Cheating in chess

[Ian Thompson]

I see that one of the players in the 4NCL Online Autumn Congress who reached 4/4 is now shown on chess-results with 0/4 and not paired in the remaining rounds. His games are not on lichess when you look through his opponent's results for them, so I assume his lichess account has been closed. They have been published in The Week in Chess though, so anyone curious can play through them.

[Pete Heaven]

Not his first closed account this year.

[Adam Raoof]

I see that one of the players in the 4NCL Online Autumn Congress who reached 4/4 is now shown on chess-results with 0/4 and not paired in the remaining rounds. His games are not on lichess when you look through his opponent's results for them, so I assume his lichess account has been closed. They have been published in The Week in Chess though, so anyone curious can play through them.

Are the same games on the 4NCL pgn download?

[Wadih Khoury]

I see that one of the players in the 4NCL Online Autumn Congress who reached 4/4 is now shown on chess-results with 0/4 and not paired in the remaining rounds. His games are not on lichess when you look through his opponent's results for them, so I assume his lichess account has been closed. They have been published in The Week in Chess though, so anyone curious can play through them.

Seems he played my son, so still have access to the game.
Lichess annotations.


1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 { B23 Sicilian Defense: Closed Variation, Traditional } 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nge2 Nf6 6. O-O a6 7. d3?! { (0.01 → -0.56) Inaccuracy. a3 was best. } (7. a3 d5 8. exd5 exd5 9. Ba2 Bd6 10. d3 Ne6 11. Ng3 Bxg3) 7... b5 8. Bb3 Nxb3 9. axb3 Bb7 10. e5 Nd5?! { (-0.68 → 0.17) Inaccuracy. Ng4 was best. } (10... Ng4) 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Nc3 Bb7 13. Ne4 Be7?! { (0.01 → 0.96) Inaccuracy. d5 was best. } (13... d5 14. exd6 Bxe4 15. dxe4 Bxd6 16. f4 Qc7 17. Be3 O-O 18. Qf3 Be7 19. h3 a5 20. Qg3) 14. Qg4 Kf8 15. Be3 h5 16. Qf4 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 Qb8 18. Ra2 d5 19. exd6 Bxd6 20. Rfa1 Qc8 21. c4 b4 22. d4 f5 23. Qf3 cxd4 24. Bxd4 e5?? { (1.26 → 3.13) Blunder. Kf7 was best. } (24... Kf7 25. Ra5 Bc7 26. Rc5 Qd7 27. Be3 Bb6 28. Rd1 Qe7 29. Re5 Bxe3 30. Qxe3 Rhe8 31. Re1) 25. Ra5 exd4?? { (3.04 → 10.18) Blunder. Rh6 was best. } (25... Rh6 26. Bxe5 Bxe5 27. Rxe5 Qc6 28. Qf4 Re8 29. Qxf5+ Kg8 30. Rae1 Rf8 31. Qd3 Rd6 32. Qc2) 26. Rxf5+ Ke8 27. Re1+ Kd8 28. Rd5 Kc7 29. Rxd6 Kxd6?! { (11.56 → Mate in 9) Checkmate is now unavoidable. Ra7 was best. } (29... Ra7 30. Rc6+ Kb8 31. Rxc8+ Rxc8 32. Qd5 Rac7 33. Re6 Ka7 34. Qxd4+ Rc5 35. Qxg7+ R8c7 36. Qd4) 30. Qd5+ Kc7 31. Re7+ Kb6 32. Qd6+ Qc6 33. Qxb4+ { Black resigns. }

[Wadih Khoury]

Are the same games on the 4NCL pgn download?

You can get the games on chess-results, all 4 games are there.

[Roger de Coverly]

Seems he played my son, so still have access to the game.

I played him over the board at Exeter in March

[Result "1/2-1/2"] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.c4 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Nf3 O-O 7.Be2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Re8+ 9.Be3 Bg4 10.Bxf7+ Kxf7 11.Qb3+ Nd5 12.Ne5+ Rxe5 13.dxe5 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Be6 15.Qxb7 Nxe3 16.Qf3+ Kg8 17.Qxe3 Nd7 18.O-O Nb6 19.f4 Nd5 20.Qc5 Qe7 21.Qc6 Nb6 22.Qf3 Rf8 23.Kh1 Bd5 24.Qg3 Nc4 25.Rf2 Qc5 26.Re1 Re8 27.Rfe2 Be6 28.Qg5 Qe7 29.Qxe7 Rxe7 30.h3 Bd5 31.Kh2 g6 32.g4 Be6 33.Kg3 Rf7 34.Rf2 Kf8 35.Ref1 h5 36.Re1 hxg4 37.hxg4 Rd7 38.f5 Rd3+ 39.Kh4 gxf5 40.gxf5 Bd5 41.Kg5 Nd2 42.Kf6 Ne4+ 43.Rxe4 Bxe4 44.Rh2 Kg8 45.e6 Bc6 46.Ke7 Bd5 47.f6 Bxe6 48.Rg2+ Bg4 49.Rxg4+ Kh7 50.Rf4 {?} Re3+ 51.Kf7 Kh6 52.Rc4 Rf3 53.Rxc7 Kg5 54.Rc5+ Kh6 55.Ke6 Kg6 56.Kd5 Kxf6 57.Kc4 Ke6 58.Ra5 Rf4+ 59.Kb3 Rf7 60.c4 Kd6 61.a4 Kc6 62.Rh5 Rb7+ 63.Kc3 Rd7 64.Kb4 Rb7+ {(=)} 65.Ka5 Rg7 66.Ka6 Rf7 67.Rh8 Kc5 68.Rc8+ Kb4 69.c5 Kxa4 70.c6 Rf6 71.Kxa7 Kb5 72.Kb7 Rh6 73.Rg8 Rxc6

[John Swain]

Regarding the Lichess website, though it is not strictly relevant to the question of cheating, there are some slightly odd features.
.....
Another feature that often irritates is the tendency to be told that "letting time run out rather than resigning" can lead to a temporary suspension. I have been given this reprimand several times, none of them occasions where I had deliberately let time run out, but simply had very little time left in a difficult position. I have never actually been suspended, so I don't' know how often one has to trangress before a suspension is actually imposed (if it ever is) and whether anyone has been suspended on that basis, but I would be interested to know the algorithm that determines whether this is imposed.

I have just experienced a ludicrous example of this when, after taking several seconds for the penny to drop that I couldn't avoid being mated, resigned with 3.8 seconds left, only to be admonished with "letting time run out will result in a temporary ban."

If situations like this can arise, why should anyone trust the lichess platform to get more important issues like anti-cheating correct?

[JustinHorton]

Fantastically, I have just been barred by chess.com again.

I have received the following email:

Hello Justinpatzer

Unfortunately your Chess.com account has been closed because we have determined it to be in violation of our Fair Play Policy. https://www.chess.com/community

We are always sad when we close any account. We want everyone to be able to enjoy chess. However, we must protect the integrity of the game and cannot allow players to use outside assistance in their games (advice from other players, chess engines/computers, etc). We hope you understand that we work hard to keep Chess.com a safe, fair, and positive community for chess players around the world.

We would like to offer you the chance to open a second account. If you will agree to following our Fair Play Policy, we will allow you to sign up for a second account. If you will agree to follow these rules, please reply to this email and we will help you set up a new account.

Thank you,
Chess.com Support
[email protected]

What's fantastic about this is that since my account was reinstated, I have played literally no games whatsoever on chess.com.

How do you violate a Fair Play policy without actually playing?

I guess I'll see if I can find out.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"We hope you understand that we work hard to keep Chess.com a safe, fair, and positive community for chess players around the world."

Doesn't sound like it...

[Roger de Coverly]

How do you violate a Fair Play policy without actually playing?

I guess I'll see if I can find out.

Perhaps they have a "policy" that you have to be active to maintain your rating and it's "not Fair" if you don't.
Presumably your old games are still present and if they reran the same dodgy investigation from first time round, they would come up with the same result.

[JustinHorton]

My email:

Dear Chess.com Support

Thank you ever so much for your email informing me that I have violated your Fair Play Policy.

As I have not played on your site in thirteen months, I would be extremely interested to learn how I have violated your Fair Play Policy without actually playing.

I write in confidence of receiving a full and convincing explanation and an appropriate apology.

All the best

Justin Horton

(Justinpatzer)

[Simon Rogers]

Fantastically, I have just been barred by chess.com again.

I have received the following email:

Hello Justinpatzer

Unfortunately your Chess.com account has been closed because we have determined it to be in violation of our Fair Play Policy. https://www.chess.com/community

We are always sad when we close any account. We want everyone to be able to enjoy chess. However, we must protect the integrity of the game and cannot allow players to use outside assistance in their games (advice from other players, chess engines/computers, etc). We hope you understand that we work hard to keep Chess.com a safe, fair, and positive community for chess players around the world.

We would like to offer you the chance to open a second account. If you will agree to following our Fair Play Policy, we will allow you to sign up for a second account. If you will agree to follow these rules, please reply to this email and we will help you set up a new account.

Thank you,
Chess.com Support
[email protected]

What's fantastic about this is that since my account was reinstated, I have played literally no games whatsoever on chess.com.

How do you violate a Fair Play policy without actually playing?

I guess I'll see if I can find out.

You've got our support on this, Justin.
I don't know much about Chess.com, but, there might be two other reasons:
1. Your account might have been hacked. Have you checked the security protocols.
2. I play against the computer on Chess.com on my smartphone. A couple of days ago, I downloaded an app update for Chess.com. There was a number of new features. Perhaps there was a bug or glitch.

[Joey Stewart]

Presumably they did some sort of update and the account got flagged up again (I was on chess.com earlier today and the site looked slightly different) - it happens to me all the time on bookmakers sites, I've got ones I have long since been banned from that re ban me periodically, but I tend to just find it amusing that they are so sloppy then feel the need to demand an appology.

[Simon Rogers]

Just looked at my app library. According to my phone the last update was 21st October. It comes under Chess- Play and Learn.
It says at the top of the update:
"Hey Chess lovers! This is a BIG one! Here is what's new.
We have lots of new features......"

[Harry Duff]

"Lots of new features ..... but we have retained the feature which accuses people of cheating when they haven't."