How can people think they can detect engine use?

well that sucks i guess. i stick by my theory that otb play should be used for all kinds of slow games and internet play should be kept mostly to fast games

They can't detect cheating. Cheating is heresey. You can't prove cheating online or in a game. Caurana at Sinquefield proved it. How was Caurana cheating?

I thought it was just a matter of losing the game. That usually brings on the accusation. Obviously he's cheating!

I can only think people on here who think that no-one cheats are either not too bright or don't care.  I've reported quite a few obvious ones who have been duly banned, but a glance at many profiles shows that many players must have cheated in the past to get to high levels despite being ordinary players, or have sandbagged since, which is just another form of cheating.  It's one reason I never do rematches, as a few times I have played Forest Gump in the first game and Magnus Carlsen in the rematch.

That's not to say that I've thought players might be cheating sometimes, when a quick look back at the game just shows I played like a halfwit.

I just ask. Everyone has always been honest with me.

Hey Lee! Today I dreamt that I got your phone number and called you! We talked for a few seconds! I remember your voice.

HA! The joke's on you. Me, as well as about 1/2 of my family are mute. Some are even deaf.

One way to determine if a player is cheating is to take the suspected game and analyze it with a computer gui such as SCID or Lucas Chess and if the moves made by the suspected person match up a high percentage of the time with the best computer moves then there is a good chance he is cheating especially if this occurs in many of his games.  

Oh, THAT sounds like fun. 

Maybe easier to move on.

Don't lie.

I have good news for you. Engine use can be detected. Whether or not Chess.com does it as effectively as possible, is another matter...

^ this 100%. 

I get the impression that the approach here to anyone below 2400 is reactive and they simply wait until someone complains.  They say they routinely monitor the top players, but there aren't too many of those.  It would probably be impractical computationally to do anything more that spot check below that level without some indication of where to look.

Every time but one when I reported someone, the offending account was gone within 24 hours.  I've noticed that in a lot of cases where I've started to get suspicious, the account simply disappears (probably because someone else was more suspicious!).

It depends on the type of the account and the player involved, the number of games played,etc.

Ever think that the losing players might just be making excuses for themselves and their bad play?

It is no more real than those who cheat...

I tend to think that some of the game that people played badly in and others say," look at those bad moves ", fail to realize that, when the pressures put on a player when engine moves are played against them, they are far more likely to play badly. Engine moves played against you severely limit your good options. The sight has many sandbaggers also. Yeah they may have have played using only their skills but, not before intentionally underperforming in other games, so they can overmatch their opponents...

Only one time have I suspected an opponent of cheating and tried to check it with an engine. We were at move 20 or something in a standard timed game and I had just won a piece with an overwhelming advantage, he started playing really fast and somehow checkmated me in the next 15 moves or so.

I later checked it with a computer and the evaluation told me this had happened.

Ok move, good move, blunder, ok move, inaccurate move, bad move, ok move, good move, blunder, ok move, inaccurate move, blunder, BEST MOVE, BEST MOVE, BEST MOVE, BEST MOVE, BEST MOVE, BEST MOVE, etc.

I'm assuming chess.com's anti cheating software works by detecting sequences of top engine moves that seem to come out of nowhere.

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But that's still only one game out of almost 1500 that I have played so far, so I dont think cheating is as big a problem as some people think. Perhaps cheating is more common at higher levels? I think Jposthuma has a point, most people who complain about cheating probably do so to protect their ego :P

In standard time you should expect engines. The only semi-respectable online time controls are 1-3 min.

I think most of it occurs between 1800-2200. It has it's moments at lowering ratings, as some sand bag and cheats all start off at 1200 like everyone else. I believe there are sockpuppet accounts used for "boosting", trolling, and revenge against certain players, in the form of cheating, via various methods. These accounts don't usually get suspected because, they are never linked to one user.

There is software out there that can play your blits and bullet games for you on websites.

Ain't no respect left, baby.