Let's Stop the Cheating

It feels to me that chess cheating on the internet is rampant. There are just too many ways to cheat without getting caught, especially at slow time controls where I mostly play.

I, and my friends, have faced incredibly obvious cheating from opponents. In fact, one of my friends has reported (at last count) 22 suspected cases of cheating and 19 of those accounts have been closed.

Especially for groups like the Slow Chess League, which I love, cheating  can eventually destroy the group. This would be a  tremendous loss to the online chess community.

Neighborhood Watch

What is the solution? We need our own virtual Neighborhood Watch. Instead of preventing crime against homes, we will prevent crime against the game of chess.

I propose two things. 1) We all commit to reporting every instance of suspected cheating. Too many times, myself included, I've let it go by without doing anything. Enough is enough and I am committing today to always report a suspected cheater.

2) If you can commit to reporting suspected cheaters, do yourself a favor and post the following at the top of your profile page, centered and in bold text, so that your future opponents will think twice before using an engine against you.

I report all opponents I suspect of using computer assistance. 

Here is my new profile page: