Who was the biggest cheat?

Originally posted by Dragon Fire
Try it and you'll see what happens, or at least we will after you have gone!

I just meant if sombody runs an engine on the games, the moves might not match so may go undetected. What if they only used engines at the beginning to gain an advantage, or when they were in trouble to get out of it?

Originally posted by MilkyJoe
I just meant if sombody runs an engine on the games, the moves might not match so may go undetected. What if they only used engines at the beginning to gain an advantage, or when they were in trouble to get out of it?

... and I was only joking! I know what you meant.

Seriously however ...

At the beginning use books and a good DB to gain an advantage. That is perfectly legal.

As far as only using engines to get out of trouble I would suggest that (a) once you are that deep in it all hope is lost against a decent player anyway (b) such a sudden swing in playing ability (from a patzer to a GM) will be noticed and loads of fair play tickets will be submitted. It might not be quite as easy to identify as a player using an engine constantly but such swings in playing style will be identified and (c) once a player is out of trouble will he stop using the engine and play like a patzer again.

Also Patzers tend not to realise they are in trouble until all hope is lost and once tempted to switch on an engine they can't manage to turn it off again so they use it all the time and are soon caught.

That is why some strong players who use engines to "save them the bother" can go unchecked for a long time - they have some OTB credentials already and often are quite capable of playing their own moves or finishing a game off once the engine has got them an advantage.

Originally posted by Tyrannosauruschex
That is why some strong players who use engines to "save them the bother" can go unchecked for a long time - they have some OTB credentials already and often are quite capable of playing their own moves or finishing a game off once the engine has got them an advantage.

I, of course, did not address the strong player using an engine.

Of course such a player is unlikely to be losing when he turns the engine on. Such players will use books and DBs, will be quite capable of visualising middle game tactics and strategy and will be good end game players.

They don't need an engine to play but rather they choose their own moves and only use it to "blunder check" and providing their move does not change the assessment from winning to losing they make their move.

Such players are almost impossible to catch but they are already very strong and can probably beat everyone here below 2200 fairly easily.

Can they be caught? Only if they get careless or lazy.

Are they among us? I cannot name names but there are supicions that some of the top ten players do exactly this.

Certainly, Ironman31 was the most notorious. There was a gazillion page thread of reaction when he was nabbed. He was a top player on Gameknot (may still be, never use it), and an Italian FIDE judge...forgotten the name though (A.A initials).

Trackhead was annoying. I seem to remember him assuming coming back to the forums and admitting his guilt before leaving. That may have been someone else though.

Originally posted by Mathurine
This one always gives me a laugh..

User 285560

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Christ. Some people just have far too much time on their hands...

Originally posted by Crowley
Christ. Some people just have far too much time on their hands...

Yeah. He spent all that time making fake usernames and playing fake games with himself, just to get a fake high rating, when he could have spent that time writing comments on Internet message boards.

Here another huge giant comes tumbling down

User 241455[/b]

Originally posted by MilkyJoe
What if they use a few engines in different games, or switch engines during a game?

Then it gets harder to detect. And impossible to detect are the players who use Fritz sparingly, to find the occasional 'perfect' move at a decisive point of the game.

So don't worry about it. I don't. It can't be completely controlled, so worry about something that can (not suggesting you are worried, but so many seem to be on this site).
Of course I can prove I don't use a computer. Check out my games and you will see 🙂
But I guess if you are a genuine top 20 player on this site, it must be more distressing to have points constantly taken off you by cheats.

tis a good point, top players get miffed by losing to engines. I am one myself (top player) and expect to get banned one day. Most of the games i have lost have been against players who eventually get banned, but i will happily play anyone and tell them how to be a better player... many players are already grateful for my help, and i enjoy helping lesser players becasue i often play high ranking players and am always suspicious when they never make an error.

just thought I'd add joester here, just so he wouldn't feel like his hard work on cheating was wasted.

User 371404


good riddance!

Well, Weyerstrass is Ronald Weyerstrass, a well-known correspondence chess player - I have lots of games of his in my database - where he is playing in the semis or something of the correspondence chess world championships

Originally posted by ptobler
Well, Weyerstrass is Ronald Weyerstrass, a well-known correspondence chess player - I have lots of games of his in my database - where he is playing in the semis or something of the correspondence chess world championships

It should be pointed out that ICCF has no rules which prohibit engine use. Which can`t be said about RHP.

Let's not jump to too many conclusions. Weyerstrass was strong in correspondence well before computers became a factor. Here's a old win over a future CC World Champion.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1460971