Lag

Games over the internet are affected by lag -- the time it takes for the electronic transmission of moves and game positions. A program called timestamp was developed to prevent lag time from being deducted from your clock time, and this program is built into the Dasher client. However, the lag time still exists, and manifests itself as delayed reactions to your moves, apparent jumps in the clock time of your opponent, and even negative clock times where you cannot flag your opponent. You can check your and your opponent's lag time during a game on the lagmeter beneath the move list on the Game Window.

Move time:	shows how much time was used for the last move played on the board.
lag	The second box shows the most recent lag measurement for you.
lag	The third box shows the most recent lag measurement for your opponent.
Note: Lag information is only available in games you play. If you observe a game, the lag boxes will display N/A, indicating that lag information is not available.

Lag strongly interferes with faster forms of chess, especially bullet. It is generally a good idea not to play bullet when lagging significantly. This is especially true in tournaments, where significant lag from a single person can interfere with the flow of pairings and play for many people. Often, in normal play, when one player is experiencing recurring lag, the best thing to do is either to adjourn the game and continue it later or to abort it altogether. In the case of bullet, abort is most common, as adjourned bullet games have little utility. For longer games, adjourning makes the most sense. However, both must be agreed to by both sides.

Excessive lag often leads to an involuntary disconnection, and the appearance of lag can be caused by a disconnection on the users end that the server hasn't detected yet. In these cases the player who *didn't* disconnect is credited with an extra 15 seconds as compensation for the disorientation when the game is resumed.

Note: While lag is a part of the game and usually beyond a players control, some players attempt to manipulate their clock to achieve an unfair advantage. If you have reason to believe that a player is doing this, please follow the instructions here and report it. To assist the admin in their investigative efforts, please describe, in detail, the pattern that led you to believe this this was happening

See Also:
Handling Problems
Disconnections