Faking a LOW rating to win !!

without playing face to face it is hard to judge over the internet...what is preventing anybody to cheat using a computerized chess board to make the moves?...what fun is that to challenge the mind when the computer always wins..therefore playing online there will always be some doubt....

I agree with most of what you say, I too have enjoyed every single one of these responses. Some, like yours, are quite deep, intelligent, well worded and well thought out. Others are antagonistic, sarcastic, fantastic ......some are just obvious trolls trying to get a reaction out of me, very entertaining indeed !! 

Thanks all for your input, I think it is safe to say given the evidence presented that FAKING a LOW rating to win is alive and well on Chess.com and it's not in fact a delusion of mine or because I suck, as one contributer so eloquently pointed out lol !!

The game that you posted about initially was not an example of faking a low rating to win though, so you're still half-delusional.

maybe it was, maybe it wasn't... ; )

Anyone who plays chess knows that cheating is rampant everywhere and cheating on online chess is pervasive. Sandbagging is very common. What can I say other than cheating unfortunately ruins the game for those who don't but there is no way to avoid it as far as I can tell. BTW, it is almost impossible to prove someone cheats since there are so many ways to cheat and remain undetected.

thank you ! so many people are in total denial that sandbagging even exists ! As far as other types of cheating, I have heard the term "chess engine" thrown around , although I don't really know what this is , I have also heard they can be detected ? 

To me it makes no sense whatsoever to cheat at a game that is purely for personal enjoyment. There are no high stakes or endorsements involved. Maybe this is why so many previous comments in this post absolutely refuse to believe it happens. In my opinion someone who fakes a low rating to collect virtual online trophies is really just a jerk who gets a rush from surprising opponents with their unexpected strong play.

I know that sandbagging exists but, in the case of the OP, I doubt it because it all seems kind of pointless.  People sandbag to gain something.  Sandbagging a low rated game doesn't get you anywhere.

Unless there is money involved i tend to think that a loss is a loss.Maybe in a rated tournament where cash prizes are given up there is enough incentive to sandbag for some lowlifes but really even if u win a tournament here,what do u get? a cyber-trophy! Not much incentive....whenever you lose a game its best just to go over the game and see what u could had done better. Just because u have a higher rating it doesn't mean u are entitled to a win.

I'm shouting? cmon man... :(

haha sorry it was the other guy, not you, my mistake : )

check out post 205, you may want to look too sirrichardburton.

I'm faking mine. I'm a GM really! Honest!

LOL !! nice one , me too !

It's a bit suspicious. That's a 500 point rating difference. If he's losing often, it's very likely there is cheating going on.

900 rated players should fall for very simple tactics.

Unless the 900 was just very bad and played only a few games to get there (ya know they have rly big rating losses/wins when u first try smth) but he just played 1400 and his act skill level was 1100/ lol weird theory right

A video by grandmaster Maxim Dlugy showing how he beat 3-time champion Hikaru Nakamura in a Blitz game also shows that due to the scant time for thinking in Blitz games, even grandmasters sometimes overlook basic opportunities or threats.  One example is a basic fork threat which Nakamura overlooked and which Maxim Dlugy logically assumes caused Nakamura some resulting emotional disturbance, like all of us humans experience.

It is comforting to know that even grandmasters can, on rare occasion, make some of the very same blunders that people like me make with almost every breath during a blitz game!

Here is the link: http://www.chess.com/video/player/how-to-beat-nakamura-at-blitz but since this is the first time I've inserted a link in a forum post I don't know if it will result in an actual link or if you will have to copy/paste it.

It's also nice to know that at least some grandmasters very much enjoy the challenge of blitz games which forces them to resort to intuition when there isn't enough time for them to think through as they would do in a standard game.

Fine, there are people out there with so little to do that they will sandbag low rated events.  Once again, my logic has been undone by man's capacity for doing stupid, pointless things for little or no gain.  :-)

haha sorry, I know it's puzzling , sad, and true ! You would be amazed at how I've been slammed for even presenting the idea of Faking a LOW rating to win ... sometimes people are illogical.

I like this summary...

Players sandbag 1) for money and 2) for enjoyment. It is as futile to try to understand a sandbagger as it is to understand any one who cheats. As the saying goes, it takes one to know one. But to deny that sandbagging and cheating is pervasive on online chess is as puzzling as the cheaters and sandbaggers themselves.