"Are we all doomed to become weakies?"
GM Robert Fischer, 1968
"If you can't see nor know what your opponent is doing, then you have to assume the worse."
GM Larry Evans in Chess Life
"Many honest members among all the chess players out there know deep down inside that, when they play chess, they meaningfully contribute to chess as a sport, as a profession, and as a source of emotional development."
"(...) As soon as you allow someone to get their foot in the door, it takes great vigilance to keep someone's body from slipping thru. And no one wants to take the time or be responsible for keeping up such vigilance. The use of computers in chess has to be an all or nothing condition. If they are allowed during competitive play, for any
reason, and in any way, then the door is open and soon the permissions will
be abused, the privilege stretched, and the game ruined. (...)"
Robert Meek in ChessChat@yahoogroups.com on July 24th 2001
In the future, the biggest challenge for all ICSes will not be network lag but rather cheating by people using chess playing programs while playing other members. Having a high rating gives a player respect and credibility and creates opportunities for playing other high-rated players. Therefore, it is not difficult to
understand why someone might use a chess-playing program to cheat.
Dealing with cheating (from an Internet Chess Server perspective) is a much more difficult task. As chess software improves, soon it will be very difficult to distinguish a game played with a chess program from one played by even a top human... especially as chess software improves in long-range planning and strategical play.
The losers are the ones who cheat and the ones who are abused by this cheating. The cheaters get a false sense of accomplishment while the people getting abused by the cheaters lose games and start getting doubts about their overall self-improvement in their chess play.
I sure hope the Internet Chess Servers will never develop tolerance for such cheating. It goes against good sportsmanship and all that playing chess means to a majority of players. I believe that this cheating problem is more widespread on all ICSes than some would like to think.
Here are some signs that you could be victim of cheating. Remember that such signs will appear from time-to-time in any players game and that a false accusation of cheating can destroy enjoyment of the game.
1) odd time management
2) perfect theoretical opening moves played in various openings
3) taking a few seconds for obvious capture moves, even in positions when there is only one
single legal possible move (e.g. 
x
+ , 
x)
4) perfect (or almost perfect) tactical play while using only a few seconds to make accurate tactical blows, specially in open positions
5) stubborn accurate defensive moves which feel somewhat beyond any human's tolerance to pressure
6) a very large difference between bullet/lightning rating and blitz rating.
Honest ICSes members: don't be fooled! It
is relatively easy to get computer/chess playing program assistance while playing a 5 0 blitz game.
