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No more time lost when your game starts!
Posted: 22 January 2015 09:25 PM   [ # 31 ]  
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ears - 21 January 2015 01:07 PM

This makes things less stressful to those not used to the mechanical nature of internet chess.

Also, maybe you could look into the OPPONENT RESIGN button for just me grin

LOL!

So true, this is a fix for a non-existent problem, and is annoying as hell.  Please get rid of this “improvement.”

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Posted: 23 January 2015 11:48 AM   [ # 32 ]  
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How will that impact Team 45 45 League games? Will our bot be confused when the match command is accepted by both players and the game clock does not start counting down immediately?

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Posted: 23 January 2015 08:00 PM   [ # 33 ]  
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No, no, dont do it, such a bad idea.

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Posted: 24 January 2015 06:56 AM   [ # 34 ]  
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I play mainly 15 0 on ICC and I think this is a great feature for games at a rapid or longer time control.  I enjoy having an extra bit of time to get settled, comfortable and ready to play, especially since the pool can take a little while to find a pair at times.  While I won’t be affected by this in Blitz or bullet, those faster time controls shouldn’t have this feature, or else the time should reduced to a couple seconds just to give people time to mentally prepare. 

At all time controls, players should be discouraged from rummaging through an opponent’s history to review his opening successes and failures.  The concept changes the dynamic of play quite a bit, and while it’s common to look up some games of a tournament opponent, the use of this new feature doesn’t emulate that process in any relevant or instructive way, nor should it.  The result of this kind of a lookup race is that players are put at an inappropriate disadvantage for:

1) an unwillingness or inability to quickly analyze the opponent’s history
2) bad luck—viewing a set of games that don’t contain valuable opening data about the opponent

These new challenges distract from the task of playing better chess than your opponent.  Online chess is refreshing in that your opponent doesn’t usually analyze your games before playing.  Plus when you want a fast game, you can get it underway immediately with as little delay as possible.  Please try to preserve these elements of online play.

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Posted: 24 January 2015 03:28 PM   [ # 35 ]  
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I like this feature very much. It allows time to set down my coffee cup if I was taking a sip or 2 while waiting for a 3-minute pairing.

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Posted: 24 January 2015 04:18 PM   [ # 36 ]  
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Nice idea, I will start making my first move when my time is 4:51.

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Posted: 24 January 2015 04:19 PM   [ # 37 ]  
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I said 4:51 because I play 5-minute games.

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Posted: 24 January 2015 04:43 PM   [ # 38 ]  
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Great decision!!! Thanks.

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Posted: 24 January 2015 06:58 PM   [ # 39 ]  
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Of everything you guys can come up with to improve ICC, this is what you have ?.  Are you kidding me ?.  “You asked and we listened”, as if you’re just catering to people’s suggestions.  I can’t tell you how many times that you and Marty personally told me that “USCF rated quick events are on the horizon”, and nothing ever came of it.  What about cash prizes for tournaments daily for certain rated players ?, or playing for money somehow if players want ?.  At least that would make the place more fun.  An extra “10 seconds”.  Wow.  What an innovation. Great, now I just have to wait even longer for a game to be over.  Like I don’t wait a minute or more for a game now…

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Posted: 24 January 2015 07:19 PM   [ # 40 ]  
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Thank you!!  Excellent idea.  I want a fair game, and in 1-minute games a 10-second penalty can mean the other person has lost before the game has started.

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Posted: 25 January 2015 01:31 AM   [ # 41 ]  
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This caught me a little by surprise. Initially I thought there was some lag trick occurring as I saw my opponent’s clock chew through 5 seconds or so, then revert back to 59 seconds. Once I read what had been changed I understood what was happening. and now I’m getting used to it.

The change makes sense. The clock starts when you make your first move. Compared with OTB this is an advantage for internet based playing. However, I would not extend this past 10 seconds in any format.

Having said that, it seems that the only format to which this makes any difference is bullet games (IMHO). In every other time format, this is inconsequential.

There are a lot of nay-sayers regarding this innovation. Mostly their concerns relate to being quick on the draw when the games commence. I agree this should be a consideration regarding how this sight positions itself going forward. Are bullet games about being fast, as well as being able to play chess well? Or should there be a bit of lee-way in when you commence your game? While I agree that time should be a factor with all rated games, we are not in the wild west, so each player having some grace when playing the first move is a positive.

Here are two things I particularly like about this innovation:
1. It ensures that both players have the full amount of time to make all their moves
2. More importantly, it doesn’t change that you can still flag your opponent by the most successful way possible: get them in such a tight spot that they are forced to stop and think!!!!

Personally with all the distractions I have around me at home whilst I’m playing, I appreciate this change. I support it, and believe ICC is making the right decision going forward in how they position their product to chess fanatics like myself.

On other matters:

I have to agree with Anotherfinemess: a useful innovation would be to be able to force the commencement of tourney games - or perhaps have a count down clock (similar to the shot clock in basketball) when a round for each tourney starts. Perhaps 10-20 seconds, and then your game starts if you haven’t manually started it already. Just a thought.

Thanks to everyone at ICC for the great site, and the hard work making sure this great service is available 24/7.

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Posted: 25 January 2015 04:36 AM   [ # 42 ]  
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Strongly against it. Wish ICC would reverse it.

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Posted: 25 January 2015 12:46 PM   [ # 43 ]  
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After using this new feature this week, I find it weird for the following reasons:

1. White makes move 1 without his clock being started. This does not match OTB play.

2. Black makes move 1 without using any time. This makes no sense. Why does black have 10 seconds to decide the opening?

3. The game basically starts on move 2.


Therefore, I suggest a better solution. Why not have 2 buttons: Ready for white, start the clock for black. Once white hits the ready button, black can start the clock. Maybe the clock automatically starts for white after 10 seconds of not pushing the ready button. This would make more sense and match OTB play.

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Posted: 25 January 2015 03:15 PM   [ # 44 ]  
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I had to literally look at my calendar and check if it was April 1st when I read this announcement. I can’t believe anyone in charge of implementing change on ICC would even remotely think that this would be a positive change. In fact, I am still hoping that it is a joke so that I can at least partially restore my faith in the direction this club is taking.

I could write a novel about how contradictory this implementation is to OTB chess, about how players themselves could actually choose a longer time controls instead of forcing strange time additions to every game, or about how this can slow down the fastest time control games by over 20%. But alas, I will not write this novel in hopes that is unnecessary due to the resounding outcry that has ensued.

Fun facts at the time of writing this:
- 60% of responders here oppose this change
- The average rating of those supporting the change is ~1300
- The average rating of those opposing the change is ~1700

How soon can we revert this change? And more importantly, how should we restaff and restructure the suggestions team and approval process to avoid spending resources on such silly ideas in the future? Could we have our membership fees spent on something that at least the majority of members can agree on??

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Posted: 25 January 2015 07:54 PM   [ # 45 ]  
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I’m against it.

Whomever is not rdy when action starts should die, diieeeee

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