A couple of comments on the Analysis Board feature
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I completely agree with your request, and about your philosophical issue, we're perfectly allowed to use the analysis board (otherwise it wouldn't exist), though might be able to argue it not ethical, even though most people use it. I myself decided not to use it, making my rating a more accurate representation of OTB ability than it is for most other players.
itaibn wrote: I completely agree with your request, and about your philosophical issue, we're perfectly allowed to use the analysis board (otherwise it wouldn't exist), though might be able to argue it not ethical, even though most people use it. I myself decided not to use it, making my rating a more accurate representation of OTB ability than it is for most other players.
Thanks! As for the 'philosophical' part, I wasn't actually questioning whether or not the analysis board feature should exist. Following hypothetical lines on a chess board has been in the tradition of correspondence chess since the days when people used snail-mail exclusively, and nobody considered it cheating. What I'm interested in (although not necessarily offended by) is the fact that this chess board is 'smart'; it can show me when a Knight fork I think I can pull off in a couple of moves is actually prevented by the fact that a Bishop is pinning my Knight to the King, etc.
Other sites I've played on have analysis boards that let you move the pieces freely (no move validation), which is probably why this struck me when I started playing here.
Well, you are right that it is a 'smart' board in that sense. However, obviously erik doesn't care, or he wouldn't have made the analysis board that way. Again, you are perfectly allowed to use it, and can chose not to.
"However, obviously erik doesn't care, or he wouldn't have made the analysis board that way."
It's not obvious at all. It's possible that this feature of the analysis board never crossed Erik's mind.
I agree with DeepGreene, the analysis board must be free, so your missed calculations will make you loose the game.
I try to not use it, because in the REAL CHESS, you cant take the pieces and just 'try to see how it looks' LOL 
just figure out that!!
analysis board? or do you mean Game analysis. Is there a place called analysis board that analyze your games where?
During your games if you click the "Moves" tab on the information on the right hand side you will see a link at the bottom called "analysis board." This allows you to play through variations during the game. It will not analyze your games.
I never knew you could do that!
A request, plus a philosophical issue:
Request first: It strikes me as unfortunate that the data on the tabs to the right remain static (i.e. a description of the state of the actual game, not of the analysis board). It would be great, for instance, if the captured material display under 'Details' kept up with the hypothetical action on the board showing material taken during analysis. Same goes (to a lesser degree) for the Move list, although maybe the analysis moves could be displayed in 80% gray or something.
Philosophical issue: Other analysis features I've seen allow for free-form movement of the pieces, with no validation of whether a given move is legal or not. Does the fact that chess.com's analysis board won't let me stay in check or move my light-squared bishop to a dark square constitute help from an outside source--perhaps showing me something I might not otherwise see? I mean, fair is fair when everyone has the same tools at their disposal, but I find this a bit interesting.
Oh! And one last request since I'm already typing: How about a FEN notation on the Details tab? (This isn't specific to the analysis board.)