Originally posted by Evan Buntrock
If I suspect that one of my opponents is using an engine, who should I contact (and how)? What are some common signs of engine use?
I know this was a big debate on the site awhile ago but I´ve just come back after a year away from the site, so I would appreciate some advice.
Originally posted by Evan Buntrock
If I suspect that one of my opponents is using an engine, who should I contact (and how)? What are some common signs of engine use?
I know this was a big debate on the site awhile ago but I´ve just come back after a year away from the site, so I would appreciate some advice.
I'm having similar problems myself. Though (in the game in question) my own play has been oddly blunderous over the last half-dozen or so moves, that doesn't account for all of it. The opponent in question had generally been playing poorly throughout our game, and had also been losing game after game against others which that opponent has been playing simultaneously with our game. When our game began, the opponent's account was rated over 1400, and in the space of about a week the opponent's rating has fallen more than 100 points.
This opponent disappeared for a few days, and after returning, now suddenly has completely changed both the style and quality of play previously demonstrated, going from generally weak and largely defensive play, to suddenly playing very aggressively and using far-reaching and well-coordinated combinations and move sequences. I am now, suddenly, strongly reminded of a computer chess engine, and I've played against a number of strong chess engines in the past. A chess engine (the stronger ones) plays more like an advanced opponent, so that positional defects which might otherwise be relatively harmless (say, in the typical club-level game) are exploited to full advantage.
It's as if this opponent is trying to recoup some lost points with one big win (I'm rated 300 points higher). The problem is particularly annoying when playing someone who seems to switch to an engine at a critical point in the game: having already been conditioned to expect poor play from an opponent, one may become lax or at least take risks that one wouldn't have, had that opponent played like a chess engine from the start. Note also that my original challenge required opponents to have a rating between 1400 and 1700, and now this opponent has run his/her/its rating down by almost 150 points before resorting to cheating.