The one thing I do know is that this thread will soon be locked.
In b4 tha lock!
Is Cheating on Chess.com Becoming an Issue?
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I doubt that this thread is going to be locked because it raises a legitimate point about Cheating that is occurring.
It's the ugly truth about online gaming. The lack of honor in gaming truly brings out the worst in individuals who would seek some form of advantage in competition.
I believe that there are measures that can be taken to drastically cut down on Cheating in Chess and I believe that if we have an honest discussion about the problem, we can develop ways to identify Cheaters and reduce the problem significantly. That should be the aim because the problem of cheating has the potential to undermine the very existence of an online chess community.
I would also ask the Moderators to remove the restrictions on aborting matches.
Sometimes it is possible to check the member profile of your opponent prior to a match to determine whether the opponent is likely "Cheating" or a bot.
Now, when I see an opponent whose rating has gone up over 200 points in the same day after winning 20+ consecutive games with an account that was created on the same day, I opt not to play that opponent and I take a screenshot of the opponent's member info. Most of the time, when I look back at that opponent, I see that the account was closed with the red circle with a line through it next to their names.
However, sometimes I find myself being forced to play an expected "Cheater" because you cannot abort consecutive games or Chess.com places you into Purgatory where you are basically forced to play whoever you are matched with. It is not my intention to avoid playing opponents because of ratings or any of that nonsense, it is simply to avoid having to play expected program cheaters or bots.
Taking 3 seconds at the beginning of a match to check the profile of your opponent can reveal whether your opponent is a likely cheater. It is not a perfect system, but it has resulted in more games against actual players who are following the established rules.
Aug 10, 2020
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#5
Discussions of cheating, potential cheating or cheat detection are not allowed on the general forums. If you would like to have that discussion, join the following group.
https://www.chess.com/club/cheating-forum
Chess.com takes cheating very seriously:
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-com-fair-play-and-cheat-detection
https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com
To report a suspected cheater to the Support team, please select Report Abuse under the Help menu, click the report link on the player's profile, or use this link: https://support.chess.com/article/346-contact-us. All reports are investigated, even if there is no immediate visible action.
Unfortunately, it is becoming quite annoying to see so much Cheating that is occurring in Live Chess.
So much so that it seems to be getting really bad and the experience of playing online is becoming unenjoyable.
Generally, there are ways of knowing whether your opponent is using a program or a bot. If you play enough chess, then you will notice a sudden change at points in the game where your opponent's moves go to pre-move equivalent .1 second moves when there is no way to predict your exact movement or response.
Pre-moving is distinguishable because there will be times when you see your opponent pre-moving towards the end in a scramble, and your opponent inaccurately predict your move, resulting in a move that is not a check or pieces being where you are not. That doesn't occur with a program in a scramble situation. No matter where you move, the program reactively moves with .1 seconds per move.
In addition, when you see pieces moving around the board from one end to the next to check you or advance an end game position and still take .1 seconds per move, it is another red flag that you may be playing a program. The reason being that it takes longer than .1 seconds to react to your movement and bring the piece all across the board because your opponent would not know how you would react to each move.
I'm sure the moderators on Chess.com can confirm this if they wished. While accusing members on Chess.com of cheating without proof is against the rules, it is becoming an ever growing problem.
So much so that those who are using more widely available programs against opponents are ruining the chess experience in online gaming. Such rule breakers lack honor but in a social media plagued world with so many dishonorable and fake individuals, it is to be expected.