Is classical time control = cheating nest?

@h2b2 said in #10:

There's a team on lichess for classical games. I don't know much about it other than it used to exist...
Some time ago I wrote an overview of options to play classical tournaments here:
https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/joining-a-team-for-classical-league#2
If you want to play serious classical games on lichess, 4545 League and its side events (LoneWolf, Series, ...) are IMHO the best option.

You'll encounter cheaters more often in the pool when your classical rating increases. Play tournaments to avoid it (ex: Lichess4545) but the downside is that you have to schedule your matchups.

H2b2,I think you don't have to worry about chess. I own a club, and I think if I see a crook, I'll just kick him out of the club.

I reported one of your recent opponents. In my experience cheaters are rare but I've reported about a dozen, none from my one games, over the years.

LiChess bans after every report I make; they do a wonderful job.

Let's see what happens after this report.

@BabyPoltergeist said in #12:

Play tournaments to avoid it (ex: Lichess4545) but the downside is that you have to schedule your matchups.
For games where you need to expect them to take from two (30+30) to four (90+30) hours, having them scheduled in advance may not necessarily be seen as a downside, as long as you have reasonably predictable schedule. But yes, it's quite different from the usual online workflow "I have some free time now, let's play chess."

One of the 2 people I've reported just got banned. It's good to be right!
But I didn't get my lovely 20 classic rating points back :|

I just received the Someone you reported was banned message.

LiChess the leader in chess web sites!

@Enlightenmania2022 said in #1:

But since all of this isn't a prove of cheating, my question is, did you ever notice that in classical time control this ... interesting thingy .... is much more problematic?

It didn't seem so to me. Lately, I've been losing more classical games than usual, but that's because I got into the habit of playing them too superficially ( for a while now, only the 15+10 rapid games have remained the ones I play when I'm most focused ).

The truth is, though, I don't really care that much about the cheating issue. If you don't mind reading, I can explain.

My point is this: I don't see who is on the other side, and what he does.

There could be more than just stockfish. So to speak, how do I know that my opponent is not a kid with a friend ( or his father ) sitting next to him, who suggests some moves ? How do I know that that game wasn’t actually played - without cheating - by his brother, who is a little better than him, and who occasionally uses his account ? Just examples.

The point is therefore: nobody gives me any certainty about what the opponent is doing ( I don't even know who's back there ! ), as on the contrary it happens in any serious competitive event.

To be clear: I don't turn doubts into certainties. Who can prove to me that cheaters are 5%, or 50% , or more ? No one. And I don't even think about trying to quantify the phenomenon myself, based on my insignificant personal statistics. Personally, I tend to think there aren't that many, but I could be wrong.

So, since there is no certainty, I only think about my game: I'm happy when I manage to play well enough, and when I lose I try to focus on the mistakes I made. As for cheaters, there are detection systems, they do what they can do. And when no action is taken, it is probably because it is impossible to prove guilt; and when in doubt, rightly, no action is taken.

Maybe I went off topic, but I think the question you raise is related to the more general one.
Just my personal perspective.