i don't agree with cheating but alot of you are making comments like this is some sanctioned site. This is chess.com not the US Federation of Chess.com if you catch my drift... If FIDE or USCF had this type of site then cheaters beware but chess.com doesn't command that respect as of yet.
I don't think whether chess.com is officially sanctioned in some manner or not is really relevant. What is at stake is the ability for users to trust that they are here on a level playing field and to derive enjoyment out of using this site as a result. If cheating were rampant here then I suspect that interest from most users would quickly wane. For this reason, taking a strict stance against cheating is just good business for chess.com -- sanctioned or not.
ummm... If you would have read my post a couple of post earlier you would not have wasted your time typing this... cheating is wrong (I SAID THAT EARLIER) but what's Eric going to do? post a mod in in everyone's computer room. What you said I already said. Please...read all post before quoting me.
Dude.... that's just not how things work. Welcome to the internet.
Just out of curiosity... short of the member just admitting that s/he cheated with a program, how do you:
a. detect a chess computer (i.e. how can you tell that the player is using a program)?
b. how can you enforce a "no cheating" rule?
You can probably bet that playing a time control faster than 2 minutes (with or without increment) is clean. But you can use an engine in 5 0, or slower.
As Erik's alluded to earlier in this thread Chess.com has a policy of non-disclosure when it comes to the means of detecting and dealing with cheaters. I'm sure that the reasons for this are to prevent cheaters from finding ways of combating these detection processes (security through obscurity of a sort). As a result I wouldn't anticipate the answers to your questions to be forthcoming.
Agreed. It just doesn't make sense for the staff to publicly discuss their internal (proprietary) strategies for detecting cheats. What does make sense is for them to lightly monitor the conversation, and maybe on the off chance we collectively come up with an idea they find useful, they can incorporate it into their strategy.
Remember that they spend a lot of time thinking about this, and dealing with this, and we just type the first thing that comes to our mind... :-)
I'll say it again. I don't use books or software because it's not going to help me in OTB games. For analyzing games afterwards, yes I use all resources. You only cheat yourself by not being able really enjoy it when you make a winning move that changes the game. You cheat yourself of the true thrill and excitement of winning a game honestly. Cheaters only cheat themselves!
As long as they have a way, then I'm happy.
i think a lot of the players use the seach engines does not bother me i just like goog strong games.
SEARCH ENGINES !??!???!
...
In the spirit of that then, here's the first thing that comes to my mind:
Instead of chess.com performing the game analysis after games and only at the request of the user, perhaps (assuming the CPU cycles are available) each move could be engine analyzed in real time (i.e. as soon as it is made) to be used internally to give each player a text move to engine move correlation score.
Those with high correlations would be highly likely to be cheaters and subject to further investigation. As an added bonus, doing this would also eliminate the wait time for game analysis as these would no longer have to be performed post game as an on-demand batch, but rather would be waiting and ready to be requested as soon as the game is complete.
sure..... we'd just need another 1,000 servers and we'd be set!
I figured that might be a problem....
What are you talking about? I cant even find a program that could make a move for me!
Anyway,
I do want that mandelshtam gets banned, or else he is already banned.
One thing: Why use computer moves? Just train on another program which DOES NOT give you moves for another game. I do that. I have got half a million(a quarter of a million) chess programs that train your chess mind.
By Kayton and I hope you agree with me!
Who says mandelshtam cheated? Just admission is sufficient proof of guilt?
Okay then, I admit that it was I who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Now sue me :)
Incidentally, at the cost of the ancillary benefit of eliminating wait times for game analysis, I think a statistical sample would suffice in place of an exhaustive comparison....
I may be alone in thinking this, but it doesn't bother me. I don't care what my rating is, I only wish to improve. I try to learn something from every game, and if I can do that I'm one step ahead of the cheater. Whenever I loose badly it only inspires me to play better and study harder. Fiscer was the recipient of some serious cheating, but he still won.
in the future, i think all i can expect is to hopefully not get cheated a lot of the time, and to simply always play my best :)
i also hope that mandelshtam does not leave the site.
Eric is staff. I'm pretty sure you can believe him that it is forbidden on this sight. Consult the computer between your ears. It's more fun that way. Seriously, I don't understand how a person could enjoy a chess game or take credit for a win if the even used an engine for one move.
Glad to see that Chess.com let this blog run. No site is without some bad eggs, so just play your game and don't worry about what the other people might do to win.
I think chess.com is the most proactive site I have seen about getting rid of cheaters.
Just last week I suspected a person of cheating. I did 'Report Abuse' with my suspicions and reasons. I heard nothing back, but yesterday I noticed the person no longer has an account on chess.com.
For critical turn-based positions, I do use ChessBase 10, without its engine. This lets me analyze visually while recording my thoughts. I play out the position in "blitz" mode several times to get a feel for the shape of the game. Then I take a closer look at tactical opportunities, and round it out with thinking of all probable/critical alternatives. To wrap it up, I explicitly record my evaluations of end positions (+-, +=, =, etc.), and assign values to moves (??=losing, ?=definitely worse than best move, !=best choice, and !! as forced). That lets me easily navigate the move tree as I check it. I can easily spend many hours over the course of several days doing this, but the extra work can give me considerable insight into the position. I used that to good effect in my game with ilovegambits http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=10202745 for my 29th move, which I found only after considerable research into alternatives that either did not successfully break his blockade or that opened my King position up. It seems to me that using ChessBase for turn-based games is completely within chess.com rules.
As for Live Chess, I tend to play 3 0 or faster because of bad experiences (especially on Yahoo chess) running into too many cheaters.
Sue you? I'd rather ask you about your diet, exercise, and medical program!
I just don't understand what someone gets out of cheating anyway, there is no money to be won and you get no real accommodations from it. I think, these ”cheaters" are pathetic and need to seek counseling. However I have ran across a few on this site and the only thing to do is never play them again.
There is another site who is far more harsh with cheaters than chess.com. I remember how upset was a member of that site because I reported him and he got (C)-ed, even if he was a full member and I had a one-week trial :) And he did not even play with me.
There are many cheaters here, and some of them are tolerated (or I guess chess.com bans only the idiots for which the computer agrees let's say with 90% of their moves). Catching a "clever" cheater is very hard, if not impossible.
Too sad ... almost it's not worth playing serious chess, there is always the danger of facing a cheater. It's not worth the effort. I could not play "serious" games online. Even if I played 15 mins (not only here) I was always doing something else in the meantime, like eating or reading my email.
I use the analysis board and record the move tree in the "notes" section of the game.
Nice and tidy.