Statistics of 772,410 players

Numerous studies and surveys report about cheating in online chess:

Possible reasons

10.1% of all chess players are hackers: they stole games, made moves on behalf of other players and played with known chess computers.

10.2% of all chess players consider the possibility of cheating but never have done it.

8.9% of all chess players have cheated in the past.

9.5% of all chess players agree that cheating should be banned in the future.

It was impossible to cover all ethical issues of chess through this article. This is a collection of ethics issues and recommendations for the ethical behaviour of chess players. Please add your own opinions about ethical issues.

Dealing with cheating

Being ethical is important, but no one can become an ethical chess player in one day. I was not able to solve all ethical issues of chess players in one article, but I tried to do it in as few words as possible.

Discussing games and cheating

Matches are being played more and more, so it is important to get a clear and fair understanding of how chess works. It may take some time and explanations to understand exactly how cheating happens and how to stop it. But it is worth to be disciplined in case of cheating and consider the possibility of using cheating detection software.

Cheating detection tools

Do not trust the person you are playing against. If he is cheating, cheat him and don’t allow him to cheat you. Avoid playing with online or mobile games or sites where you can play with real opponents in real time.

Cheating could not be completely eliminated, but it can be improved if we use cheating detection software and strategies.

I will write more about such tools later.

Conducting games

It is a good idea to ensure your game accounts are saved in a safe place. It is essential to use strong passwords and two-factor authentication for such accounts as your chess accounts, bank account, email account and so on.

A great way to make sure your game account is saved in a safe place is to use a software that protects game accounts in different ways: the password of the chess account can be printed and placed somewhere, you can set the password of the game account to a random password, you can let another player control your computer (with a password) while playing chess and so on.

Sometimes, it may seem impossible to play chess without cheating in one’s mind. But you are not wrong: you can achieve a competitive level in chess with many benefits:

You can improve your mental balance and learn a lot about yourself.You can solve many other problems: discipline, stress, responsibility, sleeping at the right time, positive thinking, thinking positively, focusing on your achievements, long-term planning, planning ahead, working with different interests, challenging yourself, doing a lot of math problems, reading about chess, reading books, composing songs, hunting some of the best casino bonuses so you will remain engaged in the challenge of online bets, etc.