Cheating And Fair Play On Chess.com

Cheating in chess happens when someone decides that they do not want to play using their own abilities, and they turn to using help from a chess engine or friend to find better moves. This is obviously unfair to the other player, and ruins the experience of the game. It's a selfish and thoughtless thing to do. Fortunately, our research shows that fewer than one percent of players cheat in online chess, so it is much less common than some people think. 

While cheating does include numerous forms of abuse, including sandbagging and multi-accounting, this article deals primarily with the most common form of cheating: using a chess engine for assistance.

As a company, Chess.com is committed to growing chess and protecting the integrity of the game, and we are continuously investing in new technology and processes to combat cheating. On this page, you’ll find information and resources that our Fair Play team, which fights cheating on Chess.com, created for you to remain up to date about the work we do. It also helps when the community is informed about cheating, and to that end, this article addresses many of your most common cheating-related questions. For more information regarding fair play, see our Fair Play team's blog.

• Closures
  • Closure Statistics
  • Automated Closures
• Fair Play
  • Chess.com's Fair Play Policy
  • Fair Play Team
  • Fair Play Checks
  • Fair Play Streamer Requirements
  • Official Fair Play/Event Rulebooks
• Frequently Asked Questions (Titled Players)
  • Titled Tuesday Questions
  • Other Event Questions
• General Questions
  • How does Chess.com catch cheaters?
  • If I suspect that someone is cheating, how can I report them?
  • Is someone cheating if they have high accuracy scores?
  • Who reviews fair play reports?
  • Have Chess.com's cheat detection methods been reviewed externally?
  • Does Chess.com ever close accounts based on the say-so of strong players?
  • Are there ever false positives and what does Chess.com do about them?
• Testimonials and Confessions
  • Testimonials
  • Confessions
• How You Can Help

Closures

When a player is found to have violated the rules of Fair Play on Chess.com, their account is closed immediately, and any of their ongoing games are awarded to their opponents. In this section, you can find some key statistics pertaining to account closures.

Closure Statistics

From January through March of 2025, the Chess.com Fair Play Team:

• Analyzed ~20 million games per day
• Closed ~314,000 accounts for fair play violations
  • That's ~3,500 accounts per day!
  • And ~105,000 accounts per month
• Closed 34 titled players:

• Reviewed ~28,000 appeals, granting 0.2% of them
• And now has more than 500 titled players playing on Zoom and Proctor software in prize events.

You can also find historical monthly closure numbers in our monthly community update and more recent numbers on the Fair Play blog.

Automated Closures

In order to meet the needs of our community, we've ensured that the majority of closures (about 85%) are done without the need for a human to review the case. Human review takes time, which is worse for our players because it will take longer for blatant cheaters to be closed.

The cheat detection system that we’ve developed and maintained for more than 10 years detects suspicious play based on over 100 gameplay factors, and auto-bans players when a combination of these factors and accompanying statistical algorithms determines a performance to be extremely improbable. While we are very proud of the hard work we put into our sophisticated algorithms and would love to share them, we unfortunately cannot do so, as players who cheat are reading this as well.

Fair Play violations extend to players who are sandbagging—losing games on purpose to gain competitive advantage against lower rated players—as well. We have algorithmic and automated sandbagging detection, which first warns and then closes the player for these violations.

FAIR PLAY

Chess.com's Fair Play Policy

Chess.com's Fair Play Policy supports our mission to maintain a clean and fair platform for chess players around the world. In light of this mission, we reserve the right and discretion to monitor all chess games played on our platform. To play on our website, all players must agree to:

• Play only their own moves.
• Do not cheat in any way.
• Do not get help from any other person, including parents, friends, coaches, or another player.
• Do not use chess engines, software of any kind, bots, plugins, browser extensions, or any tools that analyze positions during play. We can detect if you are using any of these programs.
• Do not use tablebases or any other resources that show the best move (in both Online and Daily chess).
• Use Opening Explorer or other books in only Daily chess (not in Online / Live play).
• Do not perform any automated analysis or "blunder checking" of your games in progress.
• Do not allow anyone else to use your account.
• Do not use anyone else's account.
• Do not artificially manipulate ratings, matches, or game outcomes.
• Do not interfere with the gameplay of other members.
• Suspecting your opponent of using outside help is not an excuse to do the same. If there is suspicion someone is cheating, they should be reported to Chess.com.

WARNING: Consistent with our User Agreement, if we determine or suspect that you have violated our Fair Play Policy in any way, then we may close your account and label it publicly closed for Fair Play violation(s).

To read our Fair Play policy in full, click here.

Fair Play Team

The Fair Play Team consists of dedicated researchers, statisticians, analysts, event proctors, engineers, and chess enthusiasts! Together, we’re a team of more than 30 members (including three GMs and 10 titled players) who work hard to protect the integrity of the game.

The team is led by the Director of Fair Play, FM Dan Rozovsky, and is comprised of four critical divisions: Research and Development, Investigation and Detection, Operations, and Communications.

Research and Development (led by Roland Walker)

The research and development team makes use of the detailed data that exists in chess to identify players who are cheating. We: Develop and implement algorithms to detect overperformance. Conduct rigorous tests and experiments to identify conclusive cheat detection signals across hundreds of gameplay factors. Run large-scale simulations (on millions of moves and chess games) to shine a light on the variance, possibilities, and limitations of human play. Carefully study historical data to maximize the number of cheaters caught while minimizing the false positive rate.

Investigation and Detection (led by Gerard Le-Marechal)

The investigation and detection team handles the day-to-day of Chess.com Fair Play. We: Review fair play cases. Adjudicate fair play appeals. Validate tournament results. Conduct in-depth analyses of players competing in prize money events.

Operations (led by Sean Arn)

The operations team works to protect all events that are run on Chess.com. We: Share event-specific information to players prior to prize money events. Carry out Fair Play checks during fair play calls. Adjudicate issues that arise during events. Uphold and enforce Fair Play protocols.

Player Communications (led by IM Kassa Korley)

The player communications team disseminates important information to titled players and the broader Chess.com community. We: Share Fair Play policy and guidelines. Field titled player questions and concerns. Solicit feedback and input from the world’s best players to improve our systems. Address matters of public interest to the titled player community. Administer event rules and streaming regulations.

Fair Play Checks

For various prize events, you may need to join a Fair Play call. In the event that you are asked to join, it is your responsibility to be ready! While the following video outlines fair play expectations for an event in which you’d need to set up two cameras, it is still applicable even if you need only one camera, and we strongly advise you to watch it!*

In addition to what’s been outlined in the video, players must: 

• Have at least one mic open during the event.
  
  • Fair play proctors (and other players in the call) can hear you! As a result, you must comport yourself in the same manner you would for a game in an over-the-board tournament. Loud and/or disruptive players may be removed from an event.
• Be ready for the possibility of a room sweep.
  
  • In some instances, a Fair Play proctor will ask you to get up and move your camera around to show your playing environment.
• Be ready to show your display settings.
  • In some instances, a Fair Play proctor will ask to see your display settings to see if you have monitors connected to your computer.

*Note: We are currently beta testing a new proctoring solution with a lockdown browser that we plan to roll out to the broader titled community for all prize events—as such, these requirements are subject to change!

Fair Play Streamer Requirements

The following table outlines our expectations for players who wish to stream events. Please pay close attention to the stream delay requirements below! Note that parts of the table may be hidden depending on your device, so please scroll through it to read all the information. 

* Chess.com event personnel reserve the right to ask anyone to remove headphones during any event. 

★ An exception for "Emote only" is allowed under the following conditions:

1- A formal request is made in a staff-observed (Zoom/Proctor) call, and an exception is granted by Chess.com staff
2- The streamer has two cameras, and Chess.com staff can clearly verify the streamer is not looking at their chat. (Please note that the streamer must volunteer to add a second camera to events that require only one camera.)

If you're streaming on YouTube, read the following documentation to meet the streaming requirements.

Official Fair Play/Event Rulebooks

The following documents outline our fair play expectations across various events:

• Official Event Rulebook
• Competitive Events Policy
• Fair Play Policy
• Fair Play Requirements

Frequently Asked Questions (Titled Players)

Titled Tuesday Questions

When I play Titled Tuesday, do I need to join a fair play call?

When the Fair Play team asks you to join a fair play call, you must do so. These calls have in the past been held through Zoom, but we are currently in beta with our new proctoring software that will help keep our prize events even more secure. Our plan is to roll this out widely later in 2025 and ask that players be ready to join these calls as well.

Can I play Titled Tuesday on my phone?

Players are strongly advised to play Titled Tuesday from a laptop or a desktop. In the event you are asked to join a fair play call during the event, you may no longer play from your phone—so you may start Titled Tuesday on your phone at your own risk!

If I’m asked to join a Titled Tuesday fair play call, do I need two cameras?

If we reach out to you via email and/or on-site message to ask you to join our proctoring call as part of our Fair Play checks, you will need to join the call with two cameras.

Why do I have to join? I promise I’m not cheating.

All levels of titled players (including super GMs!) are asked into fair play calls, and it’s one of the ways we protect the integrity of the game. When asked to join, you must do so!

If I’m not playing the next scheduled Titled Tuesday, do I still have to join a fair play call the next time I participate?

If the Fair Play team asks you to join a fair play call, it is mandatory you join that call before the start of your next Titled Tuesday, whether it’s a week later or months later.

If I’m streaming Titled Tuesday and I am asked to join a fair play call, do I have to join?

If you’re streaming Titled Tuesday and are asked to join a fair play call, you must join that call.

Can I stream in a fair play call?

You can stream in a fair play call! Please review the table above to see our requirements for streamers.

Other Event Questions

What happens if I can’t connect a second camera when asked?

There are some events (you can see which ones in the table above!) where two cameras are mandatory to participate. It is your responsibility to be able to successfully set up a second camera (some people utilize their phone as a second camera, and this is ok). If you’re unable to do so, you won’t be able to continue with the remainder of the event.

Once in a while, during a fair play call in Zoom, I hear noises from other players. How can I deal with this?

You are allowed to mute Zoom entirely while you're in a fair play call! If you choose to mute Zoom, it is your responsibility to intermittently check the chat to ensure you haven’t missed any communication from a Fair Play proctor.

When we eventually move away from Zoom and to Proctor in full, you won't see or hear any other players. 

What happens if I lose connection to the fair play call?

If you lose connection during a fair play call, it is your responsibility to reconnect as soon as possible or you may be removed from the event.

What points of contact are there for the Fair Play team and related events?

• accountreview@chess.com: The Fair Play team uses this address to contact you regarding any account-related issues. 
• fp_event_comms@chess.com: This address is used to inform players that they've been selected to participate in fair play checks for prize events in advance of the tournament.
• titled@chess.com: All events-related inquiries (prizes, info, etc.) are handled here, so you don’t have to be titled to reach out!

General Questions

If you have any additional questions about cheating, and/or would like to read even more details about how detection, reporting, and more work on Chess.com, you can probably find the answer below!

How does Chess.com catch cheaters?

Chess.com invests heavily in a continuously evolving algorithm to review millions of games every day. The majority of the accounts closed for Fair Play violations are done so automatically due to the strength of evidence. For cases that are less clear or where titled players are involved, our Fair Play analysts personally review each report to look deeper into the data and account factors. For titled players, a panel made up of highly experienced titled chess players and senior analysts determine Fair Play violations by carefully reviewing all of the data, including manual review of games and moves.

If I suspect that someone is cheating, how can I report them?

You can report someone by hovering over their username and clicking the (!) icon (see below). This will open a new window where you can select the reason for your report. You can find more details here.

Each report guarantees that the reported player’s most recent games will be reviewed, which may result in an automated closure in clear cases.

Is someone cheating if they have high accuracy scores?

Accuracy (formerly known as CAPS or Computer Aggregated Precision Score) is not cheat detection. Accuracy calculations were invented to give newcomers to chess a guideline for their performance. A player may achieve a high accuracy score in a single game for many reasons that have nothing to do with cheating. Fair Play detection methods are far more effective at separating cheaters and honest players.

Who reviews Fair Play Reports?

Our automated systems and team of Fair Play analysts review reports. The team, which includes GMs and other titled players, has years of experience reviewing thousands of reports. They consult and review each other’s work regularly.

Have Chess.com's cheat detection methods been reviewed externally?

We had our algorithms vetted by a Harvard statistician, Natesh S. Pillai, in 2016, who confirmed that our systems were functioning in the manner we intended. We have also given the tour of our systems to dozens of strong titled players (multiple inside the top 20) and tournament directors. On June 3rd, 2020 we received the full endorsement of USChess after a thorough review from experts in statistics on the ratings committee.

Chess.com uses a wide variety of evidence to prove cases of cheating. We look closely at the level of play, but we also consider multiple behavioral factors and additional data regarding player accounts. Naturally, our methods are highly confidential as revealing specific detection methods only makes it easier for cheaters to avoid detection.

Does Chess.com ever close accounts based on the say-so of strong players?

Should the ghost of Bobby Fischer himself descend from on high and declare that a Chess.com member is cheating, we would still not close that account unless our Fair Play team confirms the claim to be true.

Are there ever false positives and what does Chess.com do about them?

There's nothing worse than when an innocent player is unduly closed. At the same time, the chess community demands decisive action and strong responses to cheating. This is where our task becomes truly difficult.

The first point to be made is that the rate of false positives detected by our algorithm is intentional. If we set an extremely high threshold for evidence needed to take action, we would almost never make an incorrect closure, but then we would also allow tens of thousands of cheaters to continue cheating. Alternatively, if we set a low standard of evidence, we will catch almost all cheaters, but we will also falsely close many innocent players. We believe we are balancing these competing goals optimally, closing cheaters quickly and confidently with a very small number of false positives.

For context, in the first three months of 2025, we reviewed approximately 28,000 appeals (out of 314,000 total closures) and granted 0.2% of them. We take any account closure very seriously and are ready to defend our findings if necessary.

Testimonials and Confessions

Testimonials

Below you will find testimonials by some of the world's most well-known grandmasters and online chess public figures. All those listed (as well as others not listed) were given a multi-hour course on Chess.com's fair play system, and signed a non-disclosure agreement to protect the details of our cheat detection methods.

GM Hikaru Nakamura:

Having seen Chess.com's system in great detail, both the algorithms used and the team at work, I can attest fully that Chess.com's approach is advanced and far ahead of what I know other websites use to catch cheaters.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave:

I was more than pleased with both the standards held, the investment applied, and the approach taken by Chess.com toward its cheat detection systems. The quality and integrity of fair play has never been measured more accurately than in the hands of Roland, Gerard and the entire crew!

GM Eric Hansen:

The agreement I signed for Chess.com prevents me from writing on the specifics, but I can say that I was more than impressed (and pleasantly surprised) with some of the things Chess.com's fair play team showed me. They are as capable of keeping the game clean as anything I've ever seen.

GM Georg Meier:

Having some insight into how other servers deal with cheating, I must say that I am very impressed with how Chess.com goes about it. Their use of scientific tools is thought-out and strikes me as extremely reliable.

Confessions

Chess.com has received hundreds of confessions, including from both premium members and titled players. Below you will find admissions (real names removed) of a few titled players whose accounts were closed for fair play violations.

Anonymous GM:

I was afraid to confess initially, fearing that my name would be published with inaccurate allegations and my reputation would be irreversibly damaged. I was afraid that you would not fully believe the following account of my actual behavior....

I did use computer assistance after the opening, around move 17-18, until the end of the game. I did the same against him in the night event out of further frustration after move 15, where he repeated the same pattern, and again, did not use any kind of assistance whatsoever in my other games.

Anonymous IM:

I'm sorry I did well sometimes Hiarcs chess sets used for analysis in only three days game. I would love to have me FIDE TITLE back, I'm going to do no more sorry,

Please can you give me another chance.

Anonymous FM:

I used Stockfish, I was sure others were using it too. I'm very sorry, and I would love another chance.

Anonymous FM:

My name is ANONYMOUS. Long months ago my account banned from Chess.com because I open engine for Title Tuesday. I know this is not acceptable fashion. I made a very big wrong, and I get banned. Every day I missed Chess.com I'm playing chess other sites now ( ICC, Playchess, Chesscube ) but Chess.com really different. I'm apologize for my immaturity. 

Have a good day.

Best regards from ANONYMOUS.

Anonymous NM:

I sadly have to confess I have used a cheating mechanism. When I play titled Tuesday I get so obsessed with playing and winning against strong players, that my morals and values escape me. I humbly apologize to all of Chess.com and promise that if I get my account back I will never cheat again. Please accept my apology.

Anonymous NM:

Dear chess community:

I sincerely apologize for my actions of cheating on Chess.com.

I succumbed to the pressures of being lazy and arrogant on a website that fosters good sportsmanship and fair play.

I admit my mistake and humbly asked to be reinstated to play chess on the best website in the world.

Anonymous NM:

Hi Chess.com staff,

How You Can Help

Chess.com wants your support to combat cheating in chess. As a parent, coach, organizer, or community member, you can help by communicating openly and honestly about the problem of cheating. Especially, in the case of scholastic chess cheating, our experience shows that support from parents and coaches can do a great deal to discourage our youngest members from cheating.

Past Q&As