Cheaters on chess.com

What's so "ABSURD" about cheating at a game? So you don't LEARN anything? Sure, of course you don't. But does that stop someone from cheating on a math test or trying to plagiarize sources on a book report? Absolutely not! You don't know the answer to question #7 and you can see that your teacher isn't looking and can't see you if you decide to look at your friend's quiz, and you think to yourself, "Why not?" Nothing is absurd about the process at all. People want a quick fix with minimal effort. 

No one really likes to lose. People cheat at other games all the time: monopoly, poker, scrabble, etc. What's so absurd to think that people would cheat at chess since it's SO EASY nowadays?

And yes, it's true that you CAN outplay someone +300 than you, but can you do this on a CONSISTENT basis? No. If you could, then this person wouldn't be +300 over you. It's pretty simple. If people here played more OTB and tournaments, you'd see that ratings are a pretty good indicator of who's the favorite in the match. Simply put: WHEN YOUR SKILL INCREASES, YOUR RATING INCREASES TOO.

The idea that there are all these players out there who are rated 1300 and 1400 and have the opening skills of a grandmaster or the positional understanding of grandmaster is just absurd. Do you know how hard it is to open like a grandmaster for even 10 moves? You could probably gain an advantage on almost all the titled players here if you could. There are so many variations, both book and non-book, in even a single opening like the Guioco Piano, Ruy Lopez, Sicilan, Queen's Gambit, etc. It's nearly impossible to learn how to accurately respond to each and every move.

These players just don't exist. Have you seen the openings most players play at tournaments? They're not that good. People deviate from the book lines very quickly because a class-level player is just adept at recognizing subtle opening mistakes from his or her opponent and capitalizing on it. For example:

Very good posting, BrandonQDSH.
(Now, do I think it's good because I agree with it, or do I agree with it because it's good. . . ?)

There is a twist to this so-called "cheating" accusations. I once played at live chess against an opponent 400 points or more higher than me. I outplayed him tactically and in just a few moves he was beaten. Along the way, on chat he asked if im using a program..."lol that was funny I said". But he hinted on the idea that how can a player at my rating play that well and play strong moves. Well, the truth was, He played the Sicilian Najdorf and I responded with my ever faithful Sozin variation which i have been playing for a decade or so ( wtih Fischers games in mind). And he happens to make moves that were very familiar to me in Sicilian traps. After our game i informed my opponent that on chess.com  my rating is just this, but offline, its very very different. And soon we became on- line friends. Another truth is, that even if one is 1900 or 1700 playing against say a 1400, if the 1400 is playing in his territory (Opening lines he has been playing all his/her life in chess of which he is familiar with the schemes). Expect the most stubborn resistance. We all make mistakes too. Even strong players drops pieces too.This is the twist. Well,... for real cheating, im leaving it to Erik and the staffs.

oops made the error..my opponet was just 100 poinst above me.sorry

Your rating's like, 1200.

I'm a Fide expert, and when your around my level, and a lot of people are higher, there's no cheating.

900 rated players and 1200 rated players are not skilly differed, in otherwise, Topalov losing to a 2500 is very rare, more less impossible.

If you break an 1700/1800 barrier, and then someone 1400-1500 beats you, maybe then they could be cheating.

And by the way, Chess.com has the same banning engine as ICC, so shut your friggin' yap, and stop whining.

Theres no such title as " FIDE expert " and I couldnt find a fide rating for you under David Zhang, that player has no fide rating that I saw....

Here he is Reb. He is indeed a CFC rated expert...which isn't the same as FIDE but oh well.

batgirl,

Thanks for the nod :)

I'm not trying to say that everyone out there cheats or that cheating is the devil, but seriously, people, cheating is happening a lot more than you think.

Of course cheating happens a lot, that's why people shouldn't take internet chess seriously.

Yea, they're usually easy to detect. I won't worry too much about 300 elo. Much of the time, I'm rated lower than I actually am. But cheaters are usually easy to detect, their moves always takes about the same amount of time. Even easy moves, seem to take awhile since they need the program to calculate. 

The simplest way to deal with cheaters, is that I don't play those long games. Play short games. Don't give them a chance to cheat. If they try, they'll run out of time before they can complete their move.