It showed my opponent was running out of time, but it was actually me

This is the first time I have ever experienced something like this on Lichess.

I was playing a 10+0 Rapid game and had the Black pieces. My opponent started with the Réti Opening and the game eventually reached a Dutch Defense, Stonewall-type position.

Everything was going normally. At one point, we started exchanging knights. I captured his knight, but then my opponent didn't make a move for a long time. I waited for several minutes and started thinking that he might have left the game.

What made it even more confusing was that the clock was showing that my opponent was running very low on time. At one point, I remember seeing him with around 12 seconds remaining.

Because I thought he was about to lose on time, I even considered using the feature that gives the opponent an additional 15 seconds. Then, suddenly, after my screen refreshed, everything had completely changed.

Instead of my opponent having around 12 seconds, I was the one with less than 35 seconds, while my opponent suddenly had around 9 minutes remaining.

I was completely confused. I had been waiting because I genuinely believed that my opponent was the one who had stopped playing and was running out of time.

I later discussed what happened with my opponent. A few minutes later, he replied that I was the one who wasn't making a move. I asked for a draw because of what had happened, but he refused and gave me some extra time instead.

I don't blame my opponent at all. From his perspective, he was simply playing the game normally. If Lichess was showing the correct clock on his side, then he had no reason to do anything differently.

What concerns me is what happened on my side of the game. It appeared as though my opponent's clock was running down, but apparently my own clock was actually running down.

My internet connection also seemed fine at the time. I was even scrolling social media in a small split-screen window for a moment, and I didn't notice any connection problems.

Unfortunately, I didn't take screenshots or record the screen, so I don't have visual proof of what I saw. I only have my memory of the incident and the game itself.

This was extremely frustrating, especially because I had already experienced a significant rating drop recently, and then something like this happened in a game where I genuinely believed I had plenty of time.

Has anyone else experienced something similar on Lichess?

And is there a way to report this to Lichess so that the developers can check the game/server logs and determine whether there was a clock or synchronization issue?

I understand that without a screenshot or video it may be difficult to prove exactly what appeared on my screen. I'm mainly interested in finding out whether this is a known type of bug or synchronization problem and whether the game can be investigated from Lichess's side.

I really hope this can be looked into, because situations like this can seriously affect the outcome of a game.

It happens frequently. A move is lost in transmission. The cure is to refresh CTRL F5.

Has anyone else experienced something similar on Lichess?

Yeah it happened to me a few times.

So if my opponent doesn't make a move in a while, I refresh the page just in case.

@PiyushShaw said ^

This is the first time I have ever experienced something like this on Lichess.

I was playing a 10+0 Rapid game and had the Black pieces. My opponent started with the Réti Opening and the game eventually reached a Dutch Defense, Stonewall-type position.

Everything was going normally. At one point, we started exchanging knights. I captured his knight, but then my opponent didn't make a move for a ...

Happened to me also.

@ivaan270916 said ^

This is the first time I have ever experienced something like this on Lichess.

I was playing a 10+0 Rapid game and had the Black pieces. My opponent started with the Réti Opening and the game eventually reached a Dutch Defense, Stonewall-type position.

Everything was going normally. At one point, we started exchanging knights. I captu...

That's sad next time we should be careful, we can't really blame lichess at all as we know this is free platform and run on Donation.

When your internet connection is bad, sometimes the packet loss is too much. I assume the communication is a compromise between speed and stability, but wouldn’t know. It could also be that Lichess stops checking after several failed attempts or that your browser does and Lichess can’t even influence it on their end.

There’s a reason Ultra bullet is a thing here and not elsewhere. If your internet is fast and stable your gameplay experience will be too.

@PiyushShaw said ^

This is the first time I have ever experienced something like this on Lichess.

I was playing a 10+0 Rapid game and had the Black pieces. My opponent started with the Réti Opening and the game eventually reached a Dutch Defense, Stonewall-type position.

Everything was going normally. At one point, we started exchanging knigh...

dude , but we cant soley say donaton platform all the time if we cant blame them whom can we ? if it were a small bug it would be compltley fine but these types of bugs are serious issues. if this dosent change games might as well lose their meaning, i understand its a donation platform but this is non negotiable

Yeah it’s non negotiable coz there’s nothing to negotiate.
Free service, take it or leave it, Karen.

If u paid any attention you would be aware of some things:

• performance is better than anything else. World #1 from free platform
• Lichess can not rent you a new ISP or build your countries infrastructure
• while it is correct you shouldn’t use knockout arguments in a proper discussion, I’m not so sure it was intended as one, whereas you built a nice straw man argument from it without even making a proper point. Normally if you refute something, you bring up an opposing view.

(@)PiyushShaw: 'That's sad next time we should be careful' ~ It should not be up to the users to fix the platform's errors. 'You lost one thousand Rapid points because of a bug on our end? Get them back yourself.'

'we can't really blame lichess at all as we know this is free platform and run on Donation.' ~ Firstly, Lichess has an entire sub-forum named, 'Lichess Feedback.' If Lichess do not want to be criticized, then why do they have said sub-forum? If people do not complain about errors, then they will never be fixed.

Secondly, this is not a free platform; it is run on user donations. Should those donations be disrespected by allowing game-breaking errors to stay? If Lichess stops caring about issues, then perhaps users will stop donating.

Thirdly, would it be fine if I gave a homeless person moldy bread for free?

(@)Rookitiki: 'Free service, take it or leave it, Karen.' ~ Free criticism. Take it or leave it.

'performance is better than anything else. World #1 from free platform' ~ It is because it is great that the users should point out how it can be improved. Being at the top is only more reason for something to better itself.

(@)SF18NNUE-SFNNV12: I advise you to use a grammar app so that your comments are easier to understand.

@shadow1414 said ^

(@)PiyushShaw: 'That's sad next time we should be careful' ~ It should not be up to the users to fix the platform's errors. 'You lost one thousand Rapid points because of a bug on our end? Get them back yourself.'

'we can't really blame lichess at all as we know this is free platform and run on Donation.' ~ Firstly, Lichess has an entire sub-forum named, 'Lichess Feedback.' If Lichess do not want...

agreed, just becuase its a donation run site and non profiatble dosent mean we have to handle these serious bugs , and yes they can have small bugs now and then but these kind of bugs are just unacceptable,it will cost games