Cheating

Long before I started doing this blog I noticed that several of my opponents had been punished for cheating and I had some rating points restored for losses against them. Curious as to how common this was, I went back through the previous year's worth of games and found that fully one-quarter of my opponents in classical games on Lichess had either had their accounts closed for cheating or had voluntarily closed the accounts (which was not necessarily because they had been cheating, but I suspect that was the usual reason). As my rating got a little bit higher it hasn't happened as often, at least on Lichess, but it still seems to be fairly common on Chess.com. Understand that I'm talking about using engines during online games here; there are other forms of cheating but for now I'm just talking about illicit engine use.

Sometimes you have a reasonable suspicion that an account has been cheating even before a game begins. If someone had been playing at a 1000 rating level for months and then suddenly starts winning every game with 95% accuracy even against players rated over 2000 it's not hard to see that something is amiss. The smarter cheaters have realized that never making any errors is too obvious, and now only use engines selectively, for instance when they reach a critical tactical position. Others will play normally until they're losing and then make engine moves until the opponent lets them equalize.

One game that comes to mind was this one, where my opponent blundered away his queen but then played perfectly and came back to win:

Most of the time when one of my opponents has had their account suspended for cheating I didn't suspect anything at the time I played them, and it's quite possible that they were cheating in other games but beat me fair and square. In some cases you never know. When I do suspect it, so far I've always been right. Anyone whom I've reported to Lichess or Chess.com because I suspected cheating has always had their account suspended after investigation; I'm not that great at playing chess but in terms of detecting cheating I've got a perfect record so far.

I'm glad that my suspicions have been confirmed because I'd hate to accuse somebody of cheating if they were legit. Reporting someone for suspected cheating isn't really an accusation anyway, it's just a request for the website to look into it. I've never addressed anybody either in chat or in a private message accusing them of cheating and would not, as it's unnecessarily confrontational. I just report it and let them investigate it. I don't want to be one of those sore losers who immediately cry "cheater" any time they lose. I'm not that good and I know it; beating me is no evidence of cheating.

On Chess.com between July 2021 and March 2022 I played 11 games at a slow time control and had only two losses (and only three wins; I've been drawing a lot). Both opponents who beat me had their accounts suspended for cheating (I had reported one but not the other). Actually, in one of the "wins" I was clearly lost but my opponent accidentally disconnected, but it's still amusing to me that I went 11 straight games without losing unless my opponent was cheating.

Within a single game what are the telltale signs of a cheater? In classical games I can think of a few giveaways:

1. Taking roughly the same amount of time on every move, whether the position is simple or complicated. This is especially true if every move takes about ten or fifteen seconds--just enough time to check the engine evaluation and then play a move. Unfortunately this only works for the cheaters who use an engine for the entire game rather than the selective cheaters.

2. Begging you to play faster. Cheaters aren't playing chess, so they just want to get to the end of the game as quickly as possible so they can tally a win and move on to the next game. By playing slowly--by playing chess, in other words--you irritate them. I've even had a few instances of cheaters who resigned after six or seven moves in equal positions because they realized it was going to take them an hour or more to score their win.

3. Taunting you for losing. Only three types of players do this: little kids, jerks, and cheaters (of course it's possible to be all three, and doing this almost automatically makes you a jerk). Part of the cheater's mindset seems to be humiliating the opponent.

4. "Computer moves." When the opponent plays a move that doesn't seem to make any sort of sense during the game and the postgame analysis shows that it was the only move for the opponent to avoid disaster. I remember a game where this happened (I looked for it but couldn't find it). I had a strong attack against my opponent's king on an open board and he moved his rook one square. It made no sense to me as he was about to be checkmated and his move didn't seem to do anything. About four moves later the move allowed him to block a check with the rook and he escaped. Later computer evaluation showed that his counterintuitive move was the only move that didn't lose. Some "only moves" are obvious or at least logical and shouldn't arouse any suspicion, but no player below master level (and I suspect not even them) would have seen this.

If a cheater is sufficiently cunning and is only using an engine selectively, making "computer moves" is about the only way to deduce they're cheating. Weaker players do have the occasional day when the stars align and they play way better than they normally do, so a big upset against a stronger player isn't sufficient in itself to prove cheating. Which is very frustrating when you're playing against a lower-rated player, play pretty well, and still lose.

While I don't want to play against an opponent who is using an engine (if I did, I'd just play against an engine), it's not necessarily the worst thing in the world. I want to get better at chess, and computers won't make basic errors that allow you to win the game easily. Games against selective cheaters can sometimes be very interesting; somebody might play fairly until they don't know what to do and then turn on the engine, but by then you might already have a winning advantage. Converting that advantage against an engine will be a lot harder than against a human opponent, but on the other hand what a great way to practice your technique! It's important not to get hung up on whether your opponent is cheating; all that does is distract you from trying to find the best moves. Worry about possible cheating after the game is over and you can go over the game with an engine yourself. What seems during the game like perfect play by the opponent is often far from it. The last thing you want to do is realize too late that your opponent wasn't cheating after all, but it was all you could think about during the game.