Answers.Body: <p>That's called a mouse-slip, and it's part of playing online. Watch some of Carlsen's online play (e.g. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJlOlufG-JM" rel="noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJlOlufG-JM</a>) and you'll see even he mouse-slips on occasion. Common etiquette seems to be to continue playing out the game and try to be more precise next time.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-14T17:52:04.387Z
Answers.Text: Agreed. I play on chess.com, and there is no "Request Undo" button. For online chess, all moves appear to be final.
Answers.UserDisplayName: RedDragonWebDesign
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-14T18:29:04.307Z
Answers.Text: Also consider getting better equipment. I used to have a mouse with a very unreliable button! :-)
Answers.UserDisplayName: itub
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-14T19:41:48.947Z
Answers.Text: Some people prefer to "click the piece; click the destination square" instead of "drag-and-drop" for just this reason.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ghotir
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T06:56:10.747Z
Answers.Text: @AdmiralAdama lichess.org has a "request undo" feature.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian McCutchon
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T10:47:05.997Z
Answers.Text: I don't understand why people use the mouse at all for chess. Entering algebraic notation with the keyboard is both safer and quicker, though it does require more practice.
Answers.UserDisplayName: leftaroundabout
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T13:18:58.500Z
Answers.Text: @leftaroundabout See this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzQjlVEXsLk - There's no way a keyboard would be faster than a mouse here.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Pedro A
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Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T15:22:45.763Z
Answers.Text: @leftaroundabout I doubt most people find it quicker at all. Especially when you want to move your knight to f6 and you've not realised that "Nf6" is ambiguous so you need to say "N8f6" instead. It's also dubious whether it's more accurate: from my general use of computers, I would say that I'm much more likely to typo "Rf6" as "Rf5" or even "Rg6" than to click the mouse in the wrong place when aiming at a big target like a square on a chess board.
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Richerby
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Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T16:10:31.383Z
Answers.Text: @DavidRicherby yeah, ambiguity between pieces is always annoying in AN, but this happens rather seldom and could easily be addressed – e.g. when there are two knights that could go to f6, the UI could label them `X` and `Y` and you'd just need to hit one key to disambiguate. About slower speed, this is bogus seeing that most people can easily reach 3 keystrokes per second in normal typing without significant error rate between letters. With training, this could be pushed to two moves per second, and independent of where on the board the action happens; try that with a mouse without errors!
Answers.UserDisplayName: leftaroundabout
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Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T16:15:46.827Z
Answers.Text: @leftaroundabout I think we're talking about what actual chess interfaces do, not about what hypothetical interfaces of the future could do. Your argument that the keyboard is faster because typos don't exist clearly contradicts reality.
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Richerby
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Answers.Text: @DavidRicherby Existing interfaces _can_ be used with the keyboard. I don't know many, but in Xboard it works well enough. It does not have a nice ambiguity resolver, but if I cared enough I could add such a feature in a day to the source code. Again, ambiguities don't actually happen so often as to be much of a time problem, it just throws you off the track a bit in your thoughts.
Answers.UserDisplayName: leftaroundabout
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Answers.Text: @leftaroundabout Yes, existing interfaces can use the keyboard. But your suggestion of what interfaces _could_ do was purely hypothetical.
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Richerby
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T16:47:51.690Z
Answers.Text: It _was_ hypothetical, but also pretty tangential and not really important to the point I was making. The point was my bewilderment as to why people who devote a sizeable portion of their life to chess don't pick the best interfaces available (or, if necessary, improve them so they will work perfectly) and instead choose to live with a more tangible but by nature inexact interface and with the glitches it can cause.
Answers.UserDisplayName: leftaroundabout
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-11T19:49:23.840Z
Answers.Text: @Ghotir: Unfortunately, clicking the piece then clicking its destination is not fool proof either! :-(  I just had the same thing happen (tried to castle, but instead the king moved one square) trying to move that way.
Answers.UserDisplayName: GreenMatt
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Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-14T17:51:12.833Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-08-14T17:51:12.833Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: dikuw
Answers.Body: <p>The most standard response you'll see is <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/22238/16035">what Michael said</a>. However, for what it's worth, I've had that happen to me as well and if you ask, occasionally the other player will scoot a piece around until you fix your move. </p>
  
  <p>It doesn't take too much effort to plan it out so their piece is in its original spot once you've finished your "castle" (for example, they could move a bishop 2 squares over, you move your king off the back row, they move their bishop one square back, you move your rook over, they move their bishop back to its original spot, you move your king to it's standard castle position, then play continues). </p>
  
  <p>It messes up the time a little and potentially impacts a draw, but that's seldom been relevant in my cases. Having said that, you're also asking your opponent to deliberately make a sub-par move and trust you won't exploit it, not to mention pass on a winning opportunity. Lots of players won't do that for you, but it shouldn't hurt to ask. </p>
  
  <p>I've also had a few opponents slip up before and offered to let them fix it a few times now. In the dozen or so times I've offered that to my opponent, they've never taken advantage of me for it; they've <em>always</em> just made the move they promised. Likewise, in the dozen or so times someone's offered that to me, they've always operated in good faith as well. </p>
  
  <p>Again, this isn't the most common response, but there are some players out there who'd much rather play a good game than an easy one. For what it's worth all these matches were Elo ~1600; I don't know how that affects the competitiveness of the matches. </p>
  
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-08-15T15:00:20.917Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-08-15T15:00:20.917Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Lord Farquaad
Answers.Body: <p>On lichess.org you can ask for takeback even in rated games.</p>
  
  <p>Your case is very reasonable for such request.</p>
  
  <p>In my experience the option is usually available, but here is an explanation of when it is and not available.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>If you go to "Preferences" - "Game behavior" you are given a choice to
    allow takebacks "never", "always" or "in casual games only".</p>
    
    <p>Even if you set your preferences to allow takeback always, you will
    not have the option in games where your opponent does not allow them.</p>
    
    <p>Oh, and I believe there is no option of takeback in tournament games,
    but I'm not a 100% sure about that.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><a href="https://lichess.org/qa/2557/why-in-some-games-does-the-takeback-button-work-and-others-not" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://lichess.org/qa/2557/why-in-some-games-does-the-takeback-button-work-and-others-not</a></p>
  
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Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-08-15T22:51:27.120Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-08-15T22:51:27.120Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Akavall
Body: <p>Recently I was playing an online game when I moved my king with the intent of castling. However, I apparently didn't get it far enough over, and when I "let it go", the king was placed in a square adjacent to the one it had left and the rook stayed in the corner.</p>
  
  <p>I made a comment in the players' chat along the lines of "That was meant to be a castle." The other player even replied with something like "Yeah, I figured." However he proceeded to take advantage of the situation, eventually winning what had been an even game up to that point.</p>
  
  <p>Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened to me. In fact it seems to happen disturbingly often, and I've only played a few dozen online games over the past few months. Also, I've seen some puzzling moves from opponents that I now think might have been due to trouble with the equipment, rather than just poor play.</p>
  
  <p>In the game above, I considered asking for a draw right after the error, especially since my opponent acknowledged that it was a technical problem, not poor play. However I wasn't sure of the etiquette for this, and also had time considerations to worry about. Would it have been considered bad form to ask for a draw? To decline one if it is asked for from an opponent in such a circumstance?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T09:06:05.633Z
Comments.Text: that's not a technical problem
Comments.UserDisplayName: mccc
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T14:41:14.727Z
Comments.Text: @mccc: Well it *could* be, but I get your point. Do you have a better way to succinctly describe the problem?
Comments.UserDisplayName: GreenMatt
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-08-15T15:48:35.753Z
Comments.Text: probably what @DavidRicherby said
Comments.UserDisplayName: mccc
Tags: <online-chess><etiquette>
Title: Is there any etiquette about how to proceed when a technical problem leads to a misplay in an online game?
ThreadText: # Is there any etiquette about how to proceed when a technical problem leads to a misplay in an online game?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-14)
  
  Recently I was playing an online game when I moved my king with the intent of castling. However, I apparently didn't get it far enough over, and when I "let it go", the king was placed in a square adjacent to the one it had left and the rook stayed in the corner.
  
  I made a comment in the players' chat along the lines of "That was meant to be a castle." The other player even replied with something like "Yeah, I figured." However he proceeded to take advantage of the situation, eventually winning what had been an even game up to that point.
  
  Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened to me. In fact it seems to happen disturbingly often, and I've only played a few dozen online games over the past few months. Also, I've seen some puzzling moves from opponents that I now think might have been due to trouble with the equipment, rather than just poor play.
  
  In the game above, I considered asking for a draw right after the error, especially since my opponent acknowledged that it was a technical problem, not poor play. However I wasn't sure of the etiquette for this, and also had time considerations to worry about. Would it have been considered bad form to ask for a draw? To decline one if it is asked for from an opponent in such a circumstance?
  
  **Tags:** online-chess, etiquette
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: that's not a technical problem  
  > **username_0**: @username_1: Well it *could* be, but I get your point. Do you have a better way to succinctly describe the problem?  
  > **username_1**: probably what @DavidRicherby said  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2018-08-14. Score: 30
  
  That's called a mouse-slip, and it's part of playing online. Watch some of Carlsen's online play (e.g. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJlOlufG-JM>) and you'll see even he mouse-slips on occasion. Common etiquette seems to be to continue playing out the game and try to be more precise next time.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: Agreed. I play on chess.com, and there is no "Request Undo" button. For online chess, all moves appear to be final.  
  > **username_4**: Also consider getting better equipment. I used to have a mouse with a very unreliable button! :-)  
  > **username_5**: Some people prefer to "click the piece; click the destination square" instead of "drag-and-drop" for just this reason.  
  > **username_6**: @AdmiralAdama lichess.org has a "request undo" feature.  
  > **username_7**: I don't understand why people use the mouse at all for chess. Entering algebraic notation with the keyboard is both safer and quicker, though it does require more practice.  
  > **username_8**: @username_7 See this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzQjlVEXsLk - There's no way a keyboard would be faster than a mouse here.  
  > **username_9**: @username_7 I doubt most people find it quicker at all. Especially when you want to move your knight to f6 and you've not realised that "Nf6" is ambiguous so you need to say "N8f6" instead. It's also dubious whether it's more accurate: from my general use of computers, I would say that I'm much more likely to typo "Rf6" as "Rf5" or even "Rg6" than to click the mouse in the wrong place when aiming at a big target like a square on a chess board.  
  > **username_7**: @DavidRicherby yeah, ambiguity between pieces is always annoying in AN, but this happens rather seldom and could easily be addressed – e.g. when there are two knights that could go to f6, the UI could label them `X` and `Y` and you'd just need to hit one key to disambiguate. About slower speed, this is bogus seeing that most people can easily reach 3 keystrokes per second in normal typing without significant error rate between letters. With training, this could be pushed to two moves per second, and independent of where on the board the action happens; try that with a mouse without errors!  
  > **username_9**: @username_7 I think we're talking about what actual chess interfaces do, not about what hypothetical interfaces of the future could do. Your argument that the keyboard is faster because typos don't exist clearly contradicts reality.  
  > **username_7**: @DavidRicherby Existing interfaces _can_ be used with the keyboard. I don't know many, but in Xboard it works well enough. It does not have a nice ambiguity resolver, but if I cared enough I could add such a feature in a day to the source code. Again, ambiguities don't actually happen so often as to be much of a time problem, it just throws you off the track a bit in your thoughts.  
  > **username_9**: @username_7 Yes, existing interfaces can use the keyboard. But your suggestion of what interfaces _could_ do was purely hypothetical.  
  > **username_7**: It _was_ hypothetical, but also pretty tangential and not really important to the point I was making. The point was my bewilderment as to why people who devote a sizeable portion of their life to chess don't pick the best interfaces available (or, if necessary, improve them so they will work perfectly) and instead choose to live with a more tangible but by nature inexact interface and with the glitches it can cause.  
  > **username_0**: @username_5: Unfortunately, clicking the piece then clicking its destination is not fool proof either! :-(  I just had the same thing happen (tried to castle, but instead the king moved one square) trying to move that way.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_10 on 2018-08-14. Score: 7
  
  The most standard response you'll see is [what Michael said](https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/22238/16035). However, for what it's worth, I've had that happen to me as well and if you ask, occasionally the other player will scoot a piece around until you fix your move.
  
  It doesn't take too much effort to plan it out so their piece is in its original spot once you've finished your "castle" (for example, they could move a bishop 2 squares over, you move your king off the back row, they move their bishop one square back, you move your rook over, they move their bishop back to its original spot, you move your king to it's standard castle position, then play continues).
  
  It messes up the time a little and potentially impacts a draw, but that's seldom been relevant in my cases. Having said that, you're also asking your opponent to deliberately make a sub-par move and trust you won't exploit it, not to mention pass on a winning opportunity. Lots of players won't do that for you, but it shouldn't hurt to ask.
  
  I've also had a few opponents slip up before and offered to let them fix it a few times now. In the dozen or so times I've offered that to my opponent, they've never taken advantage of me for it; they've *always* just made the move they promised. Likewise, in the dozen or so times someone's offered that to me, they've always operated in good faith as well.
  
  Again, this isn't the most common response, but there are some players out there who'd much rather play a good game than an easy one. For what it's worth all these matches were Elo ~1600; I don't know how that affects the competitiveness of the matches.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_11 on 2018-08-15. Score: 6
  
  On lichess.org you can ask for takeback even in rated games.
  
  Your case is very reasonable for such request.
  
  In my experience the option is usually available, but here is an explanation of when it is and not available.
  
  > If you go to "Preferences" - "Game behavior" you are given a choice to
  > allow takebacks "never", "always" or "in casual games only".
  >
  > Even if you set your preferences to allow takeback always, you will
  > not have the option in games where your opponent does not allow them.
  >
  > Oh, and I believe there is no option of takeback in tournament games,
  > but I'm not a 100% sure about that.
  
  <https://lichess.org/qa/2557/why-in-some-games-does-the-takeback-button-work-and-others-not>
  
  
  ---
  
  