Being Called a Cheater: the Ultimate Compliment

Being Called a Cheater: the Ultimate Compliment

Avatar of Armand_Spenser
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First, let me apologize for the dumb thumbnail... As Mr. Wild once said, "I can resist everything except temptation."

I am back today with a very small post about something that always makes me smile: cheaters. And more precisely, being accused of it.

I have played my share of games against cheaters, most of which have been banned swiftly by chess.com. But today, I don't want to accuse; I want to talk about when you are accused of it.
It happened to me a few times, probably because I set my challenge to -25 to ANY, which means I sometimes am paired with people with 200, 300, or 400 more elo points than I have. When from time to time, I beat them, I tend to be accused. Of course, this is the ultimate compliment. If you haven't lived it, you should definitively stick to chess until it happens.

A few days ago, when playing my 999th rapid game, I had an awesome position out of the King's Indian Defense. I was already happy with my chess day, but then I saw my opponent wanted to chat. I accepted, as I always do, only to see this beauty appear:

I answered very politely. I thanked him sincerely for the compliment and added that if he felt I cheated, he should, of course, report me. I don't believe he did anything wrong. I fully understood his exasperations, maybe even his suspicion, and calling out potential cheaters to the chess.com team is a public service. 

Although to me, the main sign that someone is cheating is time management. When an opponent spends the exact same amount of time (say 5 seconds) solving a complex tactic and taking back my queen or playing the only legal move, it all becomes pretty obvious.

Looking at the analysis, I must say I was quite happy with my play. I made one inaccuracy and found two very cool moves, so I figured it may be a fun game to share with people. It is not so much because there is a lot to learn out of it, but because there are few fun tactics.
I split the game into three PNGs, so that you can try to find the tactics I found before seeing the "answer."


Hope you enjoy it!


Part 1: opening and early middle game


Part 2: the first tactic and continuation


Part 3: the final tactic

Hi all,

I am no chess master. Simply a guy with a normal busy life who started late. I don't know how to play perfect chess, but I know how to improve and wish to share what helped me move from 1000 to 2150 on chess.com in roughly four years. Nine times out of ten, you should listen to a GM instead of me, but I have one and only strength over that of a master: I remember what it's like to be a complete beginner.

I enjoy playing rapid games, anything between 30-0 and 10-0. My advice will be directed towards people who enjoy the same time controls, but any non-master wishing to improve will find something in my posts.

I hope you find some useful stuff in my writing to keep improving while having fun!