How Chess.com catches even the sneakiest cheaters!
There's a very long history of cheating in the game of chess. It's hard to say what exactly brings someone to cheat in chess- most likely wanting a higher rating, or to be seen as "good." Whatever motivates someone to cheat in this beautiful game, it is a shameful act that in an ideal world wouldn't exist. However, we don't live in an ideal world. As long as chess exists, cheating will exist.
Since chess engines were created, people have found crafty and creative ways to use the power of chess engines in over the board games, or, more frequently- in online games. So, how does the world's largest chess playing site deal with this rampant problem? Here is how chess.com so accurately finds and eliminates cheaters on the site!
While some players accidentally make themselves easy to catch, (such as Tigran Petrosian in the 2020 Pro Chess League using an engine on the same screen as he was playing on and looking over at it every move...) others do it in smart and sneaky ways which can be very tough to catch.
It's a common misconception among chess.com members that cheaters can only be caught when the make the best engine move every single move, and if they mix in just a few of their own moves they won't be recognized. However, this is false.
A common way for players to think they can get away with cheating is to use the engine for the first 15 or 20 moves of the game to get themselves into a winning position, and then use their own moves to finish out the game to evade detection. And, if this tactic is only used once or twice, it may not be detected. However, if a player does this more than a few times, chess.com's advanced fair play engines will detect the pattern and get the player investigated.
However, in this system, the player still does use top engine moves for a portion of the game, so it's easy to understand how the player could be caught. But- what happens when the player tries possibly the sneakiest evasion-of-detection tactic? Not using top, (or sometimes not even very good) engine moves? Wait- how would this help them win?? Well, my friend... I'm not kidding. This can happen.
There is a program a chess player can use in a game, essentially a "souped up" analysis board, where the engine can tell the player multiple different moves, and how good they are. The player can then use a good, but not great move on the board that is essentially "good enough" to get the game won. This is an incredibly tough idea to catch. Using good moves but not the best all the time could suggest someone who is simply a strong player, and is earning their chess success.
However, this can still be detected. While it may take much longer and require more investigation to get a chess.com account closed, the fair play engine can still detect the pattern of the player always using a "good" move and barely ever blundering. This tactic is sneaky, yes- but not too sneaky for the engine.
No, we'll never be able to eliminate cheating in online chess fully. However, chess.com's machine cheat detection comes pretty close. There are countless different personal spins to be put on cheating, and chess.com's engine can catch most if not all of them, given enough games to judge. It's an amazing piece of technology that not only helps bring justice to cheaters of the game, but creates a more fair environment for all chess.com members... as they play their heart out on what many call the greatest game ever created.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and that this simple explanation can help you understand cheating detection just a bit better. If you're interested in in learning more about the immense world of over the board cheating, please follow along for my next blog, the history of over the board cheating and detection. Have a great day!!!
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