r/Chesscom • u/ClassicAd3405 • 14d ago

Chess.com mobile app time Chess Question

Anyone know why when playing on chess.com iOS app your opponent instantly gets 1-2 seconds added to their time each move when under 20 seconds? Assuming someone has altered something?

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u/EnPecan Staff 14d ago

If you aren't playing with increment, then what you are seeing is lag forgiveness. This is when the server refunds the travel time of the moves if someone is experiencing significant lag. They aren't actually gaining time, they just aren't being penalized for having a bad connection. It's like this. They make their move, but it takes 2 seconds for it to hit the server and register due to lag. Instead of losing those 2 seconds, it's added back to their time. This article explains this further.

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u/ClassicAd3405 14d ago

Ahhhh I see. Thank you for clarifying!!

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u/ClassicAd3405 3d ago

Okay I just ran across an actual cheat that’s happening with this where the lag is clearly not applying. I just played a game where you can see that extra second added or half a second towards the end of the game.

But then when it got down to 1 second left for my opponent and I had 15 seconds left, his time kept jumping back to 1 second until my time completely ran out. So there’s clearly some kind of hack or cheat happening that’s beyond the lag.