New Tools For Fair Play On Chess.com

At Chess.com, we want you to be able to play, learn, and share free from abusers and cheaters.

We've always been dedicated to fair play and backed it up with a full support and cheat-detection teams working constantly to meet that goal. 

But today, we go to the next level. 

1. An easier way to report abuse and cheating

Need to report abuse, spam, cheating or anything else on Chess.com? It's just a few clicks away, no matter where you are:

First, just click the username to display the player info popup and look for the "!" shown below.

That will bring up this box: 

Simply choose what you wish to report that member for and press report.

Take a moment to give us a bit of information to go on as well by filling out the "Tell us more...." box. You can include any extra info you like:

• link to a screenshot or a transcript of the abuse
• details of the situation
• what made you felt they were cheating
• anything else you'd like support staff to know 

Of course, if you prefer the traditional method of reporting members you are still welcome to contact our support team that way. 

2. Faster, broader cheat detection

In late 2016, Chess.com released its first public statement on our cheat-protection system, but now with new technology, we are finding and analyzing suspects faster than ever allowing us to check 10 times as many players as before.

We've already seen a huge decrease in the amount of time it takes to catch someone cheating in games. 

3. Rating point refunds for victims of cheating

It's only fair that if your rating points are stolen by an engine user that you get them back. Going forward, that is what we are doing. When we close an account for cheating, anyone they played in last three months, up to 100 games, will have their rating points automatically refunded. 

When this happens, Chess.com will send you a message letting you know that points have been returned, which looks like this:

Thanks to everyone's recommendations for these changes; you deserve them and we are happy to deliver.

We hope you will continue to enjoy playing on Chess.com!