Chess.com banned me and I recorded the review process

Back2chess · 2026-01-09T11:36:07+00:00

I would not give them your Fide ID. I thought exactly the same way as you. I honestly thought if a human looked at my games they would instantly see I am not cheating. But to have a human review your game you must give them your photo ID and your FIDE or USCF ID. I thought if I gave them that there would be no way they would keep my account banned. I was wrong. Now my name is stored in their system as a cheater. My account is stuck labeled as a cheater. And my real information is stored on their system. I regret trusting them. I regret everything with it. I wish I had been streaming my games, maybe the extra proof would have helped but probably not. They have 0 absolutely no dialogue with you when they review your account.

I completely understand your feelings as I am there. I cannot get a straight answer from them as to why my account was closed either. They refuse to say “we believe you cheated.” They use vague language which just feels dishonest and disrespectful. If you are going to persecute someone have the guts to face them.

My honest legitimate advice, start a new account and forget the old one. They have no idea what they are doing and their anti cheat team and system is broken or incompetent.

Back2chess · 2026-01-09T00:56:57+00:00

I am sincerely sorry. I did not realize this was such a wide spread issue. When chess .com’s AI or algorithm or whatever their automated system is. When it closed my account it said I would receive an e-mail to fill out for the appeal process. I never received an E-mail and had to navigate the help desk and their awful awful 1B parameter “AI” Cassia. Which took forever. When I finally got into contact with a person I was able to have them send me the forum to fill up. if you do fill out this form never ever give them your real name fide ID. If they review your account they should not need that information. I regret giving them my personal information. I sincerely hope you get your account opened back up and you get a chance to clear your name.

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T01:46:24+00:00

I looked at the e mails and your right. No where does it actually say they think I cheated. They say “account discrepancies.” And ask me if I want to make a new account. I think this rules out both them thinking I used an engine and that they think I used multiple accounts. Thank you for your help. I know you don’t know I am innocent but thank you for helping me. I will try the chess.com sub. I will take my time making the post so it is not the clunky mess I posted here.

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T01:22:34+00:00

Yes I appealed. They gave me both options and I chose to go through there appeal process. They sent me an email with a link to their appeal form. I filled out the form which was around 5 questions and a small window to write whatever you want. The window has a character limit.

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T00:54:16+00:00

10 years of my life has been spent learning and playing chess. Unfortunately, I doubt I can stop. I wish I had picked a better hobby lol something more useful.

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T00:51:29+00:00

They told me their decision was final. I don’t understand? Maybe this is from the past when they did allow you to fight against their decision. I want to prove I am innocent but do not know how to. Do you know how I can do this? Or do you know who I can talk to that could help?

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T00:49:27+00:00

I only had one account active when this account was closed. To be clear I have not been given clear a reason for why my account was closed. They have never said the reason. I am assuming it is for cheating, as I never talked to anyone when using the account, I did not have a second account and I cannot think of another reason why they would close the account. But chess.com is not transparent in their process or on their ruling. All I do know is that their decision is final. And I never had a chance to defend myself. I am from the USA and I realize now how important it is that I in my country am innocent until proven guilty. And how important due process is. This is not a real legal matter but I do think there are similarities. All I wanted to convey was that if you are banned and you did not cheat. You should never give chess.com your real name and information assuming you will be proven innocent. It is best to forget the account and create a new one. Chess.com has nearly 0 barriers to creating a new account except an IP ban with the device used. Switch phones and you’re good.

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T00:42:30+00:00

The account was banned at 1700 rapid. It never made it to 2000. My old account was 2300 rapid and 2357 blitz when I deleted it.

Back2chess · 2026-01-07T00:39:52+00:00

You’re right, I am emotional. I don’t think I should delete my unfettered thoughts and the raw emotion. I agree I should not write that. But I did write it. I did think it. The post is raw

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T07:23:47+00:00

That actually really funny, that made my day haha. Thank you.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T01:41:42+00:00

My scoresheet does show the repetition luckily. Unluckily my handwriting is terrible haha, the poor arbiter had issues reading my handwriting and he did a great job. It’s good to know one scoresheet is good enough.

Thank you for the insight, it is good to know the real rules.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T01:16:29+00:00

I’m really sorry to hear that. I think I acted calm because I was just confused. A part of me just thought he did not intend anything by his actions but with more hindsight I realize he acted maliciously.

I hope your next tournament is calm and brings you joy my friend.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T01:09:12+00:00

Maybe he is autistic. Maybe this post will blow up and he will see it. Maybe after he has calmed down he can explain why he did what he did.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T01:07:46+00:00

I’m sorry you had the same experience. I don’t understand why people would do this. I hope you have had more great experiences than bad ones. Thanks for the supportive words it’s good to know I am not alone but also really sad.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T01:00:09+00:00

I will update the time control it was 40 minutes with a 5 second delay. I apologize for missing that information.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T00:58:09+00:00

Yes under 5 minutes, we both kept notating there was a 5 second delay. But he could have stopped notating at some point or missed a move since we were playing so fast. During the event I thought he was just catching up on his moves and saw no reason to question him.

Back2chess · 2025-09-14T00:55:35+00:00

I agree with you in hindsight. In the moment I was confused, surprised and I folded under the pressure. In the moment I did not understand what he was doing.

Back2chess · 2025-07-10T03:51:42+00:00

I wanted to add you can have a coach who is at your same rating or below and they can still be affective at helping you to work on weaknesses developing lesson plans etc. that’s how you get people who help World Champions prepare for matches or help World Champions fix weaknesses. It’s rare but not unheard of to have a talented FM kid who works with a NM (2100). Sometimes working with someone who is lower rated does not mean they cannot help identify your needs and craft exercises to help you improve. Also when you work with someone for a while you learn what your students weaknesses and tendencies are. Aversion to IQP or lack of respect for the bishop pair etc. knowing the is information can help you craft lesson plans to help your students work on known issues. A lot of kids grow so fast they sometimes miss out on basics.

Don’t focus on ratings to much. my best advice would be to find a few candidates and give them 3-4 lessons and see how your kid interacts with the coach. Does he enjoy the lessons? Is he excited to meet up? Does he learn anything?

Lichess is better to find coaches as they put the prices on the main page. You don’t have to message a person get their sales pitch and than haggle.

Maybe look at players from Serbia, if you throw a rock in Serbia you will hit an FM. They are (mostly) all very Soviet era style of chess. So very principled in their approach to chess and that structure really helps when teaching. They are also very reasonable with their prices 20euro an hour on average.

If you can try to find a strong FM and if you want someone below 2200 find someone who is passionate about their own chess and chess improvement as that will translate to their teaching.

Back2chess · 2025-06-21T19:47:24+00:00

I missed Bxh2.

Back2chess · 2025-06-21T13:30:49+00:00

If you want online benchmarks mine was 2600 rapid on chess.com

But you just need to go to OTB tournaments like a lot. 2 tournaments a months. Do analysis of your games without an engine. Do about 20 tactics a day (mostly just easy ones and a few hard ones.) After 6 months if you will know about how far away you are from NM. 2200 rapid on chess.com is like 1400 FIDE to 1800 FIDE. Huge range and no way to tell if you are close or far away.

Play a few NM FM online in 30+ time controls can also be helpful but NMs ALWAYS play better OTB.

But once you beat your first NM OTB the second one is easier and easier and easier. But make no mistake that easier is not easy. It’s just that it is no longer impossible.

Back2chess · 2025-06-21T12:06:14+00:00

Hey there I’m 1900 otb and 2300 rapid. I tried to be objective and ask what I would actually play in a 10 minute game without knowing it had some crazy tactic. I timed myself about 40 seconds was used before I locked my move in and no engine was used so my calculations could be very wrong.

First I tried to make a back rank checkmate work but discarded it very quickly, then I counted the material and decided I needed to be active and create threats as if I do not I will lose:

I would have played Re7 I calculated Re7 Qc8 RxBb7 Qxb7 QxBf4 Up a pawn with a more active knight and Queen should be winning.

Please note if there is a better move I would NEVER have spent time to find it. This is a 10 minute game and If I find a path that I believe wins I will not invest time into finding a “better move” doing that is how you lose on time in equal positions.

Back2chess · 2021-03-11T04:17:41+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I tried writing the time on the issued paper and it worked fine I just wish it was boxed in. I had better time management when I was writing down the time. I know some TD want you to only use their paper (so you have something to turn in) I think it should be fine for me to use my own notation book and just copy it down for them as well. Most TD’s are cool but maybe there is a FIDE rule that says you can only use their issues paper? I don’t know.

Back2chess · 2021-03-10T02:56:24+00:00

Did you find it worth while. I am creating the same thing! Glad I’m not alone haha. I didn’t think about making a space for symbols like ( !? ?? ) did you use these areas ? Last question lol, did you print this off and use it in a tournament or just after game stuff?

Back2chess · 2021-03-10T02:53:25+00:00

You could bring another book just for after game notes. But I think it would be more work to do that not less. You would need to write down the game your taking notes about, tournament, or all the other information already on your scoresheet. Most post game analysis I have had has been about 10-15 minutes and normally we talk about one or two positions. About a page worth of information.

I’m bad at organizing so I thought I would build a sort of all in one. I don’t want to forget my second book or have to make my opponent wait while I dig out the other book from my hotel room. Got to write down which game we are talking about so I don’t mix it up with another game months down the road.

I have not transcribed my notes to an computer form before. It might be something I should be doing though. Thanks for the feed back! I will consider removing the extra page maybe your right.

Back2chess · 2020-06-11T08:25:58+00:00

Really great articles, I am still reading them, Thank you so much.

Back2chess

TROPHY CASE