Is this considered cheating?

I created another post titled fair play policy but I didn't get a clear answer. Apologies for redundant questions, but I'd hate to pay for a premium account and turn around and have a banned account because I may be misunderstanding something. I haven't been able to get a human via the support chat so I don't know where else to go. I doubt anybody has been using my account, but I changed my password anyway.

I do have the chess.com browser open to play the game, and I have the app open on my iPhone. Both are on VPN and I doubt I selected the same VPN location for both.

Image #1 shows the blue warning banner at the top. You can see the analysis button is turned off and the black/white position analysis slider is not active. I went through the steps #1 - #6 to load a game like this into the PRACTICE >> ADD POSITION OR GAME PGN, then I go through different options to consider my next move. I'm playing a daily game with a 3 day timer and this is the only place I see the warning. I do not see the warning in my rapid games. The moves I'm considering with the practice options have always been 100% my own with no assistance human, AI, or my smart dog. I just use this area to consider my next move. Once I find my move I go back and make the move and go on to my next game. I don't consider this cheating since I'm not obtaining any help, but I do not know why I have seen this blue warning banner at least 4 times now in my daily games with 3 day timers.

Please, can anybody tell me how to get in touch with a human at chess.com to assist me with this issue?

Wow, I tried attaching screenshots and the forum said something about external links, but they were direct uploads from my saved files which were screenshots. Anyway, if you want to visualize what I'm saying above, go to the lefthand side and mouse over LEARN, then PRACTICE, CUSTOM POSITION, ADD POSITION OR GAME (I'm using the PGN copy/paste) , then I click add game and I start reviewing my optional moves.

I tried to upload just a single photo but no luck. The banner reads, "You may not use analysis while playing chess. See our fair play policy."

The image is only 1.42Mb. I don't know why it won't upload. The rest were just the photos of images spelling out how I got to that practice site to test my future moves.

Welcome to the site BTW LLF!

In the iPhone app, if you click the magnifying glass at the center of the bottom, you go into analysis where you can make whatever moves you want to check out. In the browser, the analysis button is the first/leftmost button below the list of moves. If you go into analysis in the browser, you can check out whatever lines you want and save them. I'm looking at one of my games where I can see what moves I was thinking about but didn't make from three months ago. This is for daily games.

What you are trying to do sounds complicated, and I think there is a way to do what you want (see potential future positions) that's clearly approved by the site overlords.

I think that running the app on the phone while running chess.com on your browser is the cause of your problems. You have 2 active logins on two separate devices running at the same time.

Are you running both the app and the browser at the same time when you play rapid games? That could easily explain why you never receive the alert when you play rapid games.

If you aren't utilizing engine assistance or table bases in your daily games, then you aren't cheating.

I'd look at ways to change the process that you use to consider your moves. Look for ways to play through your daily games either primarily on your browser or your phone. If needed, use a program like a chess database to help you out. That might lead to running into fewer problems in the future.

If you're concerned about receiving a penalty or if the warnings persist, it's best to get clarity directly from Chess.com support.

Thank you BlackCatM! That's exactly what I was doing, but this is made more for what I was trying to do. The other option had an off/on switch for analyzing the moves using the chess.com AI, but I kept it turned off.

Where is the BlackCatM name from. There was a book I read decades ago with (I think) the alias of the main character was BlackCat?

I was trying to do that, but I cannot get a human option. I did once by typing I need a human, but my wife had hot steaks so I broke away and I've come back several times and the chat support hasn't given me an option to talk to a human. I'll try that again. Hopefully I'll get some better luck. I'm not planning on dropping the money for a premium account until I know exactly what's causing this. I'd be more mortified if I was accidentally cheating than losing the cost of the premium account. I think my wife would see that in reverse though LOL.

BlackCatM was probably right. I wasn't aware of that analysis option he (or she) mentioned. What I was using had the ability to use the computer AI, although I kept it turned off. If the image had uploaded I had a square box around the on/off button for the AI, and it was off. I also had an arrow pointing to the black/white slider bar saying which side had the advantage, and it wasn't there because the AI was turned off. I think that's what my issue was though. I'll still try to get in touch with a human to have them check and be 100% certain. Thanks for the response ChessMasteryOfficial!

I am on a laptop, so if you are using a phone, it may be slightly different. Try this. Click on your game and then (on my screen) click on the analysis ICON located near the move arrows. After clicking the screen comes up only showing the moves played, no engine lines. You can then make all of the moves you like. Check it out and tell us if it works for you.

I don't think that you should use the PGN to consider options in the analysis board feature on chess.com, in daily games you should see an analysis button in the game screen above where the resign and draw buttons are, you can go there and make the moves, then hit "save analysis" so you can check to see it later when you come back to the game later. It is a better way to do it which is intended by chess.com and won't get you flagged for cheating

#hereb4thelock

Thank you all. I was using that original location under PRACTICE to make these moves because I wasn't aware of that analyze magnifying glass. I don't know why I didn't try that odd icon before, or maybe I did a few months ago and I just didn't understand what it was allowing me to do since I was new to the chess.com app. Now that I know this analyzing magnifying glass does what I need, I'll not use the other that gave me that fair play warning. I'll still reach out to the support page and see if I can get a human to verify that was my issue before I purchase a premium membership to be safe, but I think that is the root cause.

I have no desire to cheat. I want to win, but I want to win because I was better than my opponent without outside assistance. I've played daily games against someone in South Africa for a few months and he moved his queen to his rear rank to threaten my rear rank, with only one of his pawns in between. I moved my rook to pin his pawn. A few moves later (several days) he forgot about the rook threat on his queen if he moved his pawn and attacked my pawn to threaten a knight. I captured his queen obviously, but I kind of hated it because I knew if I won a lot of it would be due to a massive blunder that he almost never makes. I won, but in the end it wasn't just because of that. We both made SEVERAL really dumb moves that we normally do not make in other games. I sent him a message when the game ended saying the better player didn't win. This game went to the person that just slightly screwed up less than the other. It's honestly frustrating to have a clever plan of attack to force your opponent into giving up pieces or position, only to have them screw up and hand over pieces. All that clever work was for nothing.

BigD521 & TheFiancheetoGambit - I use both a desktop and iPhone app for this chess.com site. Now that people have mentioned this feature analyzing magnifying glass to make test moves without the risk of triggering a cheat warning, I've started using it on both devices. Thank you both for the reply. I had a similar post on this issue where a moderator replied, but it wasn't clear and I never had any follow up to clarify what they told me.

I thought that was a feature for only paying members. Have they made it available now to free users?

I can answer that one. I just tried to do some test moves and it tells me I need to upgrade to save these moves. It's OK though. If I have a clever tactic planned out I'll right mouse click and make my arrows for attacks, then number them. I use Greenshot for doing my screenshots. It's what allowed me to obfuscate my opponent's name and do those mark up arrows and boxes, as well as number the moves if I see a drawn out plan of attack Some days I miss or almost miss something a move or two away. Other times someone will make a move and I see a plan of attack that is 5-7 moves ahead. Anyway, Greenshot is a free app, and we use it at work on our large enterprise network so I trust it to be safe.

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I’m sorry if I’m mistaken, but isn’t discussing cheating in general makes a forum lock?

The screenshots don't show, but I'll give a reply:

In live (=bullet, blitz, or rapid) chess, any kind of second board is forbidden. So yes, this would be cheating.

In daily chess, any kind of engine use is forbidden. The Practice against a Computer function uses an engine, so yes, using it would be cheating.

You can use an analysis board on another machine, but make sure that the following are disabled in this analysis board:

• Any kind of engine, including an eval bar or move evaluation.
• Any kind of move suggestions, except for books, courses, and game databases. This includes practicing against a computer. In your analysis, you must make every single move yourself.
• Any kind of endgame database / tablebase.
• Comments from other players.

Your setup with two devices and VPNs and all of that seems extremely complicated. The chess.com Daily interface has an analysis board embedded right there. My recommendation: Use that!

Naming and shaming people...I don't know that background story but that's pretty petty as a general rule of thumb.

Downloading the PGN and uploading it to the practice site is I believe what trigger that warning I received about the fair play policy. I can do the same thing with the analyze button and as you said, a Word document or text/notepad to keep notes if I need. That would probably help me better learn the names of the squares better. I know them, but not as well as I could.

That's not why I was going to pay though. The one game review per day and coaching would help me a lot, as well as the videos explaining some of the puzzles. I know the game review has some idiot responses, but overall it does OK.

I may be missing something, but isn't that what the analyze button is doing? It allows me to stay on this site without using an engine, and allows me to test moves by only allowing me to move the pieces. Are we saying the same things from two angles, or am I just missing your point?