Account Restrictions

I have cancer.  I was going to write about hope but that's nonsense.  I'm going to die.

I can't do an awful lot of things anymore because my legs and back are dissolving.  So I play chess.  Some of you have been doing God's work, playing engaging and enjoyable chess games with me.  But lots of people here are interested in something much less mature.  I don't want any part of that.  When you have some limited amount of time left, the idea that you are going to spend any of it playing a computer across the internet is rubbish.

I have to play slow chess now because my hands quiver from medication.  The folks at chess.com don't obey public accommodation laws so they don't make their interface handicapped accessible so I have to deal with that as best I can.  I play around 1800 level which is like the 98th percentile.  It's full of people who want to test out their chess computers against better players.  There are literally people there with 700 speed chess ratings and 1800 slow chess ratings.  If you play them, every move takes 12-15 seconds.  Sometimes, they even complain if you play slowly.  This is not enjoyable to me at all.

I've had it with chess.com's insistence that Fair Play requires that I play such people or the new accounts with 10 victories in a row or the miracle turn around of the 1300 player who now has victories some untold numbers of times in a row.  So now I can't abort games anymore because Fair Play (from people who think public accommodation laws are a nuisance to be ignored) says I must play these people.  What warped sense of Fair Play is that exactly?

Chess.com has decided it is in their interest to pretend cheating doesn't happen here.  What if the world knew that 10M accounts on chess.com were created by feeble people who want to create some proof that they are smart by using their computer to be a chess master?  Discussion of it has been moved to a corner of the site.  There is no FAQ about cheating.  There is no report cheater button.  There is no cheat detection program running.  A guy dying of cancer has to play computers across the internet to assist with some bottom line calculation that ignoring cheating is the way to go just like ignoring public accommodation laws that require an interface so people without hands or eyesight have the same access.  But kids run this place and kids think it is just fun and games. 

The "chess.com" address is a responsibility.  It's about chess for everyone done fairly with a rating system protected from jerks with computers.  It's about letting people less fortunate with physical disabilities in instead of deciding they aren't part of your business model and you don't care what the law says.  It's basically time for the people who run this site to grow up and get some basic sense of responsibility.  I was a kid once too.  I know for sure that you don't get to be a kid forever.

  While Chess.com sympathizes with your current situation,  all electronic gaming sites have limitations that are not intended for people in you're current state. Perhaps if you send Erik these thoughts he could instruct Staff to make an exception for people in your current situation. I wish you well and may God bless. 

i wish you the best, i have multiple scorsis, with other medical issues also, i play for the enjoyment of the game, but i would hope that mayby you could let go of some of the anger

and enjoy the time you have left, i trully do wish you the best!

You might want to check out the Slow Chess League. It’s a group on the site which runs negotiated time tournaments at time controls of 45 45, 60 30 and 90 30, in addition to running live tournaments at 25 10.

Sorry to hear about your circumstances.

You should never abort games yourself: as you have found, doing so too often results in the system flagging you as a Fair Play violator - this means that you are then matched up with other Fair Play violators more often, which exacerbates the problem you have been experiencing. It would be best to let the system auto-abort the game before you make a move. You may want to contact the Support team to see if they can reset this for you.

However, I would also suggest that cheating is not as common at your level as you seem to think that it is; this was answered comprehensively in your previous thread https://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/a-solution-for-cheating. A dedicated cheat detection program IS running, there's a dedicated team of actual people reviewing the reports, it IS in the FAQ (it's the article on Fair Play, ironically enough) and there is a "Report Cheater" link even if it's not a button: it's under Help --> Report Abuse --> Contact. You could also bookmark the link directly: https://support.chess.com/customer/portal/emails/new

The "Confirm Move" suggestion is already available in Daily Chess, but I'm not sure what it would take to make it available in Live Chess as well - that's one for the developers. That sort of specific suggestion is much more helpful than a general claim that Chess.com isn't meeting a law that may or may not be actually applicable to it.

Cheers!

Dear Hermannoodle,

    I think you got some good caring responses. Let me add that one can select a player to play against either by selecting "friend" or some other criteria that may help. One also can block players who are not good sports. I also suggest playing daily chess in focus mode, which prevents you from

seeing any chat while in that mode. You can also shut off chat altogether and let the players who are impatient simply stew in their own juices.

     Perhaps chess.com does not actively make it easy to acquire accommodations, such as by having a dedicated contact for such matters, but I believe the management would look into problems such as yours that may mistakenly flag a player as violating fair play rules.  I would like to see the videos captioned for the deaf/Deaf/hard of hearing for example. Muscle spasms or other mobility issues, visual impairments, and so on that require more time, cause loss of mouse control, and so on can be accommodated but it takes time and effort on the part of chess.com to sort out what to do and how to fairly and accurately do it. 

    On the other hand, you might do well to seek help on your end of things such as by consulting with an occupational therapist who has expertise in the area of computer accommodations. Or you could start with either the vendors who sell assistive technology, who are knowledgeable and may be able to sell you something that solves this problem. Or you might contact this place in Hartford, which might help you directly or refer you appropriately http://cttechact.com/loan/#sthash.4zVxvquF.dpbs

     It is truly amazing that we can share games of chess with people from all over the world. Surely there are many likeminded people with whom you can play with satisfaction and I hope you are able to resolve the problems you are facing with chess. 

Rachel

the fair play rules were made up to appease the people who can't stand their opponents aborting, not the people who don't like playing cowards who need to use engines, it looks like there will be no u-turn either because internet chess is just a game for laughs, not to be taken seriously.

I don’t know about that. From what I’ve heard, Live Rapid is just full of cheaters above 1700.

Unfortunately, it's the people with the least idea about what engine use really looks like that tend to complain the loudest about cheating when they lose - check out the Cheating Discussion club at https://www.chess.com/club/cheating-forum for more informed & accurate opinions.

I had a look through the Live Chess settings and couldn't find it; under your profile settings, it's an option in Daily Chess but wasn't in Live Chess - if you've got a screen shot of where it might be, that would be great!

Yes, you are right. I must have been thinking about the app, because it is definitely in the app. thanks

Outside of the original post specific concerns, wouldn't having cheaters just be a greater stimulus for continued self improvement? 

Not when your close to dying.