Cheaters???.... how can you tell??

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starr72

Just wondering as I have seen on a few profiles people have posted notes along the lines of " this *&#% is a dirty cheat" or "uses engine to cheat do not play" etc............

So how do you tell, how can you definitively state a person is a cheat?.... maybe they're just better then you?...

I don't know if I could make a comment like that, without proper proof I would consider that defamation or just spiteful jealousy...

So can any longtimers here tell me how to tell if someone is a cheat?  More out of curiosity then anything else as I have beaten a few people with these sorts of notes on their profiles and I know I wasn't cheating so it makes me wonder if the comment was posted maliciously.

waffllemaster

You can't know for sure. 

If they make their moves at regular intervals of 5-10 seconds for both easy recaptures and difficult moves then I get suspicious.  After that if I review the game (and it's blitz) and I can't find a single improvement for them then I get really suspicious and may check the game with an engine.

This is really rare in my experience though... and that's only for people who cheat every move.  I hear chess.com has some fancy auto detect stuff that checks live players though, so I wouldn't worry about it.  And frankly, unless you're a really strong player, a cheater is going to mate you in 20 some moves... if it's an even game until you slip up then it's safe to assume you weren't playing a computer.

And yes people will leave those kinds of messages after an upsetting loss, they don't mean anything.