Questions about Vacation and Auto-Timeout Protection

Hello! I have a few questions about Vacation mode. I'm going abroad on July 25th. The last time I'll be able to access the Internet will probably be the previous night. I estimate that I will only be able to access the Internet again on August 5th in the afternoon.

In total, I think I'll be almost 12 days without being able to go online. I have 10 days of Vacation available, and I have no online games with less time to play than with 7 days. If I activate Vacation on the night of July 24th, I should run out of Vacation time on the night of August 2nd. However, I know that I'm due to receive another Vacation day by August 1st. But, by that day, I will still be using Vacation time. Question: If I'm still using Vacation time by the day I'm due to receive an extra day, will I actually receive that day? And, if so, will it automatically be used, so that my Vacation ends on August 3rd instead of the 2nd?

The only problem with this would be that I would have no Vacation time left to be used in case of emergency. But I've also just received an offer for a 10-day trial of Premium Membership. I would only be able to use it for 2 days, though. But I'm aware that this would give me the advantage of Auto-Timeout Protection, which will only put me in Vacation when I'm low on time, which should be by the night of July 31st. Thus, I would only use nearly 5 days of the 10-day Vacation time I have, which would leave me with over 5 days left. But, if I do so, my free trial will end on August 2nd. Question: Once it was activated by Auto-Timeout Protection, which is a privilege that will disappear by August 2nd, will Vacation time automatically stop being used? Or will it still be used until the end, even though I no longer have Auto-Timeout Protection? In case of the former situation, I would lose the games I have due to timeouts (activating the free trial and Auto-Timeout Protection wouldn't be worth it). In case of the latter one, this protection might actually be useful...

So, please respond me as quickly as possible. I need to know which one will be the best option. Thank you in advance for any reply!

By the way, I'm sorry for the long post...

maybe you will have to lose some games on time.. Are you sure there is no internet connection?

Jul 25 to august 5 is 11 days. Your vacation time is 10 days. Your games are with 7 days time contol. 10+7 is 17 and that's more than 11 so no worries! And every month you get an extra vacation day!

No, I'm not sure if there'll be connection or not, but I'm planning things for the worst case scenario, which is not having Internet. I'm leaving on the 25th, yes, but I'll be able to access for the last time only on the 24th, thus making nearly 12 days. And yes, I'm aware that I'll have enough time if I activate Vacation time on the night of 24th, but the problem with that would be that the spare time (5 days) would be on the game time, not on the Vacation time, i.e., I'd run out of Vacation time, when I could still have an extra 5 days in case I activated Auto-Timeout Protection. If I don't, those 5 days will take 2,5 months to be recovered, and could be quite useful in that time...

Unfortunately only premium members get auto timeout protection, as a basic member you'd have to activate vacation time yourself manually (when its not your turn in any of your games), it won't turn on by itself unless you upgraded your account before your time away.

Yes, I know that, but I've received an offer for a 10-day free trial of Premium Membership. I'm wondering if it will be worth it...

But could you please be more concrete and answer specifically my questions, please? Thank you.

One thing I've noticed about Vacation Mode: You can only switch into Vacation Mode when you have moved in all your games, and are waiting on your opponent in all games.

If you have a lot of games in progress, I imagine this might be a little tricky to achieve.

No, currently, I have just 4 games. In fact, when I come to the website, I really don't like to leave with games on which it's my turn... But do you have any further information, particularly what I've asked?

Hey, excuse me, but I guess you haven't noticed that I haven't yet received any direct response to my questions...

PortugeseGuy, let me tackle your questions:

Question: If I'm still using Vacation time by the day I'm due to receive an extra day, will I actually receive that day? And, if so, will it automatically be used, so that my Vacation ends on August 3rd instead of the 2nd?

You receive a vacation day automatically on the 1st and 15th of each month, up to the limit of of your membership type -- 30 days for basic members like you, 60 days for the lowest premium level, and so on.  And if you are in vacation status when you receive your day, it will be used if needed.

Question: Once it was activated by Auto-Timeout Protection, which is a privilege that will disappear by August 2nd, will Vacation time automatically stop being used? Or will it still be used until the end, even though I no longer have Auto-Timeout Protection?

I don't think that's the way the free trials work.  You have to provide credit card information, so when your free trail ends, it reverts to a paid premium membership, unless you cancel it.  My guess is that if you cancel your free trail (not sure how you would do that without Internet access), and you were in vacation status, that status would continue normally until you end it or the days run out.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

Heh, he might have already left by now.  Oh well...

OK, I see. Thank you, philtech! But turns out there is Internet here. I decided to turn on Vacation mode when I left, but looks like there's no need to do so. I'm going to turn it off now. Thanks for the answer, anyway!

how was the trip?

In addition to the dilemma presented here, I find the means to actually state yuo wil be unavailable obtuse. Although it alleges you can not ask for a time out when it is yuor turn, I attempted to do such after making a move. I was told I could not while "it was my turn". It was not. addituionally, just to find how to get to "time-out" presented a challenge. I understand chess is supposed to be challenging, but not manuevering around the site. From the view point of "English Composition" they get a D.I cannot recommend this site to anyone chess master or not, unless they are willing to deal with a design based on DMV logic.

I agree it is hard to put yourself on vacation mode.... I seldom do it.... So I have to google it to find instructions... Which works out for me.

What do I need to do unordered to start My vacation period for 4 days next week??

Hover your mouse over 'HOME', in the upper-right corner of the website, and then click on 'Account'.

A page with different options for settings appears. Click on 'Manage your Online Chess settings'.

A page with all possible Online Chess settings appears. Look for one that reads 'Vacation'. Tick the box which reads 'PAUSE MY GAMES!'. You may write a short message to be displayed to opponents during your Vacation time. Then click on 'Save Settings', at the bottom of the page.

Beware that you are not allowed to activate Vacation mode if you still have games in progress in which it is your turn to move. Make sure that you make a move in all your games before proceeding.

Do we still get additional vacation days each month?

Apparently, yes, until you reach your allowed maximum. This is taken from a help page here at Chess.com:

How much time do you get?

All new Chess.com accounts start out with 7 days of vacation time.

All members then accrue an additional 2 vacation days per month: one on the 1st, & one on the 15th.

Vacation time is capped at a certain maximum so that you can't keep accumulating vacation time forever.  Your maximum allowable vacation time depends on your membership level:

• Basic Members: 30 days
• Gold Members: 60 days
• Platinum/Diamond: 90 days