Scott Tortorice
Senior Member
I don't like to throw around the "C" word that easily, but I am starting to suspect that there is a heck of a lot of cheating going on. Has anybody else noticed lots of players playing way above their rating at Chess.com?
Now, it could be me. I want to make that clear. The reason why I haven't posted much chess content lately is because I took a year off from chess. Just got burned out on it after our last tourney. I didn't stop completely, but I did slow down to about two or three games going on at any given time (which was way down from my usual 12 or more!). Now I have started to play some more and have about nine games going on. So, yes, I have gotten rusty during that year off. And I am still not as hot for chess as I once was. So these two things together will have a downward pressure on my performance.
...But 200 hundred points? Three hundred points?!? My rating has slipped from 18xx to 1721 or so - which it should as that rating was wildly inflated - but I am finding myself losing to players rated 16xx, 15xx and 14xx! And I mean losing almost from right out of the gate. I mean losing to lower rated players who play endgames perfectly. Who seem to spot every mating trap and push me into it.
Again, it could be me; I might just have gotten that rusty. But my gut tells me that it isn't that, at least not in 100% of the cases. Part of the reason why I think the "C" word is involved is because I recently accepted some games from people I have played against in the past, or friends of such people, and those games, win or lose, feel right. Some of the games I have against strangers just feel wrong, like I am playing against a computer, or against someone using a lot of books. Of course, referencing books is legal, so if I am losing to that, no complaint from me. But I just know one thing: most of the games I am losing are involving sharp play that seems way above the rating of the person in question.
I went and checked out the "cheaters list" on Chess.com (http://www.chess.com/cheating?page=3) and it seems to come out to 60 a day! :crosseye: So it is definitely possible that Chess.com is getting hit was a flood of these guys, and I am playing some of them.
Anyway, just had to rant. Something feels off to me and I was wondering if anybody else felt the same. I think I am going to let my Chess.com games run down and return to some chess sites that I have used in the past to see how my games go there as a point of reference. Since Chess.com is now the largest chess site, it might have become a magnet for chess grifters - hence all the cheating.
Now, it could be me. I want to make that clear. The reason why I haven't posted much chess content lately is because I took a year off from chess. Just got burned out on it after our last tourney. I didn't stop completely, but I did slow down to about two or three games going on at any given time (which was way down from my usual 12 or more!). Now I have started to play some more and have about nine games going on. So, yes, I have gotten rusty during that year off. And I am still not as hot for chess as I once was. So these two things together will have a downward pressure on my performance.
...But 200 hundred points? Three hundred points?!? My rating has slipped from 18xx to 1721 or so - which it should as that rating was wildly inflated - but I am finding myself losing to players rated 16xx, 15xx and 14xx! And I mean losing almost from right out of the gate. I mean losing to lower rated players who play endgames perfectly. Who seem to spot every mating trap and push me into it.
Again, it could be me; I might just have gotten that rusty. But my gut tells me that it isn't that, at least not in 100% of the cases. Part of the reason why I think the "C" word is involved is because I recently accepted some games from people I have played against in the past, or friends of such people, and those games, win or lose, feel right. Some of the games I have against strangers just feel wrong, like I am playing against a computer, or against someone using a lot of books. Of course, referencing books is legal, so if I am losing to that, no complaint from me. But I just know one thing: most of the games I am losing are involving sharp play that seems way above the rating of the person in question.
I went and checked out the "cheaters list" on Chess.com (http://www.chess.com/cheating?page=3) and it seems to come out to 60 a day! :crosseye: So it is definitely possible that Chess.com is getting hit was a flood of these guys, and I am playing some of them.
Anyway, just had to rant. Something feels off to me and I was wondering if anybody else felt the same. I think I am going to let my Chess.com games run down and return to some chess sites that I have used in the past to see how my games go there as a point of reference. Since Chess.com is now the largest chess site, it might have become a magnet for chess grifters - hence all the cheating.