I just wanted to share a bit of feedback regarding how maintenance is currently communicated. I was in the middle of a game when I suddenly got a message saying that the servers would go down in 15 minutes. That’s really frustrating, especially because most games that aren’t Bullet or Blitz take longer than that.
It creates unnecessary pressure, and in my case, I even had a game where I was warned about the maintenance but couldn’t continue playing on the board shortly after. It really disrupts the flow and experience.
I think it would be much better if upcoming maintenance windows were clearly shown as soon as you power on the board—that way, we can plan accordingly and avoid starting games that might get interrupted.
Just my two cents—hope this can be improved going forward!
Hi - just had the same issue and lost a game due to abandonment. The pop up appeared after I already started the game so there wasn’t a lot I could do.
Perhaps prevent games from starting when you know there’s a maintenance window coming?
chesscom matches are proxied through chessup server that’s why they’re warning you and the warning is a good thing so that you can take over your game on your mobile phone or on a computer
This notification system will remain as is. It is given at a time when the user will be able to switch devices. We do not expect people to conclude the game early, just to have time to switch devices.
If someone powers up during a pending restart, they are warned at startup as well.
You can open chess.com from (for example) your phone via the app. The match will open automaticly and you can play from there. It‘s a smooth transition.
In general, being logged into your Chess.com account from two devices at the same time can be risky and might lead to a game being aborted. However, there are a few safe scenarios that won’t cause any problems:
Opening the App Without Interaction
If you open the app and the game board loads on your phone while the game is active on another device (like a digital chessboard), that’s usually fine. This can even be helpful to double-check the piece positions in case of any errors. Just make sure not to touch anything in the app—simply close it again without interacting.
Switching Devices Mid-Game
If you want to continue the game on your phone, it’s also safe to just open the app and let the game load. From there, you can continue playing on your phone. The important thing is: once you’ve started playing on your phone, don’t make any more moves from the other device (like the digital board). Stick to one until the game ends.
Important Caution – Game Doesn’t Load
If you open the app and the current game doesn’t load properly, you should immediately close the app. Any interaction in this situation (like pressing buttons or trying to reload) could lead to the game being aborted or disrupted.
This didn’t work for me. 5-10 minutes after seeing the message, I opened the app on my phone. Nothing happened and the moves continued to register on the board.
Do I need to do anything specific to force the app to take over?
Without wanting to over engineer the error message, perhaps a bit more info would be helpful. I imagine there may be some users that don’t know you can switch devices, or have a similar issue to mine.
It‘s pretty rare for me that chess.com doesn‘t register that I switched the device from the board to the app. You should try restarting the app.
Normally the game instantly opens on the app. If the game doesn‘t load you should not use the app until the game is over because it‘s possible that it crashes the game and counts as a disconnect/lose
This just happened to me. Luckily I had the game going on a nearby laptop and was able to switch. Because I’ve had problems in the past, I now only play on my chessup with the computer open next to me. I put it on a new game screen or a finished game screen before starting a game in the chessup and it automatically opens in the screen. Once you make a move on the computer, you can’t go back. As long as you play on the board you can continue to play on the board while you see and hear the game on the screen. I’ve had to switch when my chessup had connection problems, when I’ve gotten into time trouble, and just now, during this very frustrating schedules update. I got a 15 minute warning, kept playing on the chessup until the 5 minute warning and then switched to the computer. After switching to the computer, I just turn the chessup off since it’ll be worthless for the remainder of the game.
Jeff, I understand you plan to leave the system as is but this does mean that you can’t play a game without a computer. If you want the chessup to fútil it’s stated purpose of allowing online play without a computer, I suggest having warning come up 2 hours beforehand so that there is time to finish a game in any time control. I only play 15|10 on chessup because of time issues so a 15 minute warning is worthless. Can you make it a one hour warning that warns again at 30, 15, 5, 1 etc.?
I was 30 seconds into a 10plus 0 and it said maintenance in10 now luckily you can switch to your phone or iPad but you’re correct it is a little upsetting
