Was this guy cheating or am I just really bad

I don't like to blame cheating for me losing since I'm sub 1,000 elo but I feel like this game in particular was one of my harder games and I tried my best and still got slowly stomped



did he cheat ?

Yes he was cheating. 100%

The rating of this player and the level his of his play are remarkable. File a report and you might get your points back. lichess.org/report :]

Maybe, but most of the moves that helped him gain material where just tempo moves by attacking your queen while you neglected your back rank. I don't think they are anymore advanced than the pinned pawn preventing him taking the knight at the start.

I really like that hanging checkmate on e7 (after Qxe7) for many moves - fairly sure that it wasn't a cheater (at least not typical one).

P.S. Proper etiquette is reporting possible cheaters silently [using lichess.org/report etc.] and, if one needs, asking for game analysis, hints for improvement and other good stuff without such accusations or speculations.

A 1042 player does not make 0 mistake and 0 blunders and also averages 16 centipawn loss.

Do cheaters typically miss mate in 1 (move 20)?

Looks like he didn't cheat and more like you played bad which gave him several options for every move which wouldn't show up as an inaccuracy, mistake or blunder. Most of the moves seemed natural, almost forced.

Checking on the analysis move by move, you'd see that his moves were not even the top 2 suggestions by stockfish.

Maybe his method is to always choose the 3rd or 4th suggested move?

I don't know, but for now, I don't think he's cheating.