Chess.com Fair Play Endorsement by US Chess

June 3, 2020 In our ongoing initiatives to make online rated play more available and to provide more certainty about the integrity of online games, the US Chess Executive Board worked with the US Chess Ratings Committee to review Chess.com’s fair play methodology. A subcommittee of the Ratings Committee, composed of experts in statistics and other quantitative fields, examined Chess.com’s approach and concluded, “We are confident that the system is able to eventually detect players using computer assistance with very little likelihood of falsely accusing a player.” US Chess has invited other chess server vendors to follow a similar course, noting that there are experts who would be willing to sign Nondisclosure Agreements, as was done with Chess.com, to review the details of their fair play methodologies. The review of other platforms are at varying stages and there could be vendors who decline to participate. So, what does this mean in practical terms? The letter of endorsement from the US Chess Executive Board for Chess.com's and ChessKid.com’s fair play methodology should give confidence to US Chess members that online-rated events will have a high degree of integrity of play on the Chess.com platforms. The letter also emphasizes that the endorsement does not abrogate the rights of a US Chess member to due process if accused of cheating in a formal complaint to the US Chess Ethics Committee. Evidence of supposed cheating detected by the fair play method may or may not be adequate to support a charge that a player has violated the US Chess Code of Ethics. To read the full letter of endorsement from the Executive Board, click here.