astronomical standard of play from low ranked players??

yes I get this as a 1000 rated player. many in the 700s and 800s immediately see through all my traps, counter all my moves perfectly and enact perfectly planned and executed combinations and mating attacks (& I play bullet or blitz) extremely frustrating....and difficult to complain about without looking as if you're making excuses. I also suspect cheating but have thought of a couple of other possible explanations: 1) the fact that different players are working to different clocks owing to their server speed or whatever. so you might think that you're moving immediately whereas your opponent is getting a couple of seconds per move to study the board. 2) simple rating instability. if I have a few bad games against inferior players that sends my rating down, so that when I'm back on form and beat a higher rated player I will seem unnaturally good to him, and his rating will go down and so on and so on. but yeah whatever the explanation it's really annoying. sorry to say I'll usually abort against 700 raters these days, as I've had enough.

skill issue

if they're cheating and still under 1200 they're not even good at cheating. And considering how much larger the pool is down there, it's much more likely that you're just encountering legitimate players.

@eques_99 you can configure your game settings to play against people only X rating lower than you; no need to abort. There's a small gear icon near the board when you're in play; it'll be there.

OP, you are not special, no one is organizing a cheating ring specifically against you.

astronomical paranoia from low ranked players

llama_l what's that supposed to prove?

People are so quick to claim cheating when they're just losing. I have played a fair share of cheaters and even then I'm careful to just assume that they're cheating. There are telltale signs of cheating. If your opponent is playing 100% accurately and making moves that don't even look human, yeah they're probably cheating. Looking at @llama_l 's example, this is not the case in your situation. Rating inflation is a thing. Since last July the player base has grown by A LOT. You're around the 1200 level, this is an average rating for most chess players. People who are just making an account are rated around 1200 but they could have a past of playing chess and could be higher rated than that. What it seems like is mindless paranoia. Quit accusing people of cheating, it has consequences for the accuser and the accused.

A hundred years ago, there weren't any chess engines. People had to come up with other excuses for losing.

"I was sick" was the #1 excuse. Tartakower used to swear that he's never beaten a healthy man.

And one of the consequences for the accuser is that they play worse. Seriously -- if you're convinced your opponents are cheating, you play worse because you start doubting all your ideas and assuming your opponent is a genuius who's already seen them, etc. So you lose badly, which becomes further evidence for you that they're all cheating.

Another way to lose -- the inverse, sort of, is to focus on traps (I think a different poster mentioned this, but I'm conflating the two for convenience). Assuming someone is cheating overestimates them, trying for traps underestimates them. You've got to get out of donig either one. Play the best moves you can. Assume your opponent can see as much as you can, but don't assume they see things you don't. Play against the board, not the player.

Bizmark is right. Unless your opponents are only at the 1200 level for a split second while they whiz by en route to 3000, then they're not cheating. You *will* encounter one of those folks, maybe one out of every 500 games. Don't worry about those games. Worry about the other 499.

I'm definitely guilty of that one lol. This past week I actually was sick and I won a lot of my games so it's not even a good excuse to be honest

THIS!! Assuming everyone is cheating is going to make you a worse player.

I've been awarded compensatory points because of a player violated the 'fair play standards,' although I was not aware of any problems. How does one 'cheat?'

the same way you'd cheat on a test. get a third party to tell you which moves are good.

ahhh, of course!

brojochess_ttv eh? looking at llama_l s example ?? I didn't claim that everyone who beat me was cheating. nor did I claim that particular person was cheating. so again I'm not sure what point Llama_l s example is intended to make. especially as did he provide the rating of the other player.

llama_l a) I was responding to someone else's interpretation of your post. b) you didn't explain your post. you put out a jumble of word salad to cover the fact you couldn't explain what point you were making.

There are times when I feel that I have encountered a "nest of cheaters." For some reason, I find find that for a period of time, I just can't beat lower rated players, and I feel that all of my opponents are playing way above their rating. However, unless the Chess.com detection system is totally ineffective, which I doubt, I seriously doubt that I have ever encountered a "nest of cheaters."

Currently, I am on a winning streak, and I imagine that some of my opponents are wondering how a lower rated opponent can play so well (in fact one did question me about it).

That's good self-awareness.

It's much more likely that one person is playing well or poorly in a particular stretch than that they're all of a sudden beset by dozens and dozens of cheaters who weren't there a few months ago.

well, I did have one to begin with. you think I just make random moves? and it's not really relevant to say "get better" in the context of this thread because the particular point under discussion is players rated lower than us who play better than us (a nuance you seem to have missed despite it being in the title)