Feature Request: Allow to note down position-wise thoughts during game or while reviewing

Noting down thoughts during long games is a great way to self-improve.

Currently, there is notes feature. But this feature cannot be used at different stages of the game, or for the position at hand. It would help.

Issue is filed here: github.com/lichess-org/lila/issues/5155

Please provide your thoughts or upvote if this will be an useful feature.

You can add per move comments when you import the game into a study.

Agree it would be nice, but a decent workaround that I use, is to note the move in the notes, e.g.:

1.e4 Surprising, given opponent is a d4 player
1...d5 If he surprises me, I will surprise him. Englund gambit!
2.exd5 Is there another move?
Etc....

After the game I use these notes as basis for creating a study for analysis.

I agree that making notes about what you were thinking during the game can be very instructive. But the difficulty I have with this idea is that, for live games (i.e. non-correspondence games), it goes against the FIDE's rule that no notes should be used during play (article 12.3 a.).

Right... but if the mechanism was implemented as "write-only", i.e. you could write notes but couldn't see them until the game is over, it should be acceptable. After all, this is how the "whisper" function already works: you can send comments into spectator chat of your game but you don't see its contents (including your own comments) until the game is finished.

@Brian-E said in #4:
> I agree that making notes about what you were thinking during the game can be very instructive. But the difficulty I have with this idea is that, for live games (i.e. non-correspondence games), it goes against the FIDE's rule that no notes should be used during play (article 12.3 a.).
Right, but lichess is not FIDE, and lichess players are already allowed to use the Notes page during games. The suggestion is just a better and more structured way to make those same notes.

@mkubecek said in #5:
> Right... but if the mechanism was implemented as "write-only", i.e. you could write notes but couldn't see them until the game is over, it should be acceptable. After all, this is how the "whisper" function already works: you can send comments into spectator chat of your game but you don't see its contents (including your own comments) until the game is finished.
That would be more strict than the current Notes page, which is allowed.

@bakemann said in #6:
> Right, but lichess is not FIDE, and lichess players are already allowed to use the Notes page during games. The suggestion is just a better and more structured way to make those same notes.

Lichess does follow FIDE Laws (as opposed to USCF Laws for example) where possible and practical to do so.

Perhaps it isn't really a big thing, but my thinking is that it's one thing to put a page up saying "Notes" which is vague and relies on players to use it ethically and legally, but another thing to make a structured feature which actively encourages players to make illegal notes during the game.

As an example of what I'm talking about, it's obviously illegal to get help from other people during play, but Lichess probably doesn't check for this by looking at people's private direct messaging. There is trust that players won't do this. It would be quite another thing for a dedicated feature to be built with a button saying "ask others for advice" whenever it's your move.

@mkubecek said in #5:
> Right... but if the mechanism was implemented as "write-only", i.e. you could write notes but couldn't see them until the game is over, it should be acceptable. After all, this is how the "whisper" function already works: you can send comments into spectator chat of your game but you don't see its contents (including your own comments) until the game is finished.

Interesting suggestion. If the player doesn't press "Enter" after writing it then I suppose the note would need to be wiped from the screen with a refresh as soon as the player makes a move.

It might be okay but it does seem a rather peculiar feature, letting players write things which are intended for themselves (unlike whispers to spectators) but which they cannot refer back to during the game. Most of us, when writing things, do like to refer back to what we've written earlier. If I was doing that I'd find it frustrating not to be able to see what I'd written, and I'd be tempted to give up on the feature and scribble things down on a piece of paper in front of me instead. That's then clearly illegal during play, and a Lichess feature would have encouraged me to do it.

@Brian-E said in #8:
> Lichess does follow FIDE Laws (as opposed to USCF Laws for example) where possible and practical to do so.
>
> Perhaps it isn't really a big thing, but my thinking is that it's one thing to put a page up saying "Notes" which is vague and relies on players to use it ethically and legally, but another thing to make a structured feature which actively encourages players to make illegal notes during the game.
>
> As an example of what I'm talking about, it's obviously illegal to get help from other people during play, but Lichess probably doesn't check for this by looking at people's private direct messaging. There is trust that players won't do this. It would be quite another thing for a dedicated feature to be built with a button saying "ask others for advice" whenever it's your move.

The comparison does not make sense. Getting assistance from another player through DM would be a clear violation of the lichess Fair Play Policy, which prohibits getting external assistance.

You keep referring to making personal notes in the Notes section as "illegal". Would you please refer to specifically which section in the lichess Fair Play Policy prevents making personal notes in the Notes section during the game?

I am aware that making such notes would be illegal in a FIDE-rated OTB game, but this is lichess, which follows its own set of rules. Before you accuse anyone of doing anything illegal, please make sure that the accusation is based on facts, not based on how you wish the rules were written.