Yes, I also think the idea of a "pause" button during a Live Chess game is a good idea. Of course the opponent would have to "accept" the request to pause the game though.
I am sure an option like this will be considered for the Live Chess as it is further developed.
thats a pretty good idea Gert-Jan i have won and lost a few games because of situations such as you described. maybe the R&D guys will think of something in the future to address this issue,or maybe they already have and the thought that rampant abuse might take place and that kept them from placing a feature like this in Live Chess. who knows but still a novel idea especially if they put an agreement pact in the game window.
I want to introduce the idea of a "stop the clock button".
When one is playing live chess something can happen that disturbs his playing like a ringing doorbell or telephone or a child which is crying. So it would be nice when both players agree to have a button by which a player can stop his clock.
It could be an option which you can agree on when you make a game challenge so people who think that you will abuse the option will not play this game.
You can not prevent abuse of the button but when you play with friends from this site or real friends you can trust them. I don'tl ike winning because someonse child has fallen or because someones phone was ringing. I am here to enjoy chess with nice people and writing forum topics in bad english.