Posted by Hakim Hicks
The website I have chosen is Chess.com. The reason for this is that recently in the chess world, a cheating scandal has occurred in which the best chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen has accused another player Hans Niemann of cheating. With this scandal on the rise, Chess.com has released a report in which they also suggest that through their cheat-detection systems, they also believe Hans Niemann has cheated which is against all of their rules. Hans was even banned by Chess.com when he was younger for cheating, which only adds support to the arguments that he did in fact cheat. This has brought up the subject of what Chess.com allows and disallows. Chess.com offers an arrangement of chess play and information. It allows for online competition between players in which they can message each other while playing or add each other as friends. The site does not allow for racist, sexist, or bigoted language in the messaging nor username creation. You cannot threaten or harass other players or frequently disconnect after losing. You are not allowed to cheat in any way shape or form while playing. All moves must come from the players participating in the game. You also cannot let anyone else play through your account. If you violate one or more of these rules, your account will be closed and labeled with fair play violation as it goes against their fair play policy. The reason for these rules are to preserve the integrity of the chess game. With two players competing, there shall be no unfair advantage for either side. This allows for a community that feels safe and trusting of each other. The Hans Niemann scandal has created a lot of controversy in the Chess.com world as well as the greater chess world, as players are losing trust in the community.
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chesscom-features
This image shows a series of chess puzzles being completed. To the left is the list of potential options users can engage in.
Chess.com as we know it today was created in 2007. It was originally created to serve as a chess mentoring program but with time and advancement the possibilities to what it could become became clear. Today Chess.com is one of the largest chess platforms and has over 93 million users. The platform streams high level players playing against each other, it hosts competitions between the worlds best players, it also creates tournaments that all of its users can participate in. While Chess.com does not expose exactly how their cheat-detection methods work, their position in the chess world is large enough to sway perspectives even if their detection system is wrong. Which is why players from all over the world have decided to agree with the accusation of Hans. Chess.com also released a 72 page report on the scandal. Linked below.
https://www.chess.com/blog/CHESScom/hans-niemann-report
The reason for this is to show what power and authority Chess.com has. While their rules and regulations extend to the extent of their policy, their ability to regulate is much larger than that. Chess.com has assisted in regulating the image of a player. Their rules of cheat detection have caused other large chess platforms to raise their security. Which means that for platforms of large scale, oftentimes their rules and regulations are not only theirs but set the precedent for others to follow.
“Chess.com.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Oct. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess.com.
“Chess Policy.” Chess.com, https://www.chess.com/home.