The Fifth Ranked Player

The current 5th ranked player on this site at 2289 128-0-2 reaches new ratings highs with every game, within points of NMs and WGMs with apparently no title himself, online almost 24 hours a day, all since November 3. Does anyone think this Boy Wonder is for real?

I agree with Reservesmonkey, 128-0-2 is almost impossible, but now he have more than 40 games in progress, and why still having open seeks?  does he has the time to play a lot of games??

I dont know what to thinkg about him, he was observed at CHEATERS thread in the forum

A public forum is not a place to accuse someone of cheating. You'll run off all the good players and this site will be nothing more than a bunch of cry babies who always complain about whoever is on top. 

Agreed with the above and th eone above that.

Demuxer gets the point, Loomis I have no idea what your point is. I never said he was cheating. I asked if he's for real. I'm not at the level to determine that (apparently Mr. Loomis has such skills.) I wanted to know what others think. When you reach the top level of the game here you are a celebrity, the cream of the tens of thousands of members, not just someone at home playing net chess. If he is legitimate, its a heck of a story and should be publicized.

If chess.com wants to keep the ratings honest and above reproach maybe it should have some of its titled players analyze the games of any non-titled player in the top 10. Erik and Matt are very hands on, maybe they could get to know them, find out about them, write up some articles.  Anyone who can be 128-0-2 while playing FIFTY games at once with 10 open seeks at all times while online 20 hours a day should be playing Anand and Kramnik! Certainly that should set off some alarm bells somewhere without my having to mention it. I am hardly the first person to ask about this:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/cheaters

 It doesn't really matter to me at my level since I'll never meet 2289 in a game, so if Loomis doesn't care if he's playing against a bot, neither do I. You never really can tell who might be anyway

"I never said he was cheating. I asked if he's for real."

What else would you mean by questioning if he is "for real" other than he is cheating. Plus, you have suggested he's cheating on other threads, so I'm not making a leap here.

My point is that if a strong player is greeted with accusations of cheating, he's likely to not stick around in this environment. As you lose the very top players, the next level will see less benefit in playing here and won't play as much. You'll simply wind up with a dearth of strong players. (Currently being in about the top 2 percent of players, it's already difficult to get games with stronger players, so yes, this is a real concern for me.)

"I'm not at the level to determine that (apparently Mr. Loomis has such skills.) " 

You can, using a computer program, look at Izo's games. And despite his very good play, the computer can identify errors. So I believe he is not cheating. These are not just errors that can be explained by "well, he is sometimes being deceptive by choosing second or third best moves that still win," these are errors that could have cost him the game.

So, to answer your original question, "Is he for real?". I believe that yes, in fact, he is for real.

I think we need to be very careful with anything overtly negative or anything that could be insinuated as such about people in the forums. I think the first post in this thread probably crosses a line.

I agree, the record is very suspicious. I personally have not looked at his games, though it sounds like maybe I should.. I may learn something.

But the idea of bringing up issues about members of this site in an open forum is a distasteful one to me.

You have a beef with me and you present it here in this forum. Certainly the player in question can also address me here as you did. Where else would this be discussed? This is of "community interest" as the person in question is one of our most elite players, not merely a regular chess duffer or club player. You have your head in the sand if you dont see that he will soon be #1 with the highest rating chess.com has ever seen. That will be what drives out the titled players on this site.

I will await your apologies when this "all comes out in the wash" next month and I will offer a hearty "I told you so!"

I don't have a beef with you Reservesmonkey, I simply think we need to be careful calling out members by name in the forums. I agree with you, it is suspicious, and I agree, cheating is a problem. I personally think public accusations is a problem that could harm this site much worse and much faster than cheating could.

Furthermore, I think most people have noticed this member. You haven't helped anybody see anything new with your post... so there won't be any "I told you so's". Nor would anybody owe you any apologies if it ever turned out that this member is a cheater.

Titled players aren't forced to list their titles.

  Well i'm sorry it's not for me tosay who is cheating and who is not but i used to play on the USCF site and everytime you lost a game it was because your opponent thought it was because they were brilliant and when you won it was because you cheated. Izo's record is amazing that's true but unless someone can prove he is cheating give him his credit, maybe he is just that good.