Online Chess

I dont play online chess (or much of any chess on this site, for that matter - I play on ICC and check the forum and videos and stuff here on chess.com) and I was wondering how it is possible to ensure people dont use engines during an online game.

The reason I ask this is a quick check will reveal many people on this forum whose online ratings is 400 or 500 points higher than their live (standard or blitz) ratings. Looks very fishy to me...

Also, and I suppose this has been discussed to death, is 2 or 3 days per move chess still relevant today? Has it not been made completely redundant with the advent of the telegraph even?  If Paul Morphy and Wilhelm Steinitz were alive today, does anyone seriously think they would play this modern form of postal chess if they can have a real time game over the internet with each other? (I'm sure both of them played hundreds of postal games in their day, but that was the only way to do it if they  found themselves on different continents in the nineteenth century)

This is not a "bash a time control you do not like" type of post. I would really be interested if someone could explain to me why this form of chess is still relevant and apparently  popular, particularly with what seems the prevalence of cheating in this format of the game.

Thanks,

André

Hi Andre_h,

I'm one of those whose online rating is much higher. I can tell you I'm not cheating, believe it or not. Actually, Chess.com has got a system to detect cheaters which I think works pretty fine. I am bad at bullet, simply as that.

I joined an OTB chess club 1 year ago. Time controls are 90 minutes + 30 seconds, and never had time troubles in my OTB games. Online Chess here is much more similar to that time control than Bullet or Live, because it implies deeper analysis. And, moreover, it really helps me at improving my OTB play.

It's relevant to me because 1 - I like to wait a day after deciding on a move (if I have the time) just to double-check it before moving with a clear head 2 - I have a life, pathetic though it may be, away from the PC, internet and chessboard and prefer having 3 days a move (or more) so I'm not always rushed to move ASAP. 

As for cheating, I presume there wasn't any in my draws and wins; and many of my loses are attributable to blunders on my part, although occasionally I wonder if I've been beat by a pc BUT the only time I ever "ratted" someone off was when a +1900 player threw away his Queen in under 10 moves  leading me to suspect sandbagging. Whatever his motive was, he was 86'd several days after I sent in the game score to the staff here.

The reason why people have higher online ratings than live ratings is because in online chess you have time to sit down and figure out the moves without time pressure of any kind. It is true that some people do cheat, but the incentive to cheat is a lot lower on the internet that in a tournament since there is no do re mi involved.

OK, thanks for the answers, guys.

Freecat, I am also abysmally bad at blitz and bullet. Thats why I play longer time controls - at least 30 mins with 10s increments, if possible. To me that's more like playing at your club, just more convenient.

Nimzoroy, fair enough. If that's your thing, who am I to judge? I still think its a relic of the past that should have died a natural death a long time ago and for the life of me me, I cant figure out why it hasnt.

But here is a question for you, in a long postal type game, is it allowed to set up a seperate board and analyse the position by moving the peices around?

André

This is a put on right? I mean, even my gullibility has its limits. Have you been here before by any slim chance?