English Chess Forum

Especially if they were trying to recall some theory they'd looked at a while ago Can take a little while to work out if you can remember enough to feel like trying that sort of thing!

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Wed May 19, 2021 4:07 pm

dejan_lekic wrote: ↑

Wed May 19, 2021 10:04 am

I suggest you just do your best and play the game to the best of your abilities etc...

Good Post , Absolutely correct, just play your normal game, if you start thinking 'Cheat' without any proof then you will
not play your normal game and worse, you will not enjoy the game, so then you have to ask why play in the first place
(why play a game, any game , if you are not enjoying it.)

99.999% of the time the game is meaningless. Relax, have some fun, chill, sac things and lose, try again, sac things and win.
The important thing is YOU are not cheating.

Why play? To win. Sure it is ultimately meaningless, but an ultimately meaningless win is still preferable to an ultimately meaningless defeat.
My most meaningful chess activity is organising OTB junior tournaments.

It is normal, though, for the normal game to adapt to different opponents. In this respect I don't see it as much different as playing closed games against some aggressively tactical junior; part of the game, surely, is to play in a way that maximises chances against the specific opponent.

Reg Clucas wrote: ↑

Thu May 20, 2021 2:10 pm

it's no use getting upset about it. OTB chess will return eventually...

Or, I dunno, people might want to carry on playing online, or even both

I have had a couple of occasions when I have been informed that I "have played a cheat" and been given a few rating points back, but I am unsure how and whether you can identify the player and game concerned, since in each case it was some time later and I had played quite a lot of players in the meantime. Also, recently I have had another couple of games where I was told my opponent had "breached the terms of the website" or some such formulation. Is that just a euphemism for cheating or does it refer to something different?

Incidentally, it seems from the time stamping of my last post that the site is still on GMT!

Neville Twitchell wrote: ↑

Sun May 23, 2021 12:11 pm

Is that just a euphemism for cheating or does it refer to something different?

It covers both.

If the terms and conditions say that you aren't supposed to open another window, to read email say, they could bust you for that if detected. Not that anyone who "breaches" is told what their supposed infringement has been.

Lichess is pretty rubbish for Banning cheats - I report multiple players every session I play on there but very very few are ever removed as most engine users now know how to game the system and deliberately play a bunch of poor moves once they have cheated their way to an overwhelming advantage earlier on.

You can at least block every suspected cheat, as well as anyone who is a general jerk (playing annoying openings, being obnoxiously aggressive, playing 100+ move drawn endings trying to win on time etc....) and after a while you can block enough of them out that you start to find decent opponents again.

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:24 pm

most engine users now know how to game the system and deliberately play a bunch of poor moves once they have cheated their way to an overwhelming advantage earlier on.

Can you give us some examples

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:34 pm

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:24 pm

most engine users now know how to game the system and deliberately play a bunch of poor moves once they have cheated their way to an overwhelming advantage earlier on.

Can you give us some examples

Justin - just out of interest, were you born this obnoxious or did you have to work on it?

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:24 pm

most engine users now know how to game the system and deliberately play a bunch of poor moves once they have cheated their way to an overwhelming advantage earlier on.

Could it also be plausible that their standard of play is such that they play moves only just good enough to win? In other words they have no need to be deliberate about playing poor moves, because they come naturally.

There was a strange game mentioned by Keith Arkell a while back, where he was out played in the opening and middle game and had been forced into a rook ending a pawn down. He did however win, so his opponent may have missed clearer wins whilst there was material on the board.

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:50 pm

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:34 pm

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:24 pm

most engine users now know how to game the system and deliberately play a bunch of poor moves once they have cheated their way to an overwhelming advantage earlier on.

Can you give us some examples

Justin - just out of interest, were you born this obnoxious or did you have to work on it?

The term for this is "projection"

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 2:25 pm

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:50 pm

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:34 pm

Can you give us some examples

Justin - just out of interest, were you born this obnoxious or did you have to work on it?

The term for this is "projection"

I don't think I'm alone here when I say reading the pages of this forum is becoming increasingly tiresome, because of your aggressive and toxic responses to a good chunk of threads.

Do us all a favour and give the keyboard warrior bit a rest, for everyone's sake.

Jon Mahony wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 4:45 pm

I don't think I'm alone here when I say reading the pages of this forum is becoming increasingly tiresome, because of your aggressive and toxic responses to a good chunk of threads.

Do us all a favour and give the keyboard warrior bit a rest, for everyone's sake.

Are you aware that you can create a "foes list"? When you add a poster to it, their posts don't show up.

I have just tried it out. It does indeed provide some respite.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 5:05 pm

It's not acceptable to post in that manner ... Please don't ever post abuse here again.

Please would you be kind enough to follow your own maxims, withdraw your attack on me in the "Chess Problems" thread, and reply to my innocuous question there.

er, anyway...

I do sometimes think I'm playing an engine, and if so I usually play out lost endings. Not with any expectation of it changing the result, but to provide the algorithm/ fair play team with more data. Engines tend to play precise tactical lines in clearly won positions which humans would not.

Of course I would not expect to catch a sophisticated cheat that way, but on the other hand if someone can convincingly replicate play at my level by using an engine I'm not likely to become suspicious. I suppose morally I'm a bit offended, but it is a tricky koan - does it matter if you are playing a cheat if you can't tell they are a cheat?