so i decided to try to play without installing the patch and i started against Seb (1283) or something in ranked play... i made about 3 moves and now he has been sitting here for the last 5 minutes without moving....... what is wrong with this game!!!!! i've played for less than a minute and already i have come across a glaring bug.

Same with me, only that I have installed the patch as well. Maybe it's just an attempt of a realistic representation of a game against a retarded opponent... but it's still incredibly annoying, all my games last at least 40 minutes...

The personality isn't losing on time, is it?

I believe that part of it depends on your processor speed and memory. However, if you're playing a rated game, you should expect the personality to take all of it's alloted time.

Granted, I wouldn't think it would take so long 3 moves in, but c'est la vie...

Well, the only solution I could think of is to set a timer of, lets say, 3 min. per game. Every time it is your turn to make a move, pause the game until you decide (this also requires a real chess board near you, unless you have kasparov's memory). Seb will decide a lot faster that way to avoid losing on time.