Is online chess dead?

Originally posted by exigentsky
Cheating is already poisoning the experience and I doubt it will decrease. I've played on uChess as well as RHP Blitz and already met a handful of cheaters. Several admitted it. So what is the future of online chess when cheating can occur so easily?

BTW: I'm less worried about OTB (and never met a cheater) because cheating would be more difficult when ...[text shortened]... MUST make a move before leaving the table and that one can only leave the table so many times.

I'd rephase the topic as "are crap online chess sites crap", which also gives the obvious answer.

I can't understand why you insist on playing on uchess, rhp blitz or yahoo, when you always get so frustrated about it. you've started a thread about these things every two months or so for the last year, and you always have the same grievances.

why don't you just blitz on fics, icc or playchess?

if anything, online chess as a whole is blooming. it seems to me that there has never been so many players in the history of man, and online blitz just keeps growing bigger. the threshold to beging chess is next to nonexistent, unlike otb chess, and it's even possible to play grandmasters daily for free, no matter where you live. in the big picture, cheaters are an annoying but quite marginal part of it all. online chess couldn't be more alive.

Originally posted by wormwood
I'd rephase the topic as "are crap online chess sites crap", which also gives the obvious answer.

I can't understand why you insist on playing on uchess, rhp blitz or yahoo, when you always get so frustrated about it. you've started a thread about these things every two months or so for the last year, and you always have the same grievances.

why don't are an annoying but quite marginal part of it all. online chess couldn't be more alive.

you are partially right...for example myself: I am playing online chess for more than 10 years...I am not much happier if at any time I have 3 available opponents around my rating or 10...
BUT
I am very sad when:
(it really happened for me yesterday) I was watching some top blitz player on fics...and he was playing against engines...I've got very excited...look this guy wins constantly against engines without playing that anticomputer style(you know, d4 e3 f4 Nf3 c3 etc moves...like many top players that play against engines use)...My guy was winning streight forward tactical blitz games against those average engines(2200+ - 2300+ in blitz FICS rating)...
When he stopped, I asked him: are you human ? 🙂...he said: of course...I asked him to try a blitz game against me...he said he was leaving, but ok...we started one, and after 1 d4 I asked him if he can please play Budapest Gambit against me...he said(and remember he was a 2300+ blitz tactical monster and I was a poor u1800 blitz guy):
"No, I never play this opening as white or black", and he did not want to discuss anything else...
🙁
🙁
🙁
This is the sad part for me...you know...your momento hero...the guy defeating the engines...is just a cheater 🙁...I like to watch top players games...and They cheating is a part of killing online chess for me...

by the way, I reported him to computerabuse and now I am waiting to see what they decide...

Originally posted by David Tebb
If you think someone is cheating on a blitz site, just avoid playing them. Play on the big sites, which have thousands of players online at any time. My attitude is that if a player cheats against you in a blitz game, then they've wasted a few minutes of your time. It might cost you a few rating points, but you can probably regain them very quickly by pla ...[text shortened]... ject to a rule that forbids leaving the building, or straying too far from the playing area.

OK, maybe a rule about the number of times you can leave is too extreme given that cheating is not a problem. Your compromise is a good one.

The most important rule addition however would be the one I mentioned before: You must make a move before leaving the table. (except possibly with some specific exceptions)

Anyway, I know I complain about uChess and RHP Blitz. The reason I still play is that they're accessible on any computer and don't need a client. Sometimes I have breaks of several hours between classes and like to play a few times in-between.

Originally posted by vipiu
you are partially right...for example myself: I am playing online chess for more than 10 years...I am not much happier if at any time I have 3 available opponents around my rating or 10...
BUT
I am very sad when:
(it really happened for me yesterday) I was watching some top blitz player on fics...and he was playing against engines...I've got very excited.. ...[text shortened]...
by the way, I reported him to computerabuse and now I am waiting to see what they decide...

yeah, that's all very true.

one thing I don't understand though, is that I've very often seen nakamura playing dozens of games against computers on ICC, and even he hardly ever wins those games. and as there are loads of extremely strong human blitzers there at any given moment, it isn't like he didn't have a choice.

I guess he must be doing that simply as training, but it must be just so incredibly disheartening to lose 19 games out of 20 or so.

then again, maybe the ability to endure that kind of punishment is what separates him from us mere mortals.

Twenty years ago my CC rating was hovering around 2000. Gradually I realized a few opponents were using engines. At first it didn’t matter because they were easily beaten. But computers got better and one day it dawned on me more than half my opponents in two USCF postal events were users. I resigned all games in disgust and it resulted in losing a couple hundred rating points but so what? A few years ago I resumed postal chess thinking most users would be well beyond my level. I got my rating back but it didn’t take long to realize a lot of players at the 2000+ level were using assistance. I don’t want to play in OTB events anymore and don’t live near a club so all that’s left is postal/server chess. The problem is that as a new member on servers I have to play a lot of beginners so I’m left with playing where I’m higher rated abut playing a lot of engines. Neither is fun so I rarely play these days.

Originally posted by masscat
Twenty years ago my CC rating was hovering around 2000. Gradually I realized a few opponents were using engines. At first it didn’t matter because they were easily beaten. But computers got better and one day it dawned on me more than half my opponents in two USCF postal events were users. I resigned all games in disgust and it resulted in losing a couple hu ...[text shortened]... here I’m higher rated abut playing a lot of engines. Neither is fun so I rarely play these days.

Thirty years ago i ceased CC and so my 2200 rating remains ( just boasting).

At present, i have not dwelled on cheating or machines because playing chess online is just for fun. i think i've encounterd less than a handful of games here at rhp where i've sensed my opponents making powerful, purposeful machine-like moves. But again, "what me worry. "

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
In sites like uChess where people don't pay, and in CC chess, since there's no client, it's easier to cheat. I would say that when I'm on ICC, I'm worry free, since their client can detect if you're running an engine. Sure, you can run it on a different computer or have people tell you the moves or something like that, but eventually you'll get reported or get greedy and get reported, then your games will get checked. I don't worry too much.

the worst thing are those players who send viruses or stop the game in a critical moment and suddenly your remaining time its gone ! it happens on chess assistant quite often ...

No. Not even close.

Originally posted by zintieriv
the worst thing are those players who send viruses or stop the game in a critical moment and suddenly your remaining time its gone ! it happens on chess assistant quite often ...

I played on FICS today, nasty KG opening against 250 higher opening, I sacced rook to get to his king and he just disconnected. It happens in every third game when winning against higher rated opponents.

VERY FRUSTRATING.

I just can not understand why admins won't set new and awesome rule : disconnect = loss. Ok, your connection can broke. Than FIX it before signing up to blitz chess site.

In OTB, you simply do not go away if you decide so without forfeiting the game. In computer chess should be the same.

There is way to many abusers.

Originally posted by ivan2908
I played on FICS today, nasty KG opening against 250 higher opening, I sacced rook to get to his king and he just disconnected. It happens in every third game when winning against higher rated opponents.

VERY FRUSTRATING.

I just can not understand why admins won't set new and awesome rule : disconnect = loss. Ok, your connection can broke. Than FIX it ...[text shortened]... out forfeiting the game. In computer chess should be the same.

There is way to many abusers.

set noescape 1, and put that to your formula.