Checkmate or Cheat? Analyzing Cheating Across Chess Platforms and Variants

Cheating in Standard Chess vs. Variants vs. Over-the-Board (OTB)

Standard Online Chess

Online platforms like Chess.com and Lichess have reported varying rates of cheating. Chess.com noted that approximately 1.1% of participants had their accounts closed for cheating from March 2023 to March 2024. Lichess, on the other hand, flagged 61,000 accounts for cheating in 2022 and 72,000 in 2023. That means, amount of cheaters on Lichess gets higher and higher.

Chess Variants

Cheating in variants like Chess960 or Atomic Chess is less prevalent, primarily because the unconventional rules make engine assistance less effective. However, due to the lack of extensive data, it's challenging to provide precise statistics. Some of the players, who use engine help, have more chances to become the top player on the list, than on Standard chess.

Over-the-Board (OTB) Chess

Cheating in OTB chess is rarer but has garnered significant attention when it occurs. Notable incidents, such as the controversy involving Hans Niemann, have highlighted the challenges in detecting and proving cheating in physical settings. If the tournament played on high level, the consequences after you get caught on cheating, can be very big. So the most players are scared to cheat in OTB.

Sorry, for a big image, I can't do anything with it

Cheating Across Chess Platforms

Chess.com

User Base: Over 100 million users.
Cheating Detection: Employs robust AI-based statistical models and human analysis.
Transparency: Publicly bans accounts and refunds rating points to affected players.
Statistics: Closed approximately 1 million accounts for cheating in 2023.

Lichess

User Base: Smaller than Chess.com but boasts a dedicated community.
Cheating Detection: Utilizes open-source machine learning tools and community reporting.
Transparency: Less public about bans; often places cheaters in separate pools without notification.
Statistics: Handled 91,000 reports for cheating in 2022 and 93,000 in 2023.

That's the statistics, where do cheaters cheat more. This image is created by AI, so I'm not sure it's right. But I'm not sure that Classical chess, has more cheaters than fast chess. Cheaters have more time to check the right move, so it's more comfortable for them. Also I recently played a few Classical games, and got paired with many cheaters.

I hope the blog was interesting, and you enjoyed it, bye!