Annoying Bot Feature

These guys

https://www.chess.com/play/computer

play instantly when they get below 30 seconds. It doesn't even cost them 0.1 seconds (not that it'd matter since they could play 290 moves).

https://www.chess.com/game/computer/11304947

Notice Wally stays at 29 seconds over the course of 36 moves. This makes 1|0 games annoying since you have to be massively ahead before the bot hits 30 seconds. It wasn't always like this, and sometimes it seems to switch back and forth, I guess they're always making adjustments or something... and I know these are throwaway opponents mainly aimed at new players who know absolutely nothing... but it's a bit annoying that... if you're going to have a feature (like 1 minute chess) then don't screw it up. If you don't want to program it well then don't offer 1 minute as a time control.

I heard bots are getting upgraded or smth similar. I don’t know if this is a part of it though.

The bots are getting some skill level changes but I don't believe anything else. I'll ask about it 

Thanks for the feedback here. 

For sure, the Bots have been "unflaggable" for some time now, and that's the way it will probably remain until we have time to invest in making some Bots worse at time management than others.  For now, it's really more about using timed Computer games to keep human time-management reflexes sharp - not about earning crowns by flagging the Bots.

However, it's a great point that the quality of the play experience drops off after the Bots start replying instantly, and there's no reason that can't happen much later than 00:30. We'll look into changing this!

I know it's a somewhat... demanding complaint. It's practically impossible to make a bot that plays like an 1800 human in every time control... but my main gripe is that I (probably) can't score 50% against Wally in 1|0 even though I'm 2200-2300 in chess.com 1|0 games.

I also understand your side of it. If players can win by simply flagging bots that's also a poor design, so there's no easy solution.

FWIW, if I were writing the logic, I'd randomize it at the start of each game so the bot plays at a pace suitable for a 35, 55, or 75 move game. Then when the clock reaches a set point (depending on the time control) there's 66% chance the next move will be a premove.