Is using an opening database considered cheating?

Like, if I use games databases for openings in my games on Chess.com (not during games,), will it count as cheating?

[Amended topic title from "Is this considered cheating?" - David, moderator]

That's comforting. After a game I played long back, I looked at the Opening Explorer. I saw a similar game in which the guy playing my color executed a super attack in the beginning. Somehow it stayed in my head all this time. And now I played an exactly similar game and used the same moves as the master did.

You might want to consult this: Fair Play on Chess.com: What you Need to Know for the official statement of what is and is not allowed.

Note that in daily games, you are allowed to check opening databases as you play. It's an excellent way to develop an opening repertoire when you are under the pressure of a live game though often you are out of the book by move six!  Unfortunately, we saw one game bragged about and listed on these forums by a person who not only copied the opening move-for-move, but copied the entire game.  Personally, in daily games I'll check out some alternatives in the openings, but if you're still following Opening Explorer by move 13 at the latest, you're at the point where you won't be playing your own game, you're just copying someone else's.

It is called learning aravind. Not cheating..

cheating is when you are playing a live game and using database/engine to get undue benefit..

It depends on the way you lay out the term cheating. Using advantages to do better moves there are a lot of things you could do and many of them are categorized under cheating. Looking up moves in a database is nothing else than extending your limited knowledge by looking into the database. This is also using an advantage doing this in a public tournament ... what would the people say about such a double check before your next move. Hence it depends how you layout cheating and in which context you check the database. Here it's treated as learning as people already have written, hence not cheating. On the other hand nobody could do something against, so treating this as cheating would be useless.

In daily chess, you can reference any database of mostly human games (such as the chess.com game explorer), books, and other static resources.  For example, if your game starts with a particular opening, you can look up a youtube video that gives advice on how to play that opening.

However, you cannot reference engines, ask a friend for advice, use an endgame tablebase, or any other dynamic resource.

In live chess, you can't use any resources.  You are completely on your own.

See this link for more information: https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444879-fair-play-on-chess-com-what-you-need-to-know?b_id=12321 

I feel like premoves are almost cheating

Then you should never play a 30 second match with me. I would hate to disappoint you..

my saying 'it depends on the way you lay out cheating'. For some even pre-moves are that disadvantageous that they treat it as cheating. Putting it right is anything but cheating, you just suck against such a person. So it's easy to understand you treat it as that. Either way treating premoves as cheating is ridiculous and nonsense.

Otherwise the indian girl from previous post @aravinds_ll would be a cheater, which is not true. She is not a cheater.

So the Ruy Lopez Closed lines essentially start at move 9-10 so t get 3 moves past that and still in book is not at all unusual. Same with KID Classical system. And I've played dozens of Najdorf games that I could play in bullet and in book to mid teens.

Your cut off is rather low.

Okay that helped a lot thanks!

lol

i would like to report that [name removed - MOD] is a cheater. i could believe my eyes when i saw that i lost due to being disconnected while my opponent was on check. cheating [language - MOD].

Suspected cheaters should be reported to support, not accused in public.  Select Report Abuse under the Help menu.

However, disconnecting is probably a problem with your internet.  It is simply impossible to make your opponent disconnect.

Why you can look for videos on YouTube but you can't ask advice to a friend? 

It is basically the same thing, you are looking for help. 

If you got some position you don't know the theory behind and look up the opening database for suggestions, then I personally would consider it cheating; not sure what the website rules tell about it, but, IMO, you aren't supposed to get any help for the particular position in your game. On the other hand, using it for preparation before the game should be fine.

It is impossible to track down this kind of things, of course (as long as the person is smart about it and looks up the opening database from another device), so I doubt you will get penalized for doing it. But, really, looking up an opening database to find a proper continuation is little different from using engine to suggest the best move in the middle game, in my opinion; in both cases, you let someone/something else play for you.

Of course, using the chess.com opening explorer is another thing entirely. It is intended to be used, that's what it's there for.

A video on youtube is similar to a book.  It won't cover the exact position in your current game unless you haven't left the database yet.  It might give you general principles for a specific opening, but you still have to figure out how to apply those principles to your game.

A friend, on the other hand, can give you specific advice, including specific moves, that applies directly to your position.  If your friend gives sufficiently specific advice and you follow it, your opponent is no longer playing you, they are playing your friend.  Even if your friend doesn't do that, they can still do things like point out a hanging piece or something that you might have overlooked.

the book.  world champion openings has very accurate depections on playing certain opening lines...   using a book like that is pretty messed up if playing correspondence chess. in a form, using that book is cheating ...

   how am i wrong ?