Chess.com FAQs and Discussion on Cheating

Cheating in chess is an issue that Chess.com takes seriously. That said, it has minimal impact on the site and shouldn't be a concern for 99.9% of players. Unfortunately, there is much more paranoia about the topic than it actually deserves. In an effort to give more transparency to our anti-cheating measures, but to also curb the negative effects of continuously discussing cheating, we are instituting 2 new policies:

#1 - Keep cheating discussions limited to this one thread - We have posted FAQs below that should address most questions on the topic. We also provide tools to report cheating to our staff. But having several constant and redundant threads on the topic that circulate with the same questions and comments over and over again isn't helpful, and instead causes people to worry more than they need to. If you want to discuss cheating, please do it in this thread (or via private messages).

#2 - We are now going to post the names of players caught cheating. We are doing this for two reasons: transparency and social shame. We want you to know that we are constantly working to keep chess clean. And for those who cheat, we want everyone to know that you were a trying to ruin chess for others on the site. See this post for the continuously updated list of cheaters -> http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom---list-of-caught-cheaters .

Below are the main questions and answers we get about cheating.


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What is are the rules about cheating?
You can NEVER use chess programs or engines (Chessmaster, Fritz, etc) to analyze current ongoing games unless specifically permitted (such as a computer tournament, agreed upon unrated game, etc). The only type of computer assistance allowed is games databases for opening lines in Turn-based Correspondence-style Chess and Vote Chess, Chess.com Opening Explorer, chess books, and an analysis board. You cannot use ANY outside assistance on Live Chess games.Fixing games results (through intentional loss or multiple accounts) is also cheating.

How do I report someone I think is cheating?
If you are suspicious about somebody cheating, please use the Report Abuse link found at the bottom of any Chess.com page and include all relevant info (name, reason for suspicion, etc). We investigate all reports and keep them confidential. Do not discuss possible cheaters in the forums - just submit their names to Chess.com for analysis.

How does Chess.com detect cheating?
One part of our analysis involves comparing human moves to computer moves and looking at statistical significance. The other parts are not public knowledge. We will never disclose our exact methods for catching cheaters (to prevent cheaters from adapting their methods), but it involves both cutting-edge technology and human judgment.

How often does Chess.com catch cheaters?
In the past we did not make huge public statements about catching cheaters even though we close many accounts for cheating. Now we are going to start listing cheaters that we catch in this forum. See the next post for a list of known cheaters. We close many accounts each week for cheating, including accounts for paying Premium Members who are cheating. We are constantly going through our top players and submitting them to our cheat detection process. Still, very few people cheat. Most people are good people here to enjoy the game. If you are playing people rated under 2200 it is extremely unlikely that you are playing someone who is cheating - if they were they would be rated much higher. If you are playing someone higher rated then the chances are slightly higher, but there are only a few hundred players on the site in that category and out of those we know that the vast majority are playing legitimate chess without computer help.

What happens to a player who is found to be cheating on Chess.com?
We close the account and add a cheater icon that will appear next to their name. We also post an explanatory notice is posted on their homepage. Finally, we add them to the list in this forum. Any pending games of cheaters will eventually timeout and result in a loss. But we cannot roll back results of games or tournaments, nor do we restore ratings. Ratings are not cumulative, they are a reflection of chess ability, so losing a few points to a cheater does not impact your rating whatsoever in the long-term. Don't worry - just keep on playing!

How long does someone cheat before chess.com finds out?
It depends. But unfortunately it generally takes a little time to build up history to be submitted to the detection process.

What should I do if my opponent accuses me of cheating?
If your opponent accuses you then you can just disable chat and continue your game with a clear conscience (assuming you are not cheating!). Don't worry about accusations, just play your game. If you want you can add them to your blocked player list so they cannot contact you again.

If I reported someone for cheating, why hasn't their account been closed?
We appreciate you reporting the suspected cheating, but ultimately we will decide on if they were cheating or not. If we have not closed their account then the evidence was not conclusive.

You closed the account of someone I know - I'm sure they weren't cheating!
Sorry that you are upset. Unfortunately, people do cheat - sometimes even really nice people. Again, we only close accounts when we are absolutely certain, not because of suspicion.

Can someone appeal if their account is closed?
Sure, we're happy to listen to anyone. But it's generally the same old story: "I didn't cheat! Prove it to me!!" to which we respond: "You did. But we can't tell you exactly how we know, but we know." Generally cheaters who are caught make threats because they are embarrassed and upset they were caught. But we don't mind - we're here to protect players, not cheaters.

Why do people cheat?
It's not our specialty to psychoanalyze people and their reasons for cheating, but people like to win, want to feel important, and occasionally disregard the thoughts and feelings of others. Cheaters aren't necessarily horrible people - maybe just someone with low self-esteem who doesn't think that winning a game unfairly is a big deal (even though it is to the person being cheated).

What does Chess.com think about cheating?
We think cheating is a terrible disease in online chess in general (on all sites). We have a very strict no-cheating policy and we enforce it with maximum effect whenever we are confident we have found cheating. We feel that we are extremely effective in identifying and dealing with most cheaters.

What do we recommend that you do/think about cheating?
Forget about it! We are here to worry about the issue for you so that you can focus on enjoying chess. If you are under 2200 then you should never even think about it - it shouldn't affect you. If you are a top player then you should know that we are constantly checking top players, always getting better at detection, are always responsive to your reports, and are closing accounts daily. In general, life is too short to worry about what a very small number of people are doing. There are bad people in all areas of life and that shouldn't stop you from enjoying life. We are here deal with them so you don't have to.

The main point is,

Get out there and enjoy your chess!  

If you have any questions or comments please contact us!

we've opened up the topic for discussion here. but please, do NOT accuse people publicly. and please read the FAQs before you post so you don't look silly. :)

This is great news!

Slightly worrying that 0.1% of the membership are cheating of course, so that's like around 550 ? And that its extremely likely that they're all rated 2200 or above, so that's like all of the players rated 2200 and above and then some!

OK, so your methods are super-secret, but are they any more reliable than the simple statistics you give here and my human judgement of them ?

;-)

Yes, I promise you that they are much more reliable than that. :-)

rybka3 and deeprybka3 were using computers? I'm shocked, shocked. 

Note to cheaters: it's stupid to try. It's stupider still to name your account after a frigging chess engine!

The only thing that would bother me is an unjust accusation. What if Capablanca or Kramnik would come play on Chess.com (they are notorious for their computer-like accuracy) - would they get kicked for cheating?

If so I should watch out that I do not improve too much :P.

RC_Woods> What if Capablanca or Kramnik would come play on Chess.com...

Capablanca is dead. If someone claiming to be Kramnik (or another master) came to this site, Erik would ask to see his credentials as he typically already does.

Alas, we're too old to ever get strong enough to compete with Kramnik.

They would not, unless they were cheating. :-) 

You would only encounter a cheater 1 in 1000 games if you played against all players at random. But good players play more often against higher rated opponents and cheaters tend to be higher rated. So, good players face cheaters at a much higher rate.

If someone have a way of bringing Capablanca to play on this site, please let me know! I'd love to see that!  

If I found out the person I had played had been cheating I would honestly not give a hoot!  Both their and my ratings would still be accurate and the only person that loses out is them having not gained the experience from the match that I had.

It's kind of ironic how "Account_Closed" got his account closed!

ADK

All the world champions had only a engine correlation between 50 - 60%. I'm sure chess.com uses a much higher threshold engine correlation percent than this (for obvious reasons such as it isn't that hard to play a near perfect game when your opponent plays terribly)  And across multiple games. If you are not cheating, you have nothing to fear. 

richie_and_oprah> But again, I hesitate to use the term "cheater" and prefer to use the more lugubrious:  "Engine Assisted Chess Playing Human Interface."

Since one agrees to the chess.com sites rules upon signing up, any "Engine Assisted Chess Playing Human Interface" playing a rated game here is by definition cheating and usually also lying, although I agree they may otherwise be nice people.

But I like the name! The next time I suspect someone... I should say, the first time I encounter someone I suspect here... I'm going to yell "Eacphi!!!" at them.

I heard when you cheat your account gets closed, but it is kept visible.

I know a couple of players and I am damn sure they are cheating. the problem is they are below 2200. they dont cheat all the time. its understandable: too much a hassle.

Just an FYI that there is something malformed in Erik's second post in this topic that is preventing the first page from being properly rendered in IE:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/cant-view-cheating-faq-thread

(I had to wait until the comments rolled onto the second page to even post here).  If that post can be edited to correct the problem it should unlock the first page for IE users.

Why did some members call their membername "cheater"? I'm getting suspicious

we have scrubbed thoroughly for XSS many times :)

it was actually a formatting error when pasting in from MS Word (evil word!!).

Ok, I just had to point out that the banner add for "mydailymoment.com" that is displayed on this page right now asks "Is Your Partner Cheating?"  It goes on to suggest that we "take the quiz and find out."  I think we've found the source of Erik's secret cheat detection techniques!  It's all based on a new online quiz technology!

Seriously though, the add was simply too appropiate for the thread topic.  I wonder if the server that serves up the adds picks up on keywords like "cheating."