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Probabilities, Natural Justice, and Chess.com: Part 3

Now I think it is time for some actual chess moves. I want you to see the last game I played that I think led to the suspension. This extract from my appeal to Chess.com – which they have not addressed – indicates what I think is important about this game.

I used the Tactical Analysis function of Fritz16 and found my moves are 'only' 87% accurate with white's being 32% accurate. I think Fritz is much closer to the actual state of play than whatever engine you have used to get the 98.3 and 63.3 figures. 

If you look at the game, you will see white made a serious mistake on move 8 and by move 11 I had a comfortable position. 

From here to the end of the game I did not have to calculate anything more than a few moves deep - there is nothing in my play that I believe would lead an experienced player to conclude I had played non-human moves or cheated.’ 


(c) Geoffrey Moore 2020.  Originally published by "En Passant" (vol 25: July 2020).
[Event "Norfolk Live Classic"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2020.05.26"] [Round "3"] [White "Lyall, Hamish"] [Black "Moore, Geoffrey"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D32"] [WhiteElo "1498"] [BlackElo "1824"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2020.05.26"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. dxc5 d4 {This is what I thought was a sideline in the Tarrasch Defence to the Queen's Gambit Declined but it has been played by elite players in recent years and in online blitz chess is one of the common replies I get.} 7. Ne4 Qd5 8. Nc3 ({White should play} 8. Nd6+ $11 Bxd6 9. cxd6 {says Fritz, and it is hard to disagree. I have faced this and 8.Ng3 in blitz games}) 8... Qxc5 {slight advantage to black says Fritz. Already I was happy and optimistic that I would win this game. I thought I had a space advantage, and my d-pawn must be an irritation to white. He needs to move his knight on c3 and play g2-g3 and then Bg2 or play e2-e3 and Be2 to be able to castle king side, all of which takes time. Already I was wondering about how I could keep his king in the centre.} 9. Ne4 Qd5 10. Ng3 Nf6 {[#]} 11. e3 {Here I had a think. I knew I should play a bishop move but which one first? And then I should castle, but long or short? The time I spent on this move on the chess.com site (3 min 34 sec) shows this was not a rapid decision by me.} Bg4 12. Be2 Bb4+ 13. Bd2 dxe3 14. Bxb4 {I was surprised to see this. Perhaps it is too soon to say this is the losing mistake but maybe not. I am now going to go a pawn ahead and white will have his king open to attack.} exf2+ 15. Kxf2 Nxb4 16. Qa4+ Nc6 17. Rhd1 Qc5+ 18. Kf1 O-O 19. Rac1 Qb6 20. b3 {Since my 14th move I have played quickly. I hope none of you reading this are puzzled by my moves; all I wanted to do was to avoid exchanges as much as possible and keep his king in the centre. But now I needed to think, and the chess.com time register shows I did (3 min). I recall wondering about moving rooks to the central files but thinking that would just lead to exchanges, which would help white. And so I played what I think is the obvious move, aiming to get a knight on the weak e3 square via d5.} Nb4 21. Rc4 (21. Ne5 {was called for says Fritz but black is still winning after} Nbd5) 21... Nbd5 {Fritz says black now has a winning advantage} 22. Ke1 (22. Rxd5 $142 {was a move I spent some time thinking about but I remain with an attack against white's king and material ahead, It's what Fritz prefers though}) 22... Bxf3 23. Bxf3 Rfe8+ 24. Ne2 Qg1+ {[#]} 25. Kd2 Qe3+ ({For me, this is an important move. Over the previous few moves, which took a total of 9 min 10 sec from move 20, I had envisaged this position and played the text instantly. However, Fritz says that} 25... Qf2 {is best, a move that I don't recall considering}) 26. Kc2 Nb6 {My earlier analysis had ended with this position. I retain the initiative and win even more material!} 27. Qb5 Nxc4 28. bxc4 Rac8 { I don't think this is a difficult move to see, and together with my next 4 moves it only took 3 min 39 sec . My b-pawn is poisoned and his c-pawn is a target that shields his king!} 29. Rd3 Qf2 30. Rd2 a6 31. Qb3 b5 32. Nc3 Qc5 { From now on I didn't spend much time on any of my moves.} 33. cxb5 axb5 34. Kb2 b4 35. Ne2 {[#]} Rxe2 36. Bxe2 Qc1# 0-1
3 thoughts on “Probabilities, Natural Justice, and Chess.com: Part 3
  1. How dumb of chess.com! The problem is they employ people who get this job for being very clever, so they may find it difficult to admit they’re wrong and their accusations are just based on assumptions, which can be false.

    1. Chess.com might have the smartest anti-cheating methodology in the world. Or the dumbest. They are not going public on how they do this. So unfortunately, no one outside the “circle of trust” is allowed to have an informed opinion either way.

      Doubtless chess.com have their reasons for their policy of non-disclosure. However, like President Trump and his celebrated tax-returns, those who are not transparent with their stakeholders lay themselves open to a reasonable suspicion that they have something embarrassing they would like to hide.

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