Suggestion - Potential Ways To Mitigate Cheating

I can appreciate Chess.com’s approach to the issue of cheating and I have gained a lot of respect for Danny since he called out OTB tournament organizers for not taking anti-cheating measures seriously enough. That said, while I understand that Chess.com wants to be very certain someone is cheating before they ban them, I believe it takes too long.

It’s understandable though, so I can’t be too upset, however, I would like to see them actually be gone for good once they are banned instead of loading up a VPN and giving another go. It is incredible how many accounts I match up against that are only a few months old or under a year old at my rating. I’m not saying they’re all cheating or that any actually are, but the paranoia may be worse than the actual problem. I think what would help alleviate that paranoia and combat cheaters are a few things:

1. Block the use of a VPN on the site

2. Verify all accounts in the same way the verified program did to prevent the unauthorized creation of multiple accounts which is against TOS
2a. If this requirement seems to be too much then limit this to players over 2000

3. Widen the refund window for elo so you still get your points even if it’s been a few weeks since you’ve played the cheater

If the process of banning a cheater will take a long time, then it should be incredibly difficult for them to return and repeat the process with a little bit more caution.

There are certainly more ways that I’m not thinking of so please feel free to add your own suggestions.

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