Cheating in online chess

{{about|cheating in online chess|cheating in over the board chess|Cheating in chess}}

Advancements in computer performance and chess engine development have culminated in virtually all users of online chess sites having the means to access engine play far superior to that of even the world's strongest players. Some users employ engine assistance while in play, which is considered cheating in most cases. To combat this, the most prominent online chess platforms, Chess.com and Lichess, devote significant resources to detecting and handling cheaters, and cheaters employ methods of evading detection, such as cheating only occasionally, in turn.

It is often impossible to determine with absolute certainty whether a player is cheating. Chess sites typically scrutinize multiple games in their analyses of prospective cheaters to limit false positives, but they still rarely occur. Ways of dealing with detected cheaters include permanent but appealable bans, used by Chess.com, and secretly matchmaking cheaters with each other, used by Lichess.

Titled players, even grandmasters, have been caught cheating online. Cheaters have also been found in online tournaments with cash prizes, such as Titled Tuesday, despite these tournaments implementing rigorous and intrusive anti-cheating measures. Accusations of online cheating have been levied between titled players, including by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik.

Background

File:Deep Blue versus Kasparov, 1997, Game 6.gif

Overview

File:Chess ability of the best computers.pngs of the world's strongest computers in slow chess with those of human opponents over time. By 2023, computers have far surpassed the world's best player, and the difference between a master level expert and the world's strongest computer is the same as the difference between an expert and a novice. The disparity between humans and engines widens in faster time controls, as accurate human play is more reliant on time.|Computers have far surpassed the best human chess players. Note that the ratings shown are for slow chess; the disparity between humans and engines widens in faster time controls, as human performance is more reliant on time.]]

Both Chess.com and Lichess forbid players from receiving any outside assistance for their play in rated games (with the exception of correspondence games, in which opening repertoires may be referred to).{{Cite web|url=https://www.chess.com/legal/fair-play|title=Chess.com: Fair Play Policy}}{{Cite web|url=https://lichess.org/page/fair-play|title=Lichess: Fair Play}} Despite this, some players refer to engines while in play, giving them an unfair advantage over their opponents. In 2022, it was estimated that the world's strongest chess engine, Stockfish, which is free and open source, could be expected to beat the world's strongest human player, Magnus Carlsen, in 98% of games, drawing him in the remaining 2%.{{Cite news|title=How do you even cheat in chess? Artificial intelligence and Morse code|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/sport/chess-how-to-cheating-explainer-spt-intl/index.html|publisher=CNN}} For ordinary chess players, prone to inaccuracies and blunders, defeating engine assisted play is only possible if and when cheaters make mistakes, if and when they decide not to use engine assistance.

Roughly 0.6% of Chess.com accounts have been closed for cheating. Chess.com claims it analyzed 2.5 million games in 2023, and that it banned 1 million accounts for cheating that same year.{{Cite web|title=Fair Play on Chess.com|url=https://www.chess.com/fair-play}}

Lichess claims that it handled 91,000 reports for cheating in 2022 and 93,000 in 2023, and that it flagged 61,000 and 72,000 accounts for cheating in those two years, respectively; it's unclear how many of the flagged accounts were also reported.{{Cite web|title=Should I report this? - lichess.org|date=20 August 2024 |url=https://lichess.org/@/Lichess/blog/should-i-report-this/3ER2w6e4}}

= Other methods of online cheating =

Countermeasures

= Detection =

Chess sites employ numerous tracking and analytical methods in their attempts to accurately detect cheaters.{{Cite web|title=Case Study: How to spot a potential chess cheat|url=https://eng.ox.ac.uk/case-studies/chess-how-to-spot-a-potential-cheat/}} Lichess maintains an open source machine learning tool for cheating detection,{{Cite web|title=lichess-org/kaladin: Machine learning tool aimed at automating cheat detection using insights data.|website=GitHub |url=https://github.com/lichess-org/kaladin}} but does not disclose whether it relies on other, closed source tools. While most cheaters are obvious enough to be detected automatically, more difficult cases require human analysis.{{Cite web|title=About Online Chess Cheating - Chess.com|date=15 August 2020 |url=https://www.chess.com/article/view/online-chess-cheating}} Speaking for Chess.com, International Master Danny Rensch has claimed that the site only conducts bans it is "willing to go to court" over.{{Cite web|title= Don't Cheat At Chess: What Chess.com Is Doing to Catch Cheaters! (5m 55s)| website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knvySXCNfd8&t=355}}

{{Cite news|title=The Tricky Work of Catching Chess Cheaters|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/crosswords/chess-cheating-online-fide.html|work=The New York Times|date=22 January 2024 |last1=Belz |first1=Emily }}

== Statistical analysis ==

= Treatment =

Chess.com and Lichess differ in how they handle accounts they determine to be cheating. Chess.com publicly issues permanent bans, visible as a crossed red circle icon next to the names of banned users. In addition, the site refunds the rating points of players who have recently lost games to banned accounts.{{Citation|title=A HEURISTIC FOR FINDING CHEATING IN CHESS|work=Mathematics for Applications - Submission Portal |date=2023 |volume=12 |issue=2 |url=https://mathsapplication.com/submissions/index.php/ma/article/view/56 |last1=Haugen |first1=Kjetil K. |last2=Heen |first2=Knut P. |last3=Smerdon |first3=David C. |last4=Nilssen |first4=Tore }} In contrast, Lichess tends to secretly place detected cheaters in a separate playing pool, which prevents cheaters from knowing when they have been caught.{{Cite web|title=Terms of Service: Lichess.org|url=https://lichess.org/terms-of-service}} Chess.com and Lichess both allow detected cheaters to appeal their ban statuses.{{Cite web|title=Appeal: Lichess|url=https://lichess.org/page/appeal}} Of roughly 39,000 appeals processed by Chess.com in 2023, about 0.3% were granted.

= Evasion =

Cheaters can be hard to catch.{{Cite news|title=A Good Chess Cheater Might Never Be Caught|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/10/hans-niemann-chess-cheating-artificial-intelligence/671799/|publisher=The Atlantic}}

Psychology and reactions

= Opponents of cheaters =

In games against cheaters, players may feel hopeless or frustrated. Unwitting opponents of cheaters commonly feel that all of their plans and ideas are being seen through with ease, which may reduce the level of confidence they have in their play. Players have been found to play more poorly when they believe they have faced a cheater, even in subsequent games against legitimate players.{{Cite web|title=People Overestimate Their Ability To Catch Cheaters, Chess Grandmaster And Researcher Reveals|date=4 November 2024 |url=https://www.chess.com/news/view/smerdon-research-catching-chess-cheaters}}{{Citation|title=Cheating and Suspicion in Chess: Insights from a Controlled Tournament Experiment|url=https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8i2d7r7w6ioo2g4qpb03p/20241010-SLCC-chess-cheating-presentation.pdf?rlkey=rup17sogy5n7xg3prwh3tpvyj&e=4&dl=0}}

Paranoia is a common response to real and perceived widespread cheating. A study conducted by grandmaster David Smerdon that matched players against both legitimate players and cheaters and rewarded or penalized them based on how accurately they appraised their opponents found that players correctly judged their opponents 68.75% of the time. 30% of cheaters were correctly judged, and 83% of non-cheaters were correctly acquitted. The study also asked players to rate how confident they were in their judgements; the three most confident cheating accusations were against non-cheaters. The belief that many of one's opponents are cheating is thought to have driven some players to begin cheating themselves.

= Cheater psychology =

At the master level

Of the 550,000 account closures for cheating conducted by Chess.com up to 2022, 550 were on accounts verified to be owned by titled players. 165 out of the roughly 1 million accounts closed by Chess.com for cheating in 2023 were titled; of these, 20 were grandmaster accounts. In 2023, Chess.com claimed that it had "closed hundreds of titled players, dozens of grandmasters, and 4 players in the top 100."{{Cite web|title=Regarding Recent Accusations|url=https://www.chess.com/blog/CHESScom/regarding-recent-accusations|date=Nov 29, 2023|website=Chess.com}}

Chess.com mandates compliance with intrusive anti-cheating methods in all prize money tournaments it hosts. Tournament players may be expected to join a Zoom call with an open mic and one or more cameras to record live feeds of their room and/or screen, and to send the feed(s) to Chess.com at a moment's notice. Players may also be asked to "sweep" their rooms with a camera, show the running processes on their computer,{{Cite web|title=Fair Play Requirements (8m 21s)| website=YouTube | date=10 February 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4QcxSrvISQ&t=501}} not wear headphones, and to show their computer's display settings. Streamers may be required to apply broadcast delay, and to set their stream chats to emote only (unless they can prove they cannot see their chat, in which case they may be given permission).

In December 2024, Chess.com announced a new monitoring program named Proctor, which they intend to replace Zoom calls with. The program consists of a browser with tracking features attached, and Chess.com reports that it monitors players' screens, running programs, and camera and audio feeds. In their announcement post, Chess.com compares Proctor with exam software to emphasize the relative necessity of its use. Proctor will not be required outside of prize events.{{Cite web|title=New Release For Prize Events: Chess.com Proctor - Chess.com|url=https://www.chess.com/proctor}}

Despite these measures, cheaters are still occasionally found in online prize events, such as Titled Tuesday.{{Cite web|title=Chess.com Fair Play Report: Estimating Cheating Rates in Titled Tuesday|url=https://www.chess.com/blog/FairPlay/chess-com-fair-play-report-estimating-cheating-rates-in-titled-tuesday}} In one prominent case, grandmaster Wesley So accused fellow grandmaster Tigran L. Petrosian of cheating against him in the 2020 PRO Chess League; Petrosian countered by accusing So of "doing PIPI {{sic}} in [his] pampers when [Petrosian] was beating players much more stronger {{sic}} then {{sic}} [him]".{{Cite web|title=GM Tigran Petrosian responds to Wesley So's cheating allegations, PIPI IN YOUR PAMPERS!!!!|work=X (formerly Twitter) |url=https://x.com/NoJokeChris/status/1311691567195918339}} Chess.com determined Petrosian to have cheated, and he was permanently banned from the site.{{Cite web|title=Cheating controversy at Pro Chess League|date=5 October 2020 |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/cheating-controversy-at-prochessleague}}

= Allegations by Kramnik =

Vladimir Kramnik, former World Chess Champion, has accused numerous titled Chess.com users of cheating in online games. Starting in November 2023, he has alleged that chess streamer and grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was cheating online. In particular, Kramnik pointed to a 46 game unbeaten streak achieved by Hikaru as something "everyone would find interesting".{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/25/crosswords/chess-hikaru-vladmir-kramnik-cheating.html|title=Elite Chess Players Keep Accusing Each Other of Cheating|work=The New York Times|date=25 December 2023 |last1=McClain |first1=Dylan Loeb }} However, Hikaru entered losing positions on multiple occasions within the streak. Statisticians have analyzed Hikaru's games, and have come to conflicting conclusions.{{Citation|title=Probability of Streaks in Online Chess|url=https://probability.ca/jeff/ftpdir/chessstreaksadd.pdf}} After analyzing the 46 game streak, Chess.com reported that its occurrence was "not only possible, but likely given the number of games played".{{Cite web|title=The generational chess battle between grandmasters playing out on YouTube|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chess-cheating-scandal-grandmasters-youtube-b2458265.html|work=The Independent|date=4 December 2023 }}