I do not worry about anyone cheating in chess as my attitude is that they are cheating themselves far more than us who play for fun.

Using a chess engine to find moves may seem attractive to weak players but only by deciding on one's own which moves to make will enhance one's understanding of the game.

I am all for looking at an analysis of the game after it is over and looking up openings but anything more destroys a persons abillities!

I do not think I cheat but if somebody plays an opening I am not familiar with I consult MCO--1968 version--and  follow what far more talented players have played.

eg at random--

Scotch game--Stolz v Bronstein Saltsjobaden 1948-- 13 moves played each in one variation  after which the position was assessed as equal. Then you are on your own!

Of course  it goes without saying if you want to improve your skill levels cheating defeats the object.

eg. the Scotch  line Stolz v Bronstein  Saltsjobaden  1948 which game moves

finishes at move 13 you can then follow you are on your  own. Cheating cannot improve your skill as a player so why bother..?

.

I completely agree with this concern. I ahve recently had to play several "cheaters" in several online tournaments on chess.com it is completely obvious taht when youg et ahead they begin to cheat. Or when they are 500 pts or more lower, and they don't go a pawn down, make amazing combinations, place you in zugzwang in the middle-game, etc. I recently got very pissed off ahving to play a 1215 and losing twice. Did I blunder? Of course I did. Against a 1215 --absolutely not, but against a 1215 who used a computer that can calculate 10 mves into the game and I can only see 4-5. I amde a complaint in one tournamnet and because the TD got pissed off and had many derogatory statments to make about my judgement, forthwith kicked me out of 4 groups I was in. I understadn consultation of books, etc. But no, I believe that consultation should be during a legitimate game, friendly or otherwise. You wouldn't do it over the board, why woudl you do it online which is meant to simulate real game-play?

It just shows how many people have to deal with issues of inadequacy. I feel sorry for, and pity them (after I throw my tantrum and object to their dishonest way of life). I sincerely hate liars and cheaters. In the 4th grade I ahd to pay a severe penalty for lying by standing up infront of the whole calss and calling myself a liar and having to apologize to everyone that got hurt as a result.

Would to God everyone had to suffer such a death-blow to their pitiful egos. Until Christ returns we will have to suffer their ill-repute, take a deep breath, know he is in control, and sadly take the blow to our ratings and advancement on chess.com

Thank-you MrEnigma for the post. Now I know I am not crazy.

Thanks for writing about this. I just blogged about this issue in my first postal correspondence chess tournament...

http://blog.chess.com/viswamitra/going-postal

When you add up all the numbers it makes little to no sense to cheat. And to go with what Remijahe said I think it is customary to announce that a computer will be used while you adjust or are in the process of making an analysis. Furthermore, the odds are substantially high that you are more likely and even if you lose to one the odds are even higher you will bounce back and regain you lost rating points.

Then again if your over the board rating gets above 1600 USCF you're already in the top 1% of chess players in the world so I wouldn't let one cheater worry you.  Besides if you had won that match that would have been something else!

To be honest, i am reading a chess book by GM Burgess and there is an interesting point to be made that this is a cloudy area.  Unless specifically stated in correspondence chess, consulting a computer is not cheating (although taking it to an extreme is another case). Take for example that while reading chess for pleasure, you come across a variation exactly like the one you are playing. Is it cheating to simply read the variations.  I think a way to deal with the issue is to state at the beginning of the match that you may/will be using a computer to assist.  If it is not stated then you must assume the risk. Also, remember that especially in long term matches, having a computer assist you does not mean you put less work into it.  Infact if history shows us anything it is that sometimes the human is superior. sometimes.

  Remember its just an awsome game, and every loss hold real and applicable lessons.

I'm afraid that as long as people have access to a computer the more people will be willing to misuse it. Thankfully, most computers play in a manor that is somewhat easy to identify and when a person seems to being playing lines at that level then you should simply report them. Then again, there are those rare few out there that posses that kind of skill we have all come to admire in this sport. So I will go back to what I had said already before. When it comes to online chess, you never who or what you are playing. That is just the world we live in now. Gone are the good old days to replaced by a world of 1's and 0's blazing at speed of millions, if not billions of calculating a second. In the end I only have my generation to blame where once you had to turn the page of a book to gain knowledge only to have it a simple mouse click away.

Well I love playing chess on line, as hardly anybody now seem to go to local chess clubs, and of the most part cheating is mimimal it would seem, but indeed it does happen. So what measures can we put in place to stop playing cheats? 

That is the one thing about playing Chess online I hate most and why I have the tendency to shy away from it. You think that a game like chess would have it's fair share of honest people (( It being a gentleman's sport and all )) but since the advent of online play you never know who, or what you are playing against!