Is using a real board considered cheating?

#30, "And I don't consider it as an advantage at all. "

- Then you apparently have amazing visualization skills, a skill that most of us patzers here lack.
Basically, moving pieces on a board is a calculation aid. Rather than doing a whole string of "if x then y" calculations in your head, you do them one by one on the board, and then can look at positions that might happen several moves down the line and analyze them without the need to create a mental image of the position.
I'd argue that for most humans, this is a HUGE advantage.

Lichess considers it cheating to play out variations on a physical board during a timed game (non-correspondence). This absolutely falls under the category of enhancing calculation ability for the vast majority of players - and even if it doesn't for you in particular, we still consider that it does. Imagine if you were sitting opposite your opponent in a game and you just start moving the pieces around to check variations.

It is allowed in correspondence and this is why the analysis board is provided from the correspondence game view (and not from live games).

@Panagrellus
>>#30, "And I don't consider it as an advantage at all. "
> Then you apparently have amazing visualization skills

I wish (-:
I sure am not gifted at all in that compartment, I can't play blind, not even a few moves. My point is that at least in rapid games, by phisically moving pieces on a chessboard you lose in time terms all the advantage you can obtain in analysis depth and accuracy. Maybe you can examine accurately a few variants to a deep extent that you couldn't reach in your mind only, but it costs a lot of time that you could have spent thinking strategically or examining shorter variants in larger numbers. You will lose by clock eventually, and what is worst is that your imagination will never improve and you will be always dependent on a secondary chessboard. So, you think it's an advantage, but in the end it is not. My opinion.

@somethingpretentious
> Imagine if you were sitting opposite your opponent in a game
I already did, I wrote about it a few posts back. That would be utterly absurd because it affects your opponent thinking. It'd be an intolerable disturbance.

> Lichess considers it cheating to play out variations on a physical board during a timed game
That's a free interpretation of this text: "We define [cheating] as using any external assistance to strengthen your knowledge and, or, calculation ability to gain an unfair advantage over your opponent. Some examples would include computer engine assistance, opening books (except for correspondence games), endgame tablebases, and asking another player for help".
You can see by the examples that "external assistance" is intended as external *knowledge* and/or *ability*. Extending that definition to include use of a physical board is a personal interpretation of the ToS text.

> It is allowed in correspondence and this is why the analysis board is provided from the correspondence game view
This I can't understand. I never played correspondence, but I wonder: through the analysis board we do have access to Lichess engine, have we? Now, *that* is explicitly prohibited by the ToS.

It's the interpretation of the Lichess moderation team.

And no the correspondence analysis board does not have the engine enabled.

@somethingpretentious
> It's the interpretation of the Lichess moderation team.

Well, good to know. Excuse my ignorance, how can I know who is talking here for the moderation team? Is there a list of members somwhere?

سلام

There's no public list @MarkIorio you can see the badge on my profile though, and on my posts here.

Notice the all seeing eye icon.

I realize that using another board is considered cheating since it improves the ability to calculate a variation, but I always found it strange that the arrow drawing tool, which is, when you think of it, quite similar to playing something out on another board, is an integral part of online chess. What's your take on that?