A big thumbs up - a cheat's comeuppance

Chess website moderators are a much maligned lot! They are continually having to listen to members moan or falsely accuse someone of something. So I am going to post a positive message for these much needed people.

I have an issue with people who force me to suspect that they are not exactly playing fairly. Maybe it's my English upbringing but I hate complaining about anything other than the weather. I am more likely to let a suspected cheat get away with it, whilst muttering feverishly under my breath.

Today I could not do that and complained about someone who to my mind was either sandbagging or cheating. I am becoming quite a regular competitor in the 10 minute rapid tournaments - still nowhere near winning one mind.

I rate between 1800 and 1900 and was paired with someone rated 1100. I got soundly thrashed in my favourite Kings Indian defence. I had no choice but to complain. I can't explain how indignant I felt being completely humiliated by someone ranked a whopping 700 points worse than myself.

Within five minutes of posting my complaint, the miscreant had been banned and my points returned to me.

What an excellent service, coupled with an excellent site. I always feel bad shopping someone but I couldn't let this one pass as I normally would, why should I. This person spoiled my enjoyment of a friendly, healthy game of chess.

A massive round of applause for the moderators please.

kind regards
Bernard

i dont agree with you 100% about moderators. i dont like them sometimes do weird things. example today I posted at the lichess feedback forum askin' why lichess doesn't remember the board size setting *board geometry-board size every time i log off my board changes back to the normal size and my post got deleted from the forum why? and there is this most famous ingrid vengeance elo padding in horde playing only 1/2 horde always with white, aborts half of the games yet no action done. many sandbaggers are banned but not her nop.

@Oxytocinblb Bernard, you come across as morally bankrupt. You'd sell your own mother to the devil if it'd get you your lost points back. Blocked.

Uum...welll....this is awkward.

I agree with the OP!
Go lichess mods! @Oxytocinblb

What is a sandbagger?

A sandbagger is someone who purposely loses rating points.
A common way of doing this is starting many rated games and quickly rushing out the king each time to get mated in a few moves, or just resigning.
This is sometimes done for access to rating limited tournaments, and sometimes for other reasons.
Sandbagging is punishable by a permanent ban from rated games and a badge of shame, much like those for cheating.

@Loves-Down-Tango, Not the brightest idea to post in this thread when you've been cheating. Your account is now marked for engine use too. Cheers !

Thanks for the replies.

@Loves-Down-Tango Really?? I'm not sure I follow your reasoning. The post was meant as a thank you to people trying to keep the site clean and healthy for the enjoyment of all.

@WPhOZA9kB97Y7vNrpCkP . i did not for one moment suggest the mods were the perfect embodiment of anything. But I like to reward positive things when they happen. The whole idea of a game/sport is excellence within the rules. The better player should win and mods help to ensure this. They may not get it right all the time but sometimes they do. Fair is fair.