Story:
I got paired with someone rated 400 points higher than me (no idea why). The dude was destroying me, but somewhere in the middlegame, he let his guard down and exposed himself to a mate-in-one. For once in my life, I saw the mate and I won.
The dude was FURIOUS. He immediately asked for a rematch and I said I had to go. Then the insults came ("chicken shit", etc.).
He even messaged me a few times over the course of a few months (same kind of name calling) and challenged me a few times.
Eventually, I thought, "You know what will really upset him? If I accept a rematch and win again."
So, I accepted one of his challenges and I used a computer. Obviously, he lost and he was FURIOUS again.
Not my proudest moment, but I enjoyed it while it was happening.
But yeah, regular cheating just kind of takes the joy out of the competition.
If you haven't played in a while, then glicko will give you a wide ratings deviation, and pair you against much stronger or much weaker opponents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glicko_rating_system
Well, as the saying goes, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Maybe we should just move over to computer-assisted human chess and compete that way?
Also even if that's not true, computer-assisted human chess for all but the highest levels of play would still be just "human accepts computer move."
I love the shadow flag method for cheaters because opponents can avoid games with them and the cheater may never figure out what the problem is.
I discovered that you’re better off walking away from a game that feels so insurmountably difficult rather than cheat a bit or a lot.
“I’m not going to finish so why not cheat to see the ending?” Was always disappointing. I’d rather that mountain still exist off in the distance that I’ll never summit.
When I was young I hated playing games against the AI. It always felt unreal to me and there was no satisfaction in it. Now, I immensely prefer playing the computer - it goes at my pace, I can get up and leave, I can take all the time I want for my move, and if I do something dumb I just undo back to where I feel comfortable and play better. When I get legitimately stuck I ask the computer for advice.
In this way, I basically always win against a superior player. It may not be ideal for practice, but I just play for fun and find it satisfying to win.
The one sure way to find / detect players with cheats was... to use the same cheats. It saved my sanity but cost me the joy of playing.
I now can't play FPS's anymore but am limited to MMO's :(