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The truth behind the Lichess cheating crisis (and why it won't happen on
chess.com)
The truth behind the Lichess cheating crisis (and why it won't happen on
chess.com)
IA8765
IA8765
Mar 31, 2024, 9:07 AM
| 0
Recently I played in the Lichess 2024 Winter Marathon and came upon to a major issue that frequently appeared in the comments. Some time ago I wrote an article that analyses the
chess.com/lichess debate that can be found in my blog. I soon received a question on my lichess account regarding my statement on the lichess anti-cheat system and its
chess.com counterpart. This article will explain how the
chess.com and lichess anti-cheat systems, compare them and conclude which one is better at its job.
What is cheating in online chess?
Cheating in online chess is using external assistance to achieve a desired outcome in a chess game. This is the use of engines such as Stockfish, opening databases or courses or assistance from another human during the game, and sometimes autoclickers. Other forms of cheating do not include the use of external assistance, such as sandbagging (purposefully losing a game to drop rating) or creating multiple accounts and then pairing them against each other to boost the rating of either of them. Cheating is a widespread issue on any major chess website and needs to be effectively dealt with to provide an enjoyable user experience.
What is an anti-cheat system?
As the name implies, an anti-cheat system in chess is a network or series of operators that are used to detect and close down accounts that can be proven to have used methods that are banned by a terms-of-service agreement in order to achieve a desired result. An anti-cheat system is a must-have for any growing chess website and must be efficient in order to ensure fair play and moderate tournaments. Anti-cheat systems can work in several different ways, and some are more efficient than others. An anti-cheat system on a major site has to cover billions of games every year and must be well funded to properly do its job.
Chess.com anticheat
Chess.com official figures show just over $1,000,000 being spent on anti-cheating measures per annum. The system uses human moderators, computer functions and a database of played games to effectively detect and close accounts that are proven to have cheated.
Should a player be reported for cheating, a program reviews the game, and then uses their elo rating and data from their database of previously-played games to calculate a probability of whether they were using an engine or not. This probability is then viewed by a moderator who has had some instructions or training given to them on how to detect cheaters, and decides what action is appropriate to take. It is rare for a member to be banned from one report unless sufficient evidence has been gathered, such as previous warnings or a highly dubious win streak, and usually it takes 2-3 cheating reports (that are credible) for a moderator to close an account. I can personally prove that a fake report does nothing but waste moderator time, as I have several times been accused of cheating and allegedly been reported (when I did not cheat, obviously) and had nothing done to my account.
Overall, the balance between using trained human moderators and an advanced database and program helps to effectively combat cheating on
Chess.com, and whilst it remains a problem (as it always will be), cheating rates are relatively low (at least at 1500+ elo) and violators are caught and banned 99% of the time (real number). Now let's look at what
Lichess.org has to offer...
The Lichess anticheat
The Lichess anti cheat is great. It's so great that a few hundred people are able to monitor 500,000 + games every day without any kind of software or algorithms... you probably know what that means. But how does it actually "work"?
There are a few hundred, at most a thousand moderators on all of lichess that are meant to ensure fair play and decency. They are
- Unpaid volunteers
- Inexperienced due to not staying on the job
- Understaffed
- Some have played less than 30 games in their life
- Have no software whatsoever and have to rely on their own judgement
This means that in turn they are:
- Inefficient
- Disorganised
- Unmotivated
- Unable to properly do their job
This in turn means:
- Lichess has been in a cheating crisis for the past 4 years.
The unequipped moderators have to manually observe games and stalk reported suspects for hours, and end up either issuing illegal bans to innocent players or simply letting a cheater go. Suspects who are indeed cheaters are only caught around 40% of the time and continue to wreak havoc, even at high ratings.
Due to the severe understaffing and lack of algorithms such as the one in
chess.com, cheating is a rampant problem on lichess. On most tournaments half the chat area will be filled with comments such as "x is a cheater" or "report x", and the other half being filled with Russian or Western propaganda, because of a lack of moderators to sort that out either. The exact cause of this crisis is a combination of a lack of funds and a doomed system that I cover in more depth in my other article (at the bottom of the page), but has many adverse effects on the site and user experience.
- Lichess is used far less by titled players
- Less players overall
- Very high cheating rates
- Violators often left to roam free
- Poor player experience
- Unfair rating loss
- Many players (like me) eventually decide to use
chess.com due to it being superior
- And much more
Why won't this happen on
Chess.com/?
Chess.com already has a rigorous anti-cheat system that has been strengthened by years of funding and experience that is only improving. There are professional, paid moderators to operate this system. It is in fact so efficient that it is not uncommon to see a cheater banned right after a game or during a game. So, unless
Chess.com has a purge or something similar, there should not be a cheating issue for the next 10 years.
Can Lichess' cheating crisis be solved?
Due to the structure of Lichess (more in depth explanation in said article) the expansion of their site does not proportionally represent an increase in revenue, so there is no clear way (apart from a miraculous increase in donations) for Lichess to procure the funds necessary to operate an advanced anti-cheat system, so as of right now the answer to that question is "unlikely". If Lichess wishes to expand and maintain their growing player base, they will inevitably have to find a source of revenue other than donations.
Conclusion
Lichess has a massive cheating problem that has not even begun to be addressed, but hopefully events will force this to change in the near future.
Thank you for reading, comment if you have questions or disagree about something I said here.
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