I'm sure this is addressed somewhere on the site, but I haven't been able to find it.

I'm not trying to be coy, it truly isn't clear to me what, in some cases, is and isn't considered cheating when playing the turn-based games...  to me the analysis board would seem to be a kind of cheating, but it's obviously acceptable here... in these turn-based games it seems to me there's quite a grey area -- for example in the turn-based games is it acceptable/ or frowned on/or considered utterly completely cheating to consult a database or an opening book while playing the opening? I'm guessing that it's considered cheating... But what about just going over Master games, something I do daily... at the moment I'm currently playing a turn based game that's in the first few moves of a Reti (or maybe it's a Catalan now... I'm pretty foggy on this, LOL) ... should I be avoiding games that follow our opening moves thus far (move 4.) ... Is it totally fine to go over games with the opening I'm playing? Is it ok to look at the games, but if I'm studying them looking for a move copy, then I'm cheating? What is the guideline or rule I should follow? What about endgames... suppose I get to a King Bishop and Knight vs. King ending... letting a computer just play it would obviously be cheating, but what about getting to that ending and deciding to use a computer to study and learn the mating pattern and then play the moves myself? I kinda think that should be okay, actually. Or is that wrong? (for the record, future opponents... I do already know how to mate with King Bishop and Knight :) 

 Thanks. And if this has been already covered in detail elsewhere, sorry, I didn't know where to look. 

 

Basically, you CANNOT use another person or a compuer for help, but you CAN use databases, books and other reference materials. Endgame tablebases are OK too, but you can't use computers for this.

I imagine that the rules for "cheating" for turn-based chess are identical to the rules for cheating in correspondence chess. This is summarized by Akuni's comment above.

Is a chess engine, say Fritz or Schredder creature, considered a "computer for help"?

The rules are here.

Ferdyrojo wrote: Is a chess engine, say Fritz or Schredder creature, considered a "computer for help"?

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 Yes. Chess engines are NOT allowed.

Akuni> Endgame tablebases are OK

 

Your post is correct and helpful on most points, but note that using endgame tablebases is considered cheating on this site. See the chess.com rules for details.

thanks for the quick replies ...the rule seems pretty clear and commonsensical.