Lichess Bans Keyboard

Have they? No, But Ultra is a premove game and you have to see everything coming
[Edit: Keyboard is a browser extension used in Lichess to modify the input method which is in question now]

I'd like to dig into some background as to what Lichess even means for me,
I only joined Lichess because I heard Magnus complain about a particular popular chess site (cough com cough) I was on saying: "It's like I am dragging my pieces through the mud"

I loved speed and optimization and that's what I've found here well before I did Keyboard.

Lichess for me was the Li like Lite, or Li a Chinese unit of measure which equates to half a KM, a minimalization have you.
Now wistdanding I'm aware that the meaning may be of some French origin unknown to me.

Why I'd miss keyboard:
It gives the user in this case me, Full confidence to execute any series of moves within no confine of time,
3 seconds in an endgame is like an eternity during which you have plenty of eternity to promote or capture opponents pieces.

There is also the more crude manner of which I've used it and it was as such "moving back and forth with a million pieces in a time scramble" which for most people without extreme speeds is impossible to defend against.

But the negatives and positives combined are why I love KB, it changes things so far from the common conventional chess we are all familiar with thus giving rise and a chance to the weaker players like me who just want to go bezerk and be glad about a totally savage win or play an immortal game at such speeds you'd think we've become one with the computer.

Now to the best of my knowledge this is a draft of what Lichess may want to implement and I'd like to state it and comment on it.:

Firstly on a logistical level boils down to this:
"We prohibit the use of any program or browser extension that assists with playing moves. " now I'm not going to hire a lawyer to claim that kb doesn't assist I think we understand what they're implying and kb should be taken as a defined
move-assist under these possible guidelines.

logistics aside now there ""reasoning""
"Extensions that assist with playing moves have denatured fast chess to the point that many players won't play it anymore. We believe that banning keyboard extensions will result in UltraBullet and HyperBullet becoming more popular."

now I don't want to over analyse or make many comments on that seeing as it's a draft on there end.
But I'll lead with this Who's the benefactor of these KB extensions are they sick deviants or just very invested users?

I'm not alone in using the kb extension many others have been using it for years just like me the extension page on chrome
has over 1,000 downloads.
Even for me without Keyboard this is still a very good bullet / hyper scene
in which Lichess maintains fluidity and smooth game play experience.

In any case I just hope they don't try to fully close the already opened Pandora's box of KB extensions.
Lichess has N options here but I do want to note that it is indeed complicated but when and how they decide I'll respect.

A, this affects around 10% of ultrabullet players, negatively.

B, It ruins ultra, at the very least allow it in causal.

C, Ultrabullet will have fewer players, players who use keyboard are dedicated to lichess (like me) because it's the only place to use keyboard.

D, Many people, enjoy watching keyboard and I don't think there's many haters as likers for kb.

E, Maybe ban in hyperbullet, but seriously not ultra, it will decrease players, not gain.

F, People with shaky hands or weak on other input methods get a benefit from kb, since this is MUCH easier to learn than mouse/touchscreen or other input methods.

G, Maybe add kb only ultra (can take out leaderboards, etc-), still shouldn't be completely banned.

Conclusion- Please reconsider the ban on keyboard input.

I'd say that lichess made the right decision here. Yes, it does put normal players at a severe disadvantage that you can't premove in time scrambles and other situations where you need to move fast. You wouldn't want your opponent to use a car on a bike race, right? Also, @Ultrabulletbeast1000, "this affects around 10% of ultrabullet players, negatively"? What about those players who got flagged because of kb then? Are you implying that you only care about the kb players who happily use kb and put normal players at a disadvantage because of how fast and unfair kb is? And yes, it does assist you with making moves as it makes you move faster when you use it. And the fact that someone would even go as far as to hire a lawyer to claim that kb doesn't assist you by making moves just makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Before you guys say that normal players should just use kb as well so it'd be fair for the two players, you guys should know that there are people who doesn't use kb because they think it is unfair/cheating.

If a good chunk of players are using kb, is it really "unfair"? You don't think there should be any exceptions such as allowing kb in casual? Also it's an input method such as mouse. Isn't using a mouse unfair since not everyone is able to use it?

That includes car vs bike race (Mouse vs phone).

I hope you reconsider your opinion on lichess banning kb @xShizu .

From a mouse player's point of view, I have always disliked the keyboard input due to its ability to produce erratic moves at an exceedingly fast rate in endgames making it near to impossible for others to keep up. But despite this, I still can't bring myself to believe that it is being removed forever. This action would impact a smaller, but still important part of the ultrabullet community. Like said above, Lichess is the only place applicable for keyboard. Its purpose was to benefit those who were looking for an easy way to increase the speed of the game even more, to append the option for pure speed. But of course, how you use kb is up to you. Kb is a free popular extension open to the public for those who want it. With the factors listed above by beast, I stand by my opinion that the keyboard input ban should be reverted (at least for ultrabullet) but with the few changes it needs. I agree with the ideas that it could removed from arenas, leaderboard, rated games. From my standpoint, lag compensation is a much larger issue compared to keyboard. However Lichess chooses to handle this, I will respect it.

It's good tech that is just being abused. Please keep it and modify it so you can't spam so hard. Level the field by giving it to all users, and nerf it:

-- no multi premove extension... A big part of what people hate is the mutli premove arrow drawing spam, and unlike com you don't lose any fraction of time for using multiple premoves.

-- restrict the ability to hold multiple keys down to "circle" ie spray and pray, resulting on a random moves sequence by throwing the cursor around

Physically my hand can't take so much clicking of the mouse anymore... That's why i started using keyboard.
I'd have to stop playing hyper and ultra if lichess removes it. Or play much less, probably not a bad thing ;p.

But keyboard has allowed me to keep playing these time controls. If you're older and/or have physical limitation (bad mouse hand / carpel tunnel, etc) you would likely benefit from using it as well. Or if your computer or mouse aren't great, the extension makes it playable (it makes playing from my laptop bearable).

Plus I haven't had to keep buying new mouses once they inevitably break from clicking so much during bullet games.

@Ultrabulletbeast1000 said in #4:
> If a good chunk of players are using kb, is it really "unfair"? You don't think there should be any exceptions such as allowing kb in casual? Also it's an input method such as mouse. Isn't using a mouse unfair since not everyone is able to use it?
>
> That includes car vs bike race (Mouse vs phone).
>
> I hope you reconsider your opinion on lichess banning kb @xShizu .

The problem with this line of thinking is that the strength difference between kb and mouse (in endgames) is much greater than the difference between mouse and phone. Phone only becomes weaker when you need to move the same piece many times in an endgame, otherwise it is mostly equal to mouse in speed.

(In fact, phone may be stronger than mouse in certain positions as you can use more than one finger - mouse players only have one cursor!)

As I said, that may be able to be modified.

Is Lichess really banning KB?!!!

Get in there !!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS cmon

@Ultrabulletbeast1000 said in #4:
> If a good chunk of players are using kb, is it really "unfair"? You don't think there should be any exceptions such as allowing kb in casual? Also it's an input method such as mouse. Isn't using a mouse unfair since not everyone is able to use it?
>
> That includes car vs bike race (Mouse vs phone).
>
> I hope you reconsider your opinion on lichess banning kb @xShizu .
If both players are using kb, then yes, it is fair for them as they are both using kb. I only think it is unfair when two kb players are against each other. And no, mouse isn't fair. Not because not everyone can use it, but because it doesn't really make you move faster unless you practice or you're used to it. I'm a mobile player myself and I can tell you right now that I'm not at a disadvantage when I'm up against mouse players and it's because I'm already used to playing on mobile and I practiced playing on it for months since I don't have a pc or a laptop. Also, mobile might actually be much better than mouse in certain situations such as time scrambles because you have to click, hold and drag your pieces to the destination you want it to be and release it when you're using mouse. While you only have to tap, hold and swipe the piece to the destination you want it to be which, in my opinion, is faster than mouse as you have to drag your cursor all over the place unlike mobile where you use your thumb to move your pieces.