I've seen numerous references to cheating (or potential cheating).  I'm not naive and know there is of course cheating going on, but how are they cheating?  And, how would I recognize a cheater if he/she were cheating during our game? 

How do they cheat? They use chess programs to make decisions for them..It's hard to know if they're cheating..But you can check their other games and if you find any inconsistency..they might be cheating

I guess if you are concerned that your opponents are using computers, you can always refuse to play games here.  For my part, I have seen errors in judgement in each of my games that a decent computer would not allow.  Apart from that I have seen no "computer suicide" in my games.

 

Apparently this is even getting to be a concern at big money OTB tournaments, though, where some players have been caught seeking computer advice on critical moves while taking a potty break.

 

At my level and the low stakes for which I play, I don't think it is much of a problem.

Pittacus wrote:

I've seen numerous references to cheating (or potential cheating).  I'm not naive and know there is of course cheating going on, but how are they cheating?  And, how would I recognize a cheater if he/she were cheating during our game? 

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Forget about it if you want to play join a real chess club offline the Internet is absolutely full of sharks and People with huge egos who want to win at any cost there are honest players but they are becoming an increasingly smaller minority all the time.