I have the Solution to stop cheating in Live Chess!

I completely agree with Torkil. This idea is fueled by paranoia and would ultimately create more robots to play against. It is also driven by what appears to be the ego in that people can't come to terms with losing a few points, even though these points are computer chess points which have no bearing on anything. The percentage of cheaters is small. The probability of encountering a cheater is small. Who cares.

THANK YOU DODAH!

nice idea, but i think people cares too much about cheaters.

the real solution it´s to improve every day.

it doesnt matter if you can´t  win against  machine or human. the result its the same, you lose

Its not a 'nice idea' at all.

Just think how it works: Instead of loseing to members using chess engines you will lose to mods using chess engines.

Oh and no one is going to want to do this and chess.com isn't about to start paying people to cheat.

The only effect is an increase in the number of games you will play against computers instead of people.

I have only been playing for a month or so, so maybe this problem is bigger than I can imagine, but aren't there something like 25,000 members?  If that is the case, how many of them are cheating?  Unless the number is pretty large (more than several hundred), then I don't see how it could really impact your rating that much.  (Again, I am speaking speculatively here)  If that is the case, why worry about some moron who has so little self esteem that they cheat at a game to get a bigger number beside thier name?  I think it is good to have a process by which people who are known to cheat are expelled, but this seems like a lot of work. 

Additionally, the mods are going to have to play an aweful lot of games to keep tabs on 25,000 members, and if they weren't very proactive about it, any cheater that was caught would just start again with a new account knowing that it would take forever for someone to catch them again. In my opinion if you are low enough to cheat at an online game, the threat of being booted isn't much of a consequence, especially if it is easy to start again.

Alright let's just do a stimulus package then and pay the cheaters off.

That'll work I'm sure of it!

Cheaters never win - Winners never cheat

It never ceases to amaze me how so many people at this site are consumed with the notion that cheating is rampant. I can't see spending a lot of time and/or energy in an effort to track down and prosecute those who might be using engines. It seems about as useful as tracking down communists during the MaCarthy era. When I lose a game it's because I didn't play very well and it doesn't matter much whether I'm playing against a person or a person's computer (although I prefer playing against humans). I think it takes a really sick ego to use an engine to win a chess game when there is nothing to gain from winning but a few rating points; there's no money, no trophies, no titles, no worldwide recognition. I think chess.com takes reasonable measures to discourage cheating and I think that's all anyone can ever do about it. Let the cheaters cheat - it's no skin off my nose.

Or teeth...I feel like John McCain.  I didn't win the popular vote on this one.

Mr. Immortal

For quite some time I have been tracking your posts since I enjoy reading your annotated games and think you provide good insight into the game. I'm a bit shocked by your current actions and mood, and a little upset by your unwarranted attack on me. If a person disagrees with you, the best you can do is call them a cheater, hoping to discredit them and therefore validate your point? I'm not a cheater, and it doesn't take one to see the flaws in this design. You know, you really only have two options. The first is that you can live in fear of people cheating and getting away with it, spend your days trying to fight the good fight and stop all chess cheating on the internet, live in agony of the games you may have lost due to cheating. You can spend each moment second guessing when your opponent makes a good move as to whether or not they're cheating part-time just to get you. You can create the thought police to take down every rouge would be chess cheater before they have a chance to cheat, but in the end you may end up having to put yourself under the gun. You could do all that or you can go with option 2, you could relax and enjoy a nice game of chess. You can learn from your losses without caring if your opponent cheated. Take solace in the fact that chess.com is out there diligently searching for the perpetrators who are cheating while you sit comfortable and safe in your home.

I don't like people cheating, but I also just come on here to play a game of chess and enjoy myself. If my opponent is cheating, well then I guess I'll never know. I don't have any programs to run it through to see and I don't have the time nor the effort to stress out enough to find out. I guess what I'm saying is I wish you peace and freedom from the anguish that seems to have griped you lately.

God speed immortal one, don't let the idea of what could be make you mortal.

By the way here's something to keep in mind. The average rating on chess.com is 1354 out of nearly 60,000 people, which tells me that cheating isn't as widespread as everyone fears. http://www.chess.com/echess/players.html

Whilst I wouldn't want to deliberately broaden this very circular argument I must point out that cheating in blitz games is really the tip of the iceberg. I think engines are used as reference points all the time in the longer "online" games.

I've played several tournament games on here against opponents around my own rating only to find that every move they make seems to be positionally accurate and very damaging - especially in the endgame. Why is the argument focused on blitz games?

Now there's a good post. Very, very zen!  

I'm with this idea.

This is the worst idea I ever heard. Don't you realize that these people trolling for cheaters would become the new cheaters, thereby INCREASING, not decreasing, the number of times regular players would have to play computers?

Totally agree with that! A well written, more mature and polite explanation! 

As some members here have pointed out, most people are here to enjoy a nice game of chess and eventually, we will play some cheater but as online ratings are SO important for some people, let's remind them that where 60,000 people have an average rating of 1354, certainly we cannot have too many cheaters out there...

Enjoy the best game ever! 

The original idea is a bit silly. Computers can still be beaten even by an otb player. Top corr players should still be stronger than a computer, at least if they know they are playing one, and can play games of quality near and even exceeding WC otb levels. Even looking at Kasparov vs Deep Blue ... he should have won the match but always tried to beat them at their own game (as Bronstein did earlier, by tactical crush) rather than playing to the computers weak areas. There's a reason DB would not give a rematch~!

I don't like the idea at all, and I like the implication that disagreeing with it means you are a cheater even less.

As annoying as it is losing to someone you think is cheating, knowing there is some undercover "kill squad" (a pretty jumped-up and absurd name, if you ask me) roaming the server would be worse.

I can usually tell when someone I've been playing has cheated; if I think they have, I just don't play them again. I don't think it's as rampant as it's made out to be.

Now I think this is a much better idea. A simple, much more effective solution which doesn't resort to ridiculous levels simply because of an extremely small minority. I think also it should be made clear before any player logs into live that this will happen if they minimise their screen. As someone else pointed out some people may like to keep minimising the screen, but it's a small price to pay in order to virtually eliminate cheating in live. Well correct me if I'm wrong but surely it would do that! How else would a cheater consult an engine for his moves except by using a completely different computer right next to him?

Yes, you keep saying that and personally I don't care about losing because of a cheater either. But the fact that this has become such a long forum shows that many people are concerned about it. So I think it is worth bringing in an effective scheme to lay rest to all the paranoia if nothing else. Of course there will still be those who don't understand about lag thinking that their opponent is somehow tampering with the clock to cheat but to stop that the staff could quite easily also give an explanation of what lag is in a prominent place in live so that anyone can see it..

That's a terrible idea. It would make Live Chess invasive since it would require either that each user downloads a program that doesn't allow itself to be minimised when a game's being played, or, worse; that a separate applet be downloaded that monitors what you're doing on your computer. Few people would agree to the second option, for sure.

I prefer the approach of checking the record of highly-rated players, and if there is suspicious behaviour or play, to check their play against engine play - the same as in Online Chess.

OK, forgive me I don't exactly have an extensive knowledge of computers.. I think I'd have to agree with you there then there's probably nothing wrong with the current system in place.