Is using the opening explorer while playing cheating?

The opening explorer button is the button that looks like a compass in the top right corner of games. Using it shows you the most popular moves in opening positions and the Win %. Is using this for your openings while playing cheating, and if so, why does it appear while you are playing?

It's allowed in "daily" games but not live games.

That doesn't make too much sense to me, I don't see why it would be allowed in one and not the other. Is there an official rule for that?

You can't use any outside resources for live games.

https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com

Yeah, in the link MS provided, 2nd bullet point. Anything but engines, tablebases, and other humans is allowed in daily.

In "official" correspondence games (ICCF) even engine use is allowed... basically because no one can stop it, so they just allow it (on chess.com it's not allowed).

In live games you don't usually have time to use reference material. In longer live games I'm sure there is always some low key cheating like this... which is one reason why speed chess is so popular (in speed games cheating like this is much less likely, and engine use is easier to detect).

Oh alright that makes sense. I only recently even discovered what it was and it seemed like cheating to me. I wish the button was not even there for live chess. Do a lot people still use it in live anyways, because I do play against a lot of people who play their openings very quickly?

Martin stahl didn’t lock this. 😂😂😂😂. Someone’s legit teaching how to cheat and doesn’t get locked, yet someone saying someone else cheated does get locked. Wow.

Asking about the rules is related to cheating, but it's not cheat discussion.

Someone using an opening resource would probably play a little more slowly. Lots of people have a set system they use for most games so can blitz out the first 6-10 moves pretty fast.

Is there really an opening explorer button in live chess?

Anyway, it depends on what you mean by "very quickly." If someone is playing main line theory and consistently taking 5 seconds on every move (not more or less), that's very suspicious. Main lines are well known, so are typically played much faster than that, or not at all.

And of course I mean like, 10 moves in a row... if someone pauses a few times to think in an opening that's normal lol.

There is, but I have no idea if it works or not during games.

Wow. Didn't know that even existed- opening explorer button in-game. Why on earth is it there!?! I won't be using it, and I hope others don't, daily game or not. I was taught that any input at all during a match was cheating, and believe that to be so. If I click on a video and the person's playing an opening relevant to a game in progress that I'm playing, I turn it off. I don't understand the motivation in cheating. It 'achieves' nothing! Worst of all, you'd know you were a faker, even if no-one else does. Uggh...

The thing with daily is that it is closely related to correspondence games of old. In those games months could pass mailing your move from one city to the other, and there were no engines back then. So it was and still is (if there is no engine involved) allowed to use a book or something when analyzing a position. You would as well put the position on the board and move pieces as well, because it could be days while deciding on a move.

Daily is just a different form of chess, and opening explorer is allowed.


As for live chess games, I have no idea  why is the link there. I've noticed it when I switched from live chess to Play interface, but as I've said, I have no idea if the link works during live games. If it works, it is an epic fail for sure.

Hmmm. That isn't how I was taught. Yes, put the pieces on a board and analyse... But I was taught that even talking to another person about a position was very bad form. Books were considered straight up cheating if consulted mid-game, in the circles I played in. I just find the whole idea weird. Growing up playing correspondence chess you just have to assume the other person doesn't cheat, because otherwise, what IS the point? - unless you're going for GM title or money. Lol. Neither of which anyone I knew was being tempted by. So strange to cheat.

Corresponce chess isn't even worth playing considering how much assistance a person can get while playing.

Yes, it is cheating (to talk to someone or consult any kind of outside help) if we sat across each other, start and finish the game in 2-3 hours or so. That is why In live games on the site (which means bullet, blitz and rapid games), you can only use your head, and nothing else.

But imagine yourself living in London 100 years ago, and imagine you mail your move to a person from Paris or something like that. That is how correspondence chess was played long time ago. Then you would look at your board at your home, the other person would look at his board. It is such a variant of the game where you would make potential moves on your own board, learn about chess while the game was going and so on.

These daily games are trying to mimic that form of correspondence chess. That is why you have analysis tab actually incorporated, in order for you to make hypothetical moves, just as if you were doing it on your physical board. And that is why you have opening explorer incorporated as well in daily games, and why it is allowed as long as there is no engine involved. It is not a substitute for live games.

To be fair, I don't really play daily games that much, I prefer longer live games, but some people love them.

Well, for me longer live games are the best, but there are some  perks of daily chess. For instance, you can, if you make the effort, think about certain middlegame positions for hours. Sure, you can look at master games for that, but here you are forced to look at certain positions because it is in your game.

You might come up with something good, something that you might use in your live games as well. And it will force you to look up some opening variations, you might try out a certain line you don't want to play in live games.

Let me point out something. The opening explorer in the new live server on the right corner when you're playing allows you to click on it and go to openings. This will give beginners the false sense this is allowed. Instead, you couldn't click on it in the old server.

I also want to say most strong players (Hikaru, Danya, Minh Le, etc...) have agreed when asked that they prefer the old live server to the new one, better interface and smoother to use.

I think chess.com will have to make big updates to this new server before removing the old one, otherwise a bunch of players will go and look elsewhere for greener pastures

Yeah, don't consult anything mid game... That's cheating. It's funny people saying 'imagine' playing correspondence chess. That's mostly what I played as a teen. There were no computers. Lol.

and also the new live server takes time off my clock, and it has nothing to do with my internet as it was just fine with the old live server and on my tablet. So there is surely something wrong with the server itself. It has done that for other people too