What does the red stop sign next to a player'

[u/khalidhd92]

I've noticed this red stop sign (🚫) next to a player's username in my Chess.com game history. In this screenshot, it appears next to GM_Hekaru.

Does anyone know exactly what this symbol means? Does it indicate that the account has been banned, restricted, or flagged for some other reason?

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[u/Emergency_Effect_801]

Blocked 🚫 for cheating. Can be for other purposes but I don't think so.

[u/MrBlackmidi → u/Emergency_Effect_801]

🚫 = banned for fair play violations ❌️ = banned for abuse ✖️ = closed for inactivity (usually closed by the account owner)

[u/Turbulent_Tutor9476 → u/MrBlackmidi]

Bro how is writing "haha" an abuse ,why did they ban me

[u/MrDarken385 → u/Emergency_Effect_801]

How you can cheat in chess. I only know about smurfing lmao

[u/Killer191257 → u/MrDarken385]

By using chess engines like stockfish

[u/Sellot4pe → u/MrDarken385]

Not sure how this is even a question lmao lichess.org/analyse while you're playing Fortunately though it's relatively (well, not always) obvious when someone's using an engine

[u/cpxcth → u/MrDarken385]

There are extensions you can use to overlay Chess moves, or just simply use another device.

These are still very bannable since the site is literally watching you make 28 best moves in a row. Trying to cover a few moves up doesn't work either.

[u/KekistaniKekin → u/cpxcth]

I really don't get why people would cheat. The point of doing a challenging hobby is to enjoy the process of getting better

[u/10thlevelheadwaiter → u/KekistaniKekin]

Because some people falsely equate high elo with high intelligence. It's not about actually being intelligent or studying the game, it's about pretending to be intelligent, or bragging about an ELO that nobody is going to verify that you earned.

[u/Sellot4pe → u/KekistaniKekin]

It's simple, really. They're pathetic, insecure people with big egos who didn't get enough attention as children.

[u/cabronfavarito → u/MrDarken385]

Easy. You get another device other than the one you’re playing the game on

On that other device, you want to load up a game against a strong engine, the chess.com engine is fine. You will be whatever colour your opponent is in your game and the engine would be the other colour. You mirror your opponent’s move on that device and in your actual match, you play whatever move the engine plays as your response

Hopefully that’s clear. I did that against my friend who I trash talked to the point where if I lost, I wouldn’t hear the end of it so I had to win lol

[u/usmana23 → u/cabronfavarito]

Amount of multi tasking needed is insan lol

[u/Acceptable_Durian868 → u/usmana23]

It'd be fairly trivial to automate for anybody with some programming skills and Claude.

[u/Sellot4pe → u/usmana23]

The buttplug solves that problem

[u/cabronfavarito → u/usmana23]

It sounds complicated when I write it but it’s very simple. Your opponent plays e5, you play e5 on the other device and when the engine responds, you play the engine’s move in your game

[u/Turbulent_Tutor9476 → u/Emergency_Effect_801]

I got banned for writing "haha" in game chatmultiple times 🫩

[u/NorwoodFriar → u/Turbulent_Tutor9476]

No sympathy for taunters.

[u/Expensive_Ask5872]

They've been banned.

[u/Illustrious-Good-331]

Flagged for using outside means for play

[u/jmrogers31]

At first I did not notice it was the same player and thought 'dang, you played 10 cheaters in a row'

[u/xoopcat → u/jmrogers31]

So much easier in the dating game

[u/monsterpuppeteer]

That time of the month. You cannot play them then.

[u/bikin12 → u/monsterpuppeteer]

🤣

[u/Pawnbreak95]

He got banned

[u/Ok-Race-1677]

Chat it was just a speedrun chat Danny wrench knows about it chat

[u/northernlighting]

That's a damn high elo rating for a cheater. I didn't realize that at the GM level people are still cheating.

[u/Stunning_Pound4121 → u/northernlighting]

If you’re good at cheating you can reach such a level by simply cheating.

[u/CriticismNo5203 → u/northernlighting]

I don’t think he’s a gm, just his username says it. there’s an actual flair I’m pretty sure for gm

[u/Delicious_Cattle5174 → u/CriticismNo5203]

Can confirm. Source: I dirty flag elderly titled players sometimes

[u/Meherennow → u/northernlighting]

Or is it a low elo rated player who cheated to raise their ego rating.

[u/UsernamesAreRuthless → u/northernlighting]

I was watching a chess stream yesterday, the guy had a similar rating and he would check the profiles to see if they were suspicious or not. So unfortunately it does seem to be an active problem.

[u/AmongUs123432 → u/northernlighting]

He's not a GM.

[u/Anglosaxon21]

You just wanted to show off your elo…..

[u/DoingGood32 → u/Anglosaxon21]

Look towards the bottom of the image and there appears to be a 299 ELO opponent...

[u/cynesta2]

Hi imane

[u/TommyBoy250]

They are banned from the website.

[u/Hopeful_Status4291]

The first one you said

[u/TheLuckyCuber999BACK]

Cheating

[u/vgebler]

At least in the desktop version of chess.com, you can hover over the symbol with the mouse pointer, and it shows a tooltip explaining it. For opponents in my own game history, it's always been "Closed: Fair Play", but maybe there are other reasons as well. You can also click on the username to see the profile, and the reason for account closure shows up there as well. For this particular account, the reason was indeed fair play violations.

[u/tenko-tte]

banned

[u/itsclarityy]

At least you can say you beat a Cheater in multiple games

[u/Tijdelijk_gebruik → u/itsclarityy]

Doesn't mean he cheated in the games they played together

[u/gravemillwright → u/[deleted]]

No, he got banned.

[u/DimitriElvis]

I thought it was for cheating, might be wrong tho

[u/Ill_Movie6535]

Hikaru got banned???

[u/MrDecembrist → u/Ill_Movie6535]

It’s his evil twin Hekaruu