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Date: 02 Jan 2009 16:48:46
From: Mike Murray
Subject: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
I ran into a new cheat technique today, while playing a casual game on
playchess (using Fritz 10 interface).

Maybe somebody can tell me how it works or what exactly my opponent
did.

He was a couple pieces down in a two minute game when he starting
flooding me with offers to let me retract my last move, intermingled
with offers to play another game, and as I was clicking "No", he
claimed a win on disconnect, then kept spewing the take-back offers.

Sure, it was an unrated game and I could have just bagged it, but I
wanted to see what he was up to. Based on the opening, I believe I've
played this guy before and he's a fish, but I can't be sure -- we
were both playing as guest.

All of a sudden, the screen showed me resigning! Game over.

Anybody have an idea as to what he did? Or what I did to make
playchess believe I'd resigned.




 
Date: 02 Jan 2009 18:42:14
From: help bot
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Jan 2, 7:48=A0pm, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:

> I ran into a new cheat technique today, while playing a casual game on
> playchess (using Fritz 10 interface).
>
> Maybe somebody can tell me how it works or what exactly my opponent
> did.
>
> He was a couple pieces down in a two minute game when he starting
> flooding me with offers to let =A0me retract my last move, intermingled
> with offers to play another game, and as I was clicking "No", he
> claimed a win on disconnect, then kept spewing the take-back offers.
>
> Sure, it was an unrated game and I could have just bagged it, but I
> wanted to see what he was up to. =A0Based on the opening, I believe I've
> played this guy before and he's a fish, but I can't =A0be sure -- we
> were both playing as guest.
>
> All of a sudden, the screen showed me resigning! =A0Game over.
>
> Anybody have an idea as to what he did? =A0Or what I did to make
> playchess believe I'd resigned.


I've never played there, but this looks like a
possible new "secret weapon" for the folks at
GetClub to consider adding to their repertoire.

Are you certain you did not *lose on time*?

Clicking all those buttons may have stopped
you from being able to move on the board,
and this would seem to be the, um, "strategy"
involved here. This is why I never play two
minute chess. In fact, even in a regular blitz
game it seems that some people have a
special advantage, their moves not ticking off
any move-clock time while mine can eat up
several seconds apiece.


-- help bot




  
Date: 11 Jan 2009 23:40:33
From:
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Jan 2, 7:58=A0pm, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 19:29:39 -0800 (PST), "Wlodzimierz Holsztynski
>
> (Wlod)" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >On Jan 2, 7:03 pm, Mike Murray <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> Flooding you with draw offers, take-back offers, etc.,
> >> when you're down to a few seconds is a known technique
> >> to cause you to lose on time, but that's not what happened.
> >Would it be difficult to write a script
> >which sends such offers automatically,
> >at, say one offer per two seconds
> >or even more often? The algorithm would be easy.
> >One just has to be good at knowing Internet
> >interfaces.
>
> I suspected this is what he might be doing. =A0I've had other bullet
> games where my opponent sent a flurry of smart-ass =A0comments, and my
> initial reaction was "how can he type so fast" and then realized =A0he
> was probably using some keyboard macro or =A0script.
>
> The big mystery is how he spoofed a "resigns" from me, although as the
> bot suggested, I can't be sure that wasn't a finger-fehler on my part.

It may be pssible to redirect mouse clicks, while iinitiating a
'scroll' macro.

Try playing on yahoo for a while to learn all the new and improved old
hacks. I thought playchess would be free of this, but free is free
and lax security comes with that.


  
Date: 02 Jan 2009 19:29:39
From: Wlodzimierz Holsztynski (Wlod)
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Jan 2, 7:03 pm, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:

> Flooding you with draw offers, take-back offers, etc.,
> when you're down to a few seconds is a known technique
> to cause you to lose on time, but that's not what happened.

Would it be difficult to write a script
which sends such offers automatically,
at, say one offer per two seconds
or even more often? The algorithm would be easy.
One just has to be good at knowing Internet
interfaces.

Regards,

Wlod


   
Date: 02 Jan 2009 19:58:04
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 19:29:39 -0800 (PST), "Wlodzimierz Holsztynski
(Wlod)" <[email protected] > wrote:

>On Jan 2, 7:03 pm, Mike Murray <[email protected]> wrote:

>> Flooding you with draw offers, take-back offers, etc.,
>> when you're down to a few seconds is a known technique
>> to cause you to lose on time, but that's not what happened.

>Would it be difficult to write a script
>which sends such offers automatically,
>at, say one offer per two seconds
>or even more often? The algorithm would be easy.
>One just has to be good at knowing Internet
>interfaces.

I suspected this is what he might be doing. I've had other bullet
games where my opponent sent a flurry of smart-ass comments, and my
initial reaction was "how can he type so fast" and then realized he
was probably using some keyboard macro or script.

The big mystery is how he spoofed a "resigns" from me, although as the
bot suggested, I can't be sure that wasn't a finger-fehler on my part.


  
Date: 02 Jan 2009 19:18:51
From: help bot
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Jan 2, 10:03=A0pm, Mike Murray <[email protected] > wrote:

> > =A0Are you certain you did not *lose on time*?
>
> No, it specifically showed me as resigning. =A0I had plenty of time left
>
> Flooding you with draw offers, take-back offers, etc., when you're
> down to a few seconds is a known technique to cause you to lose on
> time, but that's not what happened.


In that case, you may have inadvertently clicked
a "resigns" button, or some other button which
leads to the same result. This guy seems really
good at cheating-- a /virtuoso/ of sorts.

I am reminded of the movie, The Onion Field, in
which James Woods plays a fellow who believes
(quite mistakenly) that he is a virtuoso... .


-- help bot




   
Date: 02 Jan 2009 19:54:37
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 19:18:51 -0800 (PST), help bot
<[email protected] > wrote:


> In that case, you may have inadvertently clicked
>a "resigns" button, or some other button which
>leads to the same result.

Possible, I suppose. I was trying to be very careful not to do that,
since (1) I wanted to see what he was up to and (2) I didn't want him
to get away with it. But, without an event transcript, how to know
for sure?

I was hoping somebody else might have had a similar experience.


  
Date: 02 Jan 2009 19:03:34
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: new cheating technique on PlayChess.com
On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:42:14 -0800 (PST), help bot
<[email protected] > wrote:


> Are you certain you did not *lose on time*?

No, it specifically showed me as resigning. I had plenty of time left

Flooding you with draw offers, take-back offers, etc., when you're
down to a few seconds is a known technique to cause you to lose on
time, but that's not what happened.