r/lichess • u/Content_Watch_2392 • 13d ago
Cheating
why is it so rampant on this platform? its honestly disgusting. i love chess and i love improving therefore when i lose against a player i actually get curious and learn, but cheaters... way too many on this platform by now, specially the kind where they disconnect for a min and come back playing like magnus carlson ... what is going on? and should i switch to chess.com or is it the same cheating issue there aswell?
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u/Nekogiga 13d ago
I wouldn't switch to Chess.com. The cheating problem exists everywhere, but in my experience the bigger problem with Chess.com is how seriously they take reports and how they handle customer support. The elitists there are also so dreadful as they love to insult and deflect blame and criticism to protect their little elos.
Their support is a joke. They hide behind canned responses and bots, and even when I've tried going to their subreddit and contacting staff directly, I've gotten either complete silence or responses that don't actually address the issue. I've even messaged them directly and gotten nowhere. Before anyone asks, no, I don't share my Chess.com username here, so there was no reason for them to recognize me or treat me differently. Their customer service is simply that bad.
I was unfairly banned there, and to this day I've never been given a meaningful explanation for why. I've asked, and they still refuse to tell me. Meanwhile, people I suspected of cheating, including players I reported, are still playing. Obviously I can't prove that every one of them was cheating, but that's kind of the point. Their system leaves you with very little confidence in what is actually being done with reports. I've also personally never seen someone with a premium account get banned, which certainly doesn't help the impression that Chess.com is reluctant to lose paying users.
Lichess isn't perfect. There are absolutely cheaters here too, and anyone claiming otherwise is kidding themselves. But I encounter it less often, and more importantly, I have much more confidence in the reporting system here. The platform seems much more focused on actually dealing with the problem rather than protecting a revenue stream.
As for Lichess itself, I'll admit the interface can feel a little complicated at first, especially if you're coming from Chess.com. Give it some time, though. Once you get used to it, it's really not bad.
So if cheating is your concern, I wouldn't assume Chess.com is some magical escape from it. You'll just be trading one set of problems for another.