Your Opinion, please.

A friend and I were discussing a current game on chess.com.  Now what we'd like to know is...

Would it be cheating to ask someone "who has the positional advantage" on the board in a correspondance game?  Would saying "your opponent has the advantage" qualify as cheating?  Or is it only cheating to suggest a move for someone?

Further, would it be cheating to have Rybka tell you who currently has the advantage?

Outside advice is cheating - even if the advice is vague.

So...saying "your position looks strong" would be cheating?

I think you could say that to your opponent but if a 3rd party would say that to a player while the game is in progress, I beieve it is improper.

Seems to be a consensus.

i don't think saying "i think your opponent has the advantage" is cheating.  i think saying "move your bishop here" etc. is cheating.  but in the end, if you play correspondence chess, you run the risk...  it's pretty much an honour system.

If you want to comment to your opponent about the game, that's not cheating, but that still doesn't mean it's a good idea. :-)

But, asking anyone else about the game, or asking a computer about the game *IS* cheating. Part of chess, and part of knowing what move to make is knowing who has the positional advantage, and part of becoming a better chess player is knowing how to properly determine that.

I would agree that it is cheating. By "knowing" you are at a disadvantage you may try and evaluate the position differently. I had a friend of mine see that I was paired in a Danish Gambit event. He asked me to send him my games after the event is over as he is interested in the opening as well. That is how I handle such interest. I did not show him games that were in progress so he can't inadvertently make any comments to guide my thoughts.

i disagaree that making a comment like "your opponent has a good position," is cheating.

but i'm all for being safe rather than run the risk of cheating. 

Given how serious an accusation cheating is I think it is wise to avoid anything that can be misconstrued as cheating. Someone's comments on your game can not be taken back and will influence your thought patterns. So even if it may not be cheating according to the law (and it may be) it is still a bad idea

around here, it's for each to decide.  cheating it may be, but there is no way to enforce such a "rule." 

i'd suggest keeping everything you do here to yourself while you're playing but a lot of people just think this site is fun and educational.  a lot of people don't take chess.com that seriously.

I'm 99% sure that it is considered cheating. Especially with software like Rybka...

Rybka will give you very exact evaluation of your situation. There are many times when I would LOVE to know if I have winning chances or would be wiser to play draw. I have a tendency to lose games by pressing for a win when I should have played for draw... IMO it is cheating to get that advice.

It is certainly technically wrong to discuss an ongoing game with a friend, but if the friend is no stronger than you it's not the end of the world IMO. The best policy is to wait until the game is over to discuss possibilities/evaluations.

i love this site but i can`t tell you how upset i might get if i know that my opponent is using the unfortunate feature of explore position data base   basically copycatting a grand master in the data bases when the guy or gal is only an expert at best in real life experts that i used to smash ridiculouslyin real life over the board tournaments but it`s proving extremely difficult beating some one with only expert or master fide or country rating that is using the copy cat of grand master moves feature !!!.

if that is not cheating  i don`t know  what is , and i think this feature is horrible and should be banned  and everybody should be left to his and her own resources and brain power.

Yes to the question.

I wouldn't go berserk and order my opponent to resign if his friend did something like that, but I would feel more comfortable if he wasn't hearing the opinions of kibitzers.

But the thing is, using a database will NOT tell you what the best move is. Even copying a GM's opening moves will not guarantee you a win. There are a lot of bad moves in a database, the trick is knowing how to tell which are bad, and which are not. 

Additionally, don't think of the online chess here like its exactly the same game as FIDE approved OTB chess. It's not. It's close, but it has slightly different rules (like being able to use a database). If you want OTB like chess, play Live Chess.

Mr. Baseballfan,

If I have a position here in turn-based chess, and I play in a local OTB tournament, and (by chance) I get the same position, then after the game am I still allowed to analyze with my opponent?

Am I still allowed to run that game through a computer as a post-mortem? (Assuming I ever did such things LOL).

Just asking. I'm with the above poster that "it's an honor system".

That is explicitly allowed under the rules of the site. I do it all the time.

It is allowed under the rules of correspondence chess.

I still find it odd.

But I use them, because they are useful, and because they help my game.