Thoughts on takebacks?

I didn't originally reply to this thread because at the time my view of the topic had more or less already been stated by others who had already commented when my friend @itsparker had directed me to here. However, I think my views are changing.

My position had been that if I felt I could reasonably tell my opponent didn't actually intend to make the move he made, I would allow a takeback. If I believed they DID mean to make the move or I couldn't tell, then I would not allow the takeback. Misclicks and mouse-slip do happen.

In fact, one of my very best rated wins on Lichess since I have been playing here (started in January) was game in which I gave my opponent a takeback. I could tell that I he probably let go of the mouse too soon and dropped the rook on the wrong square. He was very appreciative of the takeback. I felt very good not only about the fact that I won but that I was able to win with a clear conscience.

What I am now realizing, unfortunately, is that others generally do not extend the same kindness to me on those occasions when I make a similar mistake. I am therefore bearing an undue handicap simply by being a nice person who wants to play a legit chess game.

So....I'm now considering turning off takebacks. If I have to be this way, that sucks but I don't know what else to do.

Play in a tournament. Youll never get a takeback from anyone.

"A man that will take back a move at chess will pick a pocket."

You mean "a man that will take advantage of a mouseslip to win in chess would kill for money".

Nope, a man who asks for take backs does not owe up to HIS responsibility for HIS mistake.
I suspect in real life this person would also blame others for his mistakes and troubles, never looking in the mirror and saying "hmmm, maybe it was my fault after all..."

I have analyzed that above (see post #18).
Try to be a bit more constructive by not repeating the same naive arguments but arguing on the already stated criticism of them. As I said indeed a mouseslip is a mistake by the person that does it but there is no reason to be punished for that by losing a game of chess since the ability of transmitting one's decision using a mouse is not a part of the spirit of chess. Moreover, even if the player who did the mouseslip is forced to continue from the resulted position, I don't see how this corrects their mistake. Whatever. I am tired of arguing with so superficial thinkers.
Someone did a mistake -> any punishment to him is well deserved.
Ok...

@CafeMorphy #36

Perfectly stated, thank you.

some people don't care much about rating and more about playing nice chess.
after building up a nice attack for example, there is no fun in defending, because of a mouseslip. And winning because of a blunder of the opponent is not much fun either (at least for me).

My view is that a chess player MUST learn to take ultimate responsibility for their moves. It is possible to move with 100% accuracy on lichess. There are no mouseslips unless you are careless. Every player has the ability to turn on move confirmation in their preferences and double-check every move for accuracy before hitting the confirm button. Any mistakes when making your move are the player's fault, period. A mouseslip ONLY happens when you decline your option to double-check. Do NOT blame that on your opponent.

Some will say "yeah, but try to use move confirmation in a blitz game!" To those, I say: if you choose to remove the time required to move carefully from the game, you have also made that decision yourself. There is no requirement to play games with no increment or with small initial times. You are choosing to do that. If you make that choice, do NOT blame your opponent for your inability to move accurately in that amount of time.

Take responsibility for your chess moves. Don't put that responsibility on your opponent to figure out if you made an honest mouseslip or just blundered all your chessmen. Your opponent has enough on their mind during a game of chess.