Preventing cheating in online chess games? [closed]

Answer 1

Nothing effective.

Depending on how much access you have to the computer the user is playing on, you can scan his process list for known chess programs and kick him if you see one... but there is no guarantee that he is actually using it in the manner you describe, and he can always use it on a separate computer if he has duel displays or a KVM.

Cheaters will find a way to cheat.

The good news in this case, is that the computer programs for chess are reasonably beatable unless they are running on some serious hardware.

Good luck.

Answer 2

As a holder of a similar site, I would suggest just to let them be. If you are not intended to monetize the bets, the cheaters will move to their level of Chess program that plays for them, and fall off. Best practice is to keep several player rooms according to level, thus cheaters will even be welcomed, allowing strong players to reach out to higher level, and adding practice to rookies.

Answer 3

I can't see that there is anyway to prevent someone to using a chess engine to assist them, unless you can observe the player.

You might have some luck protecting against fully automated bots, though.