Dear Coaches, How Do You Handle Suspicions of Students Cheating During Lessons?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been coaching on Lichess for quite a while now, and most of my experiences have been positive. However, recently, I’ve had a few new students who raised some concerns. I suspect they might be consulting engines during lessons—either in the positions I ask them to think about independently or in the games we play afterward.

For instance, I’ve noticed patterns where their play is exceptionally strong in some moments (almost engine-like), but when under time pressure or in unexpected situations, their play suddenly drops to a much lower level.

I wanted to ask other coaches:

Does this happen to you often?
How do you usually deal with it?
Do you confront the student about your suspicions, stay quiet and focus on earning the fee, or handle it in some other way?
I’d appreciate any advice or shared experiences on this topic. Thanks in advance!

isn't that problem for student? he should be learning instead of wasting money, on coaching.
what is point of coaching if you learn notching by it. I don;t understand why would you cheat, for what exactly?

@PrObLeMaTiChEsS said in #1:

> Do you confront the student about your suspicions, stay quiet and focus on earning the fee, or handle it in some other way?
> I’d appreciate any advice or shared experiences on this topic. Thanks in advance!

I would gently bring up the suspicion of engine use, in a non-judgmental way. Don't accuse them of anything. Tell them that you don't think badly of them if they can't find the right move, and the point of coaching is to learn new things. If they deny it, then just trust them. After that, you never need to bring it up again. Whether they use engines after that is up to them, since it's their money and time.

definitely a waste of their money if they use an engine. should you care if they're wasting their money? a little, maybe? maybe explain the of the purpose of looking at a position, tell them you're not interested in whether they get the right answer, you're only interested in their thought process. ask them to think out loud.

before the lesson, either put the positions on the board you want them to look at, take a screenshot and upload to google drive, imgur, drop box, whatever. during the lesson send them a link to one screenshot of a position. or share your screen during the lesson using zoom or whatever, so only you can move a piece on the board. then ask them to start thinking out loud, reminding them you aren't interested if they get the right answer or not, you're only interesting in their thought process.

show them a position and ask them to start talking about it, who's winning, what are the threats, maybe if it's a middle game, what openings were likely played. you're not asking for the solution or even a move, you just want them to start talking about the position. after you've talked about it for a bit, ask them to make a move by telling what to move using correct notation (or whatever the term is called) then you can ask them to explain it. you might only get through a few positions in a lesson. quality not quantity.

let them know you'll consider it a win if their able to share their thoughts, even if they come up with the wrong ideas, or miss a threat, etc. then you'll be able to identify their weakest areas so you can help them improve on those parts of the game.

maybe give em a weird position where the only good move is some stockfish bs. something not even supergms would understand, bcuz it makes no sense unless u can calculate thousands of combos in a couple of seconds. if they find the right answer and it would be something that looks like it makes no sense, then there is a pretty decent chance theyre cheating. ask them to explain their logic. make the move something so that you couldnt use some openign principles to answer. something they would have a nearly 0 percent chance of guessing. unless they say they guessed i dont know how they can get out of it. im not a coach (not even close) but that might be what i would do. hopefully u dont throw away my thoughts.

Ask them their thinking process or logic. If his/her answer is reasonable, then simply put down your doubts, vice versa:)

@crtex said in #4:
> I would gently bring up the suspicion of engine use, in a non-judgmental way. Don't accuse them of anything. Tell them that you don't think badly of them if they can't find the right move, and the point of coaching is to learn new things. If they deny it, then just trust them. After that, you never need to bring it up again. Whether they use engines after that is up to them, since it's their money and time.
No this is a bad reply. This is how cheating got so bad in the first place.

That is how crime works, if you support one crime you prolly just supported 100 others.

In this case, just accepting real potential cases of cheating might help line your wallets; but in the process it destroys lives and further promotes cheating in the future. Don't do this, it is literally getting away with killing in some cases.

You will never be my coach if this is actually how you operate. (Not that you prolly would anyway.)

The good thing about it is in part though, it isn't 100% on if you teach a student who is cheating SPECFICALLY if you REALLY didn't know.

When there is a track record though and many people start to talk about you though, don't be surprised if you end up not looking like a good chess coach. Cuz to get that 100% you'd have to not care.

@h2b2 said in #5:
> definitely a waste of their money if they use an engine. should you care if they're wasting their money? a little, maybe? maybe explain the of the purpose of looking at a position, tell them you're not interested in whether they get the right answer, you're only interested in their thought process. ask them to think out loud.
>
> before the lesson, either put the positions on the board you want them to look at, take a screenshot and upload to google drive, imgur, drop box, whatever. during the lesson send them a link to one screenshot of a position. or share your screen during the lesson using zoom or whatever, so only you can move a piece on the board. then ask them to start thinking out loud, reminding them you aren't interested if they get the right answer or not, you're only interesting in their thought process.
>
> show them a position and ask them to start talking about it, who's winning, what are the threats, maybe if it's a middle game, what openings were likely played. you're not asking for the solution or even a move, you just want them to start talking about the position. after you've talked about it for a bit, ask them to make a move by telling what to move using correct notation (or whatever the term is called) then you can ask them to explain it. you might only get through a few positions in a lesson. quality not quantity.
>
> let them know you'll consider it a win if their able to share their thoughts, even if they come up with the wrong ideas, or miss a threat, etc. then you'll be able to identify their weakest areas so you can help them improve on those parts of the game.
This is a good start to find a solution to the problem.