r/lichess • u/jonasejfunk • Aug 12 '21
Hello guys and gals!
I wanted to put something out there. Sometimes when playing online I find that people use takebacks for moves they don’t like. It’s obvious by the move they didn’t mouseslip. They either played the move and then after decide they want to play a different one. Or blunder/mistake and then want to rectify it.
Take backs are not for that and it’s totally not in the spirit of chess. If you clearly mouseslip during an exciting game ! Take back and play the move you meant to play - let’s not ruin an exciting game over a mechanical error - but imo please don’t use it in other ways than that. Over the board there is no reversal button and that should be respected in online chess
Please share thoughts and good day to all :)
9
u/tdpdcpa Aug 12 '21
My policy is that I only allow takebacks in the event that it was clearly a mouse slip. If the move that my opponent used was plausible, I don't allow it.
For example, let's say my opponent has their queen staring down my rook at the other end of the board, and moves their queen to the square just in front of my rook so that the queen is clearly hanging. If they ask for a takeback, I allow it; they clearly had every intention of taking my rook and to continue otherwise would be a disservice to my opponent (in my opinion).
On the other hand, let's say my opponent moves their bishop to threaten mate, but doing so exposes themselves to a mate sequence. I don't allow a takeback in this circumstance, as their move was rooted in a calculated strategy and obviously executed. The fact that they later identified a flaw in their logic is on them and they must live wit that misstake.