POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS FOR TOURNAMENT CHEATING

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alex011111111119

Feb 15, 2023

To whom it may concern,

PLEASE consider the following suggestions as possible deterrents/solutions to the constant and infuriating problem of quickly identifying, disqualifying and removing tournaments cheaters before they can complete a tournament, thus taking medals away from fair playing users, which is what competing in a tournament is all about.

1. “Manageable Sample Size”

If a “languagebot” or AI can be programmed to quickly identify and mute users accused of inappropriate language by flagging certain predetermined words while monitoring all active online users, then how hard can it be to create something similar that would use predetermined parameters to identify, remove (immediately from current tournament) and flag for later review, (pending muting, temporary suspension, or account deletion), users who are clearly cheating? I’m not a coder or programmer, but if said “enginebot” started with a small pool of users to monitor, like say, only players who are currently joined in any >1199 ongoing tournament, then you immediately narrow the search field to something manageable, rather than overloading the servers with all that constant game analysis. While cheating can occur anywhere at any level, common sense and sandbagging would suggest that low level tournaments are where cheaters most often flock to take the most advantage, so Beta test the “enginebot” there.

2. “Predetermined Parameters”

As a moderately good player, but very frequent free member user of the app, I may not see all the ways and places where people can potentially cheat, (I never even CONSIDERED cheating at puzzles for example, till I scanned some other articles related to cheating) BUT, from what I DO see firsthand, down in the >1199 Swiss tournaments, there is a clear pattern of statistical discrepancy with all engine users that (I think) should be as easily recognizable to an “enginebot” as a curse word is to a “languagebot”… They are always very low elo rated (usually around the 800 mark, but I just reported one to Milica at support… WHO IS AWESOME… who started a 2/1 bullet at around 175 elo…), YET THEY ARE CONSISTENTLY WINNING TOURNAMENT MATCHES WITH MOVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS OF ~95%!!! If that’s not an identifiable statistical discrepancy between elo rating and move efficiency, then I don’t know what is. Now, can a monkey, if given enough time and a typewriter, eventually through random chance, type the constitution? Sure. And do you want to give people the benefit of the doubt. Of course, and rightfully so. But how many “master level” quality games can a 175 rated user play, IN A ROW, DURING A SWISS TOURNAMENT, before it become statistically impossible for them to be luckily and randomly playing like Magnus or Hikaru? And again, while I understand the point of erring on the side of the “innocent until they’re proven guilty”, the reality and end result is, cheaters win their medals (even if they’re taken away later, the fair players lost their chance at that one at that time), often while gloating and daring others to report them, because they seem to feel the current system has proven ineffective at deterring and preventing them from not only winning at that present moment, but from preventing them from doing it again with the same account in the future. And sure, some “refunded” elo points for enduring an unfair match is better than nothing, but elo points come and go like breaths of air. The honest players still end up “medal-less” and upset at having been cheated, and sometimes taunted, to boot. Therefore, adjust your guidelines such that they favor the honest majority rather than the dishonest accused… use “enginebot” to monitor only players currently participating in any >1199 tournament, with a directive of identifying and immediately removing any >1199 player consistently achieving a move efficiency rating of ~90%+ for say, 3 or more games in a row, BUT ONLY DURING A TOURNAMENT, so as not to overwork and crash servers. Hey, if some douche wants to engine me in a private game, a daily or something… well, pfff, so what. You guys can’t be everywhere all the time, and frankly, if you were, that would concern me too, lol. “Player beware”, so to speak. You don’t have to play them again if you don’t want to, and you can unfriend them and report them for later review if it means that much to you, Karen, and you really want to waste chess.com’s staffs’ time… But during a Swiss tournament, with medals? C’mon ref, make the call!

3. “If you see something say something”

While I abhor the idea of a 1984, dystopian type world where everyone is reporting each other to the Gestapo, conversely, AS MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY, we should do our best to help make that community its best, and that means doing our part to help be a part of the solution, so as to take as much pressure as possible off the shoulders of the team running the site. Therefore, don’t be lazy and expect others to fix a problem. If you see clear cheating, report it. That said, I must caveat, I personally don’t like to report anyone, no matter how confident I am they are cheating, until I at least have some corroborating evidence. As a free member and an iPhone app user (and considering I’m trying to ideally report AND REMOVE someone BEFORE they can complete the tournament and take medals from honest players… I.e. “time sensitive”), I only have access to 1 free game analysis per day. But if the accused has all wins in their recent games list, yet none of them have been pre-analyzed so that the move efficiency rating is already visible, then how can I, in good conscience, report them for a pattern of impossibly high move efficiency ratings if I can only analyze 1 game? PLEASE ALLOW ALL MEMBERS THE ABILITY TO ANALYZE ENOUGH GAMES (say, 3) PER TOURNAMENT TO BE ABLE TO REASONABLY DETERMINE WHETHER AN ACCOUNT APPEARS TO BE USING AN ENGINE, and thus be able to, in good conscience, report it. Or, just have all efficiency ratings of Swiss tournament matches automatically listed in the recent games list without players having to manually click analyze. That way you don’t mess with using game analysis as a selling point for paying memberships.

4. “Where there’s smoke, chances are, there’s fire”

If one person reports another? Well pfff, it could be for ANY reason, so that alone at best might warrant a review, whenever someone from the overworked staff is finally able to get to it…
Two reports on the same account in the same tournament? Well, me and my douchey friend could just be targeting a good player, just to get them removed before we have to play them.
Three reports on one person in one tournament? Well, if my “enginebot” hasn’t caught the statistical anomaly of their suspiciously low elo to suspiciously high move efficiency rating discrepancies by now, then three reports alone should be enough, from say a liability standpoint, for the website to automatically disqualify and immediately remove even a super legend diamond platinum lifetime membership account from one tournament, pending further review, without them being able to make a stink about it. They can always get a few piddly elo points refunded back to them if they were unfairly reported, just like the rest of us get compensated for their tomfoolery, right? But what they DON’T get, are the medals.

5. “Step right up and win a prize!”

Deterring bad behavior is only half the solution. In order to maximize user participation, good behavior (reporting violations) must be acknowledged and rewarded. Did you report 10 users who were confirmed to have violated community guidelines? Then guess what? For your dedication in helping improve and maintain the integrity of our community and its guidelines, you win a newly created “Neighborhood Watch” award added to your list of awards on your profile. Snagged 50 confirmed violators? Boom! “Neighborhood Watch Leader” award plus a two week free trial gold membership! Already a member? You just won a month free at your current membership level! What’s that, you reported 100 confirmed violations? Give us a mailing address, “Neighborhood Watch Supervisor”, and we’ll send you our members only chess.com keychain chess piece! Your choice of piece type and color! (Shipping and handling rates may apply.) Wait, you reported 1000 confirmed violators! You hunter, you sniper, you undercover agent of integrity!!! Please accept this free limited edition chess.com baseball cap in your choice of white or black,, “Neighborhood Watch Commander”, shipping and handling included, with our deepest thanks for helping make chess.com a safe and fair place to play and appreciate chess!

You get the point. New award category, plus it would lead to eventual purchases of memberships off the free trials, and hey, if you guys had merch? Dude, I’d buy a chess.com cap in a heartbeat. ‘Nuff said.

6. “Hold your horses, pal.”

Thank you for contacting our support team at chess.com (WHO ARE AWESOME), regarding your temporary account suspension due to repeated statistical anomalies and repeated reports of violations of our platforms’ community guidelines regarding cheating during tournament/arena play. While we remain dedicated to resolving all member issues as quickly and effectively as possible, we have recently made improvements to our detection and reporting processes, and are currently experiencing a high volume of suspended accounts pending manual reviews. As staff is limited, wait time for potential reinstatement of this account may take up to… 👩💻🗣 “SE VEN DAY ZZ”. We apologize for any inconvenience and want everyone who loves chess as much as we do to be able to continue to playing and learning as much as possible. If you wish you can submit your IP address and create a new account to resume playing until this account issue has been resolved pending review, however, please note, we take violations of all our community guidelines seriously. If your suspended account is found to be in violation of community guidelines, and further incidents of statistical irregularities and/or reports of cheating become associated with this new account, or any future accounts associated with this IP address, then access to our website from this IP address may be restricted, any accounts associated with this IP address may be temporarily or permanently suspended or terminated, and any membership fees, if applicable, will be forfeited, up to and including our prepaid annual membership fee. THANK YOU for making chess.com your preferred platform for all things chess. We look forward to having you back and playing ASAP!!! 😏
(The intentional and insufferable wait times before POTENTIAL reinstatement ALONE will deter the impatient first half right away, scattering them like roaches. Expect an immediate drop in incidents and reports of cheating of say, 20% within three months of the policy change. Combine that with the possibility of accounts and even IP addresses being banned for repeat offenses?!?! The other, more stubborn half will eventually realize the reward is just not worth the risk, time, and effort, and will seek immediate gratification elsewhere.)

If these suggestions/ deterrents/ rewards don’t reduce incidents and reports of cheating specifically and of overall violations in general, by 50%, thereby improving overall customer satisfaction, while simultaneously boosting revenue at least 15-25% within a year, not only will I become a paying member for life, I’ll volunteer to work for chess.com in any manner I’m qualified to for a year, for free.

If talk is cheap, then you have to put your money where your mouth is if you want to be heard, right? Right?? Hello??? Hey McFly, your shoe’s untied.