Just a quick question, is using the game explorer mid game considered cheating?

Apologies if this has been brought up before

 

Dommy 

No, it's not.

Nope, many here all ready use chess books, or databases to assist in their games. The objective of the site is to improve your game, and as masters of yore used to recommend correspondance chess, so too is the modern day of turn-based chess good for practice. So yes, using opening studies is good for assistance, but you don't want to use a chess playing program to play your game, then you achieve nothing.

I have considered using it mid game.... but it felt moraly wrong. Ive used it after i made the move to see if it was the correct reply to one of my opponents  first few moves. I think it would ruin my fun if i checked it before i made my move.

This is a form of correspondance chess and being a former member of CCLA, we were allowed to use books. You still have to understand the reasoning behind the moves you are making. So the player with the best understanding of the game and the biggest library would win. It is a bad habit to form if you plan on being a tournament player. Your reliance on the book or game index will hurt you in the end.

While a dependence on resources will hurt you in OTB tournaments, for CC they can be a valuable tool to help improve your game.  Since most databases will only cover openings and not specific mid or end-game positions, they can be used to the point of out of book to learn and understand the best lines, while not giving the player an undue advantage.

 

GrimReaper --- You are correct, but to clarify what you say...the objective is not to solely rely on the opening book/program, but to learn from it. This can prepare you for tournaments the same way if you simply studied the opening at home before a tournament without correspondance chess. The advantage is not only learning the opening, but to get a feel for how to deal with the random positions you reach based on the different people you interact with during the game.

thanks for the comments. It should be noted that i want to use the games explorer to help with my game. Thanks for your help

You should read http://support.chess.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=17&nav=0,6 for more information on what is allowed and not allowed while playing your games.

It would feel like cheating to me - worth telling your opponent that's what you plan to do?

texaspete wrote: It would feel like cheating to me - worth telling your opponent that's what you plan to do?

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 I have told opponents that, in fact, just today I mentioned to an opponent that I played a specific line against him for the mere fact that he has played a few games in it on this site and has never won. What if one of my opponents did research on me during the game? Then, if he or she were smart, I would end up getting more practice in lines I've struggled with... not such a bad thing when you think of it like that.

My expectation when I play someone is that I am playing against them, not their library or version of Chessmaster. I feel that sort of assisted analysis should be reserved for after the game - retrospectively finding the errors and key moves and making personal goals for improvement.

But, if I was in a game and my opponent took the time to go through my games and researched my personal trends, then good for them!

That being said, I can't expect to prescribe my philosophies to anyone else, and ultimately there is nothing anyone can do if their correspondance opponent chooses to run a 13-hour computer analysis on a tricky position. 

dsachs wrote:

My expectation when I play someone is that I am playing against them, not their library or version of Chessmaster. I feel that sort of assisted analysis should be reserved for after the game - retrospectively finding the errors and key moves and making personal goals for improvement.

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 There is a HUGE difference between using an Opening Database (allowed) and using a chess engine like ChessMaster (NOT allowed). Using an engine like ChessMaster is cheating and totally forbidden. But using an opening database just guides the first moves of the game, which isn't nearly enough to win. A 1600 player using an opening database will still lose more often than win against an 1800 without one. 

I like the fact that people can look up database moves quickly and easily now. It will cut down on the number of boring, crap opening lines people play against me!

Patzer24 wrote: You should read http://support.chess.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=17&nav=0,6 for more information on what is allowed and not allowed while playing your games.

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 thanks, would it be worth adding the games explorer into that blurb? i did look at it before i posted and wasnt totally clear whether the games explorer was legal  or not... just a suggestion

Dom

Thanks for the suggestion dommy. We have updated the FAQ article with this.

Still feels like cheating?

When does an opening stop and a middlegame begin?

Texaspete = maybe it's when a game leaves book, and your are on your own!.  Using explorer in live games/OTB is cheating. In correspondence, its research.

It stops you making a blunder in the opening or negates any of your opponents opening tricks. I know I would prefer my opponent couldn't look up the answer of any puzzles I may set during the opening.

Research before the game - not of a specific line once played.

My preference though - I know what the rules are on here

texaspete wrote:

It stops you making a blunder in the opening or negates any of your opponents opening tricks. I know I would prefer my opponent couldn't look up the answer of any puzzles I may set during the opening.

Research before the game - not of a specific line once played.

My preference though - I know what the rules are on here

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 Even though there is some sense to what you're saying, the encouragement of successful "trappy openings" does not set well with me. I would much more appreciate an opponent who knows what he is doing in the opening, than one who loses early on because he fell for my "trap". If you're looking for points, thats fine (I guess), but I'd rather see something I would expect from the best of opponents and learn from the experience. I mean seriously, stronger players in OTB would never fall for traps, so why would you want to practice those openings?

 For fun? Yes I suppose, and that would negate my whole argument, but then it stops becoming a learning process.