How common is cheating in online chess . . . really? - Chess Forums

RenegadeChessist

Dec 5, 2016

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#1

Just curious to get everyone's take on this. I've had a few people tell me that they only play blitz because under faster time controls players have time to consult an engine.

My personal feeling is that the vast majority of people want to win honestly. They know that a cheater's victory is a hollow victory, so what's the point? My guess is that maybe . . . 5% of all games played online involve cheating?

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's a much bigger problem than I think it is and it's time to lose a little faith in humanity. Anyone have any kind of stats on this, or at least an educated opinion?

Derekjj

Dec 5, 2016

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#2

RenegadeChessist wrote:

Just curious to get everyone's take on this. I've had a few people tell me that they only play blitz because under faster time controls players have time to consult an engine.

My personal feeling is that the vast majority of people want to win honestly. They know that a cheater's victory is a hollow victory, so what's the point? My guess is that maybe . . . 5% of all games played online involve cheating?

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's a much bigger problem than I think it is and it's time to lose a little faith in humanity. Anyone have any kind of stats on this, or at least an educated opinion?

Chess.com employee once told me that 70 percent of members cheat here.

RenegadeChessist

Dec 5, 2016

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#3

Derekjj wrote:

Chess.com employee once told me that 70 percent of members cheat here.

That sounds silly. . .

RenegadeChessist

Dec 5, 2016

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#4

DowdyTheFifth wrote:

I know that Chess.com works pretty hard to find players who are blatantly cheating, I have also heard that one of my teammates has faced someone playing a blitz game with an engine, so I feel like cheating in online chess is not uncommon, however there is nothing really to gain if someone cheats, they're only hindering their own personal progress in chess. That's my opinion, I feel like your 5% estimate is probably close to accurate.

The thing is, if I thought that a lot of people were cheating then it would make me want to quit playing online. If in fact I'm right, and it's only around 5%, then I can live with that. But if it's significantly more, then I'd rather not take a beating from computers all day.

Derekjj

Dec 5, 2016

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#5

RenegadeChessist wrote:

Derekjj wrote:

Chess.com employee once told me that 70 percent of members cheat here.

That sounds silly. . .

How u know only 5 percent? That sounds more silly.

blueemu

Dec 5, 2016

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#6

I've played nearly a hundred games on this site, and only twice have I strongly suspected my opponent of using an engine. I didn't bother to have either game checked.

On the other hand, I usually play unrated games against players outside my own rating band, just to avoid losing 125+ rating points to someone's little electronic friend.

RenegadeChessist

Dec 5, 2016

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#7

Derekjj wrote:

How u know only 5 percent? That sounds more silly.

So 7 out of every 10 people who come here to play chess are cheating? So the majority of games just end up being engine vs engine with a few unsuspecting people who come to play an honest game?

It doesn't sound ridiculous to you that 70% of people might be cheating? What for? Do they win money? Are the rating points valuable in some way I don't know about?

Furthermore, are you one of these cheaters? I mean, if it's 70% then odds are that you are.

RenegadeChessist

Dec 5, 2016

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#8

blueemu wrote:

I've played nearly a hundred games on this site, and only twice have I strongly suspected my opponent of using an engine. I didn't bother to have either game checked.

On the other hand, I usually play unrated games against players outside my own rating band, just to avoid losing 125+ rating points to someone's little electronic friend.

What do you mean by this last bit? Why would people outside of your rating band be more likely to cheat?

RenegadeChessist

Dec 5, 2016

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#9

DowdyTheFifth wrote:

I feel like you're correct in your low assumption of cheaters, Chess.com does a good job of weeding out cheaters, I have faced probably only 3 blatant cheaters in the time that I have been on Chess.com, so I think it's not too bad. On other sites, I am not so sure.

What exactly are chess.com's methods for weeding out cheaters? I haven't seen a lot of info on their approach.

eaguiraud

Dec 5, 2016

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#10

The higher you go in rapid rating, more cheating is encountered. I have played against many cheaters (if you take a look at my last 100 games in rapid you will notice) and 5% is a good estimate, but it can get considerably higher if your rating is high enough (1800+). But I have also played against cheaters in blitz games, but not so many. By cheaters I mean people that got their account banned, there may be more that I haven't noticed.

TheAuthority

Dec 5, 2016

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#11

They have ways of tracking people electronically and the computers flag certain players as 'possible' cheaters and then an investigation is launched. I don't think much about cheating. We can play computers and I consider a cheater using an engine basically like playing a computer. I think 5-10% is a good guess, but that is a completely uneducated guess.

eaguiraud

Dec 5, 2016

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#12

DowdyTheFifth wrote:

If I remember correctly they have a division of Staff members that has the sole job of weeding out cheaters.

I do not exactly know about this site, because I do not speak to any staff member. But on another site I have a friend who is a mod, he showed me that they investigate reports with a special system that sorts out "perfect or almost perfect games" and also they take into account average move times, tabbing, precision of the moves (perfect sequences) and other stuff wich I don't remember right now.

Diakonia

Dec 5, 2016

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#13

Discussions of cheating and/or how Chess.com deals with the issue are not allowed in the general forums. If you would like to discuss that, join the following group:

https://www.chess.com/groups/home/cheating-forum

And check out the following.

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444879-fair-play-on-chess-com-what-you-need-to-know