's mouse malfunctioned is hardly a fair or honourable way to win a game IMO, to not even have the opportunity to ask for a takeback (as per chess.com's lack of a takeback request button) seems like an undue limitation to me.
Sorry but I am not going to spend my time to analyze if that was genine mouse slip or anything else. I never ask for takeback and never grant one.
said:
timbeau: are you talking about chess or boxing? Surprising how wound up people get over a game of chess... you would think our very lives depended on the victory.
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I can only agree with you Ray. I can often get as much satisfaction from a lost game as long as it's been well-played. For me its about the only sport where that hoary old adage: 'It doesn't matter whether you win or you lose, etc...', actually can be true!
That example -apart from being humorous (30 years later)- was meant as an illustration of the dangers of not playing Chess by the rules. If playing a bit of social football with friends, you usually still play according to the rules: 'Sorry mate, we know that knock-on ('fumble' I think in American Football?) was unintended, but it's still a penalty/scrum/free-kick whatever'.
In other 'social/friendly' sports all the rules are usually applied. But in Chess -in the flesh- we often don't apply the rules. People quite often forgo the en-passant rule or the requirements for castling, etc... but why??
Mind you, those games are often with people who say: 'Chess? Sure, I know the moves: let's have a game!'. And when it's your nephew or cousin or something you go into polite-mode and agree to play, even though you know you'll be bored and frustrated senseless, and you could bake a cake between moves, and then often end up bloody losing to someone who calls the knight a 'horse' and insists it doesn't matter which way the board goes.
- By the bye: When watching telly and a chess board is in scene, who else just has to check to see if it's set-up correctly?! -
So why do we so often play 'social' Chess, with the rules truncated? Is it a reaction to the 'pointy-headed' image of the Game? Is it to make it 'easier' for those who've never really played? Is it not wanting to appear a smart-arse?
Or is it because we are just too nice for our own good!
I notice a lot of comments have been about on-line Chess.
A 'friend' I've been playing for a good year now, in a recent game made a totally out-of-character -and losing- move. When he explained that he'd mis-hit a key (I think he was in traffic at the time) it made perfect sense to me.
We called the game a draw and started afresh.
It felt good: not so much the 'generosity' on my part, but that we knew each other's standard and were able to exercise a bit of trust.
Wow! Social-Networking in action! And just think: not so long ago, one had to actually get dressed and leave the house to socialize.
What do you do if your opponent asks you for a take back? I'm not sure that chess.com has that feature, but another (not-to-be-named) website that I play on, seemingly does. It's happened to me three times since yesterday. First, a guy blundered his Queen and asked for a take back. I said sorry, I let kids take back their mistakes (perhaps he was a kid). Then a guy blundered and failed to castle properly, instead moving his king one space, and asked for a take back. I thought about it, I did actually feel a bit bad, but I decided that he should learn to live with his mistakes and declined. I mean, come on, if you drop your granny's fine bone-china cup on the floor and smash it into pieces, you can't ask god for a take back and make everything alright. The same guy then offered me a rematch, obviously wanting to seriously punish me for being so mean. It was fairly even, he had a queen and knight, I had two rooks and a bishop. The he blundered his Queen and asked for a take back! Sorry, but in real tournaments people play touch move, you're not going to have the option to take back then, so be realistic. In the real world, you can't take back moves, so stop trying to win games by taking back your mistakes. Maybe I'm cold-hearted, but unless you're
a) my girlfriend
b) a six-year-old (beginner) kid
c) my bestess bestess friend in the entire world
I am not going to let you take back moves....
It's just like crossing the road, guys:
Stop!
Look!
Listen!
If it's safe to move your queen, then do so! If not.... don't ask me for a take back.... please!