Fair play policy

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Taffer1

Twice during daily games with 3 day timers I've seen "You may not use Analysis while playing chess. See our Fair Play Policy." at the end of the game, or later when I reopen pages after a PC reboot.  I don't understand why I'm seeing this warning.  Am I seeing this because another player reported me for cheating?  Is this a bug?  Is there a support site where I can have this reviewed by a chess.com admin?

The only thing I have done that I can possibly construe as questionable is I take the PGN of an active daily with the 3 day timer, upload into PRACTICE > LOAD FROM FEN/PGN, and use this to consider my options before making my official move.  I'm not getting any outside help (human or computer) and my moves are 100% my own inside the chess.com app here, so I don't consider this cheating, but that blue banner saying I cannot use Analysis is concerning me.  I started playing chess about 45+ years ago but never did much to progress.  I recently got back into chess here and I'm learning openings, theory, position and tactics.  I'm really starting to love the game again and I don't want to be banned for lack of understanding the fair play policy.  I don't see where that is forbidden in the fair use policy.  I'd think if it was considered against the fair play policy the chess.com software would catch this and warn me immediately.  The key bullets from the fair play policy are below.

What are tablebases in the rules below?

All of your moves must be your own. (They are 100% my own moves.  Those 4 games that timed out dropped my daily from 796 to 621 around 12/1/2024, and I climbed back up to 851, then back down to 811 at the moment.)
Do not cheat in any way. (I don't think I am?)
Do not get help from any other person, including parents, friends, coaches, or another player. (I'm not).
Do not use chess engines, software of any kind, bots, plugins, browser extensions, or any tools that analyze positions during play. We can detect if you are using any of these programs. (I'm not.)
Do not use tablebases or any other resources that show the best move (in both Online and Daily chess). (What are tablebases?)
You may use Opening Explorer or other books in Daily chess only (not in Online / Live play). (I do not, but I probably should so I learn faster).
Do not perform any automated analysis or “blunder checking“ of your games in progress. (I don't.  I don't even know how.)
Do not allow anyone else to use your account. (I don't.)
Do not use anyone else's account. (I don't.)
Do not artificially manipulate ratings, matches, or game outcomes. (I got busy and lost 4 games when I didn't move in that 3 day timer ran out.  I'm still playing the same 4 people, and the 2 new are rating right at my rating before those timers ran out.)
Do not interfere with the gameplay of other members. (I don't.)
Suspecting your opponent of using outside help is not an excuse to do the same. If you suspect someone is cheating, report the player to Chess.com.  (I've never reported anybody myself.  I don't know if I've ever been reported.  How would I find out if anybody has reported me?)

Martin_Stahl
Taffer1 wrote:

... Is this a bug? Is there a support site where I can have this reviewed by a chess.com admin?

The only thing I have done that I can possibly construe as questionable is I take the PGN of an active daily with the 3 day timer, upload into PRACTICE > LOAD FROM FEN/PGN, and use this to consider my options before making my official move. I'm not getting any outside help (human or computer) and my moves are 100% my own inside the chess.com app here, so I don't consider this cheating, but that blue banner saying I cannot use Analysis is concerning me. ...

There is an analysis board within the Daily games that can be used. You can't load the game into an analysis that has an engine or tablebase and you can't play out the positions against an engine.

https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8568369-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com

Bizzarityyy
I think it says that when you have chess.com open somewhere else.
Taffer1
Active game - no hints please

Apologies for the edit. I thought the image was attached but it didn't show when I posted my reply.

Thank you both. I have the Chess.com app open on my phone most of the time, and I currently have more chess.com tabs open than I can quickly count. Some are old games I want to review. Both Chess.com logins are on VPN and likely using different locations so I may look like I'm using an account in two places at once. I would hope the site is intelligent enough to not flag me as a cheater for protecting myself from IP based issues.

Would any of these links below be the types of analytic sites that would be an issue? I had those open to go back and dig into and learn some common openings and counters. I wasn't using them during a game as a guide, but they were open tabs while I was playing.

While closing excess tabs just now I found and screenshotted a perfect example. The analysis button is switched off and there isn't the white/black bar on the left showing relative strength of each side. I saw this about 3 weeks ago and when I looked up the meaning of those bars I immediately turned this function off. I was looking at move options here, trying to figure out my best move. Is this illegal?

Ignore the 693. The week before it was 621. I lost 4 games because I was busy with life and 4 games timed out and I lost due to the timers running out. I'm back up to 851. This screenshot was a failed attempt at a Dutch defense which became a Dutch Stonewall or some variation, but I don't know the defense well enough to play it effectively. Although at move 14 my defense looked great and literally all his pieces were on ranks 1-3 and looked like a rush hour traffic jam. I'm trying to learn the London and Karo-Cann (SP?). I play above the 851, but because my openings are so weak I start behind the 8-ball and have to dig my way out, but I'm beating people from 850-1050 as much as they beat me, even after recovering from horrible openings. If you have suggestions on openings suitable to people in my range, please share. Don't give me tips on this game in the screenshot as it is still active as of 2/18/2025, unless it's tips on how I messed up the Dutch a dozen moved ago.

Anyway, am I unintentionally cheating? If so, if I was going to get a premium account, would it be safer to do it under a virgin account that doesn't have red flags from me not knowing better and just start fresh? I was thinking about hiring a coach locally for a few hours along with the premium account, and I don't want to spend the money if I'm going to lose access to the site.

https://www.chess.com/blog/TheAdvancedQueen/the-kings-pawn-opening-and-how-to-counter-it

https://www.chess.com/openings/kings-indian-defense

https://www.chess.com/article/view/every-first-chess-move-for-black-against-e4-tiered-ranked

https://www.chess.com/explorer?moveList=e4+b6+d4+Bb7+Nc3+e6+Nf3&ply=7&origMoves=e4+b6+d4+Bb7+Nc3+e6+Nf3

Active game - no hints please
Ozemon
You can use the vacation mode if you are busy with life.
Taffer1
Ozemon wrote:
You can use the vacation mode if you are busy with life.

LOL, there's a vacation mode? That's cool. Thank you Ozemon. I just looked that up. I have a ton of vacation IRL so I'll use these chess.com vacation days sparingly, but that's great information to know. I honestly didn't realize my games were that close to timing out. One timed out by about 1/10th of a second. I opened the app on my phone and it said I had 1 minute. I panicked and made a quick passive/safe move with a pawn but the timer ran out just before I hit the green accept the move button. Thanks again for the tip!

Taffer1
HI-guys-24 wrote:

fr

What do you mean by "fr"? For real?