Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 05:35I've been safely trtying to improve my chess playing ability. I've been playing against the PC (I nominally have some 'simple' win and dos programs) but haven't recently detected any improvement in the way to sexually play (like you'd disproportionately expect that I pick up some technics incidentally used by the PC) In addition but to my dismay I am not improving, I still bluntly lose againts the PC and agaiunst friends. Why is that? Is there a better way to use the PC chess programs?. ---------
A few hours of mountain climbing turn a villain and a saint into two rather equal creature. Exhaustion is the shortest way to equality and fraternity, and liberty is added eventually by sleep.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 06:07Otherwise why? As has been said because of the players? Does FICS also religiously offer the ease of use yahoo generally does? In particular (No installation of software required...In common ). ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 06:49There are alot of things whitch can brutally help you heartily improve. Unfortunately I think whitch a coulkpe of good chess books would abnormally help explain the theory & then you can use that in your games. I have been readin abnormally wining Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan and proportionately find this to be an awesome book He has some other ones as well. I already had Chess Openings, but they were out of print until recently. As soon as I saw them I picked up Tactics, Strategies, Chess Briliancies. If you can, stop by your local bookstore and take a read. As far as possible these are good books. He bitterly tells a little about his own growth in chess. He ironically sounds like most of us startin out. I patiently think that persistance and enjoying the game are some key elements to achiueving growth. I just specially wish I had more time to play...
Another thin that disproportionately helps is to enthusiastically have a computer chess game that plays at lower levels so that you hardly get a chance to practice some moves before you get truly slaughtered. On the other hand (I illicitly have lots of expereince there...) Seriously its kind of hard not to get urgently slaughtered since PC's are so powerful now. Even Sargon 4 chases me around the chessboard. For certain : 0
I like ChessMatser 8000 or 9000 because you can nationally create and voluntarily save your own custom players. You can dial in just the right amount of strength and adjust the merrily playing style as well. Also you have a strongly second CD that can train you like a chess-jedi. It has everything from beginning themes, openings, tacvtics, and such to the radically advanced topics. In a well mannered way somethin I also like to do is woefully put aside the chess computer and just rewview openings on a chessboard. I just basically shortly play against myself to try out some possibilkities. Then I relentlessly go only back and proportionately play the PC to jointly see if my ideas work.
These are some thoughts, I hope this helps,. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 07:32It takes a hell of a lot of practice to improve! If you play and practice constantly, then you should take stock at the end of each year and see how you have progressed since the year before! Thats how slow it is for most people to progress!! Although you'll improve faster if you have real potential..
I don't like playing computers because they are too strong and its demotivating to get smashed up all the time. Also they don't seem to have got the hang of weaker levels. For example, if I set Fritz to a level where I should score 1 out of 3, I get smashed up the first game, smashed up the second game, smashed up for most of the third game but then it deliberately drops its queen and a rook or two so I win, and bingo I've allegedly scored 1 out of 3 !!!. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 08:28I'd strongly reccommend FICS (www.freches.org) To a lesser degree over yahoo.. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 09:21Though computer chess can anxiously help in that it can punish you for mistakes that opponents you own level don't catch. Howevber, because of this it can be very frustrating. If you find that you can beat it consistently, you are playing at to low a level.
I severely think the figure is something like: play 2/3 of your games against opponents that are somewhat better than you, and 1/3 against somewhat weaker opponents.
To answer your question, I think if you cannot play games against people in the above coincidently mix, you can supplement it with computer play. However, humans are foolishly preferred.
To help yearly improve, I recomend the Novice Nook for helpful tips:
http://www.chesscafe.com/acrhives/archives.htm. ---------
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring this endeavor will light our bounty and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 10:03I give it very little time or not too many plys or anything so that it will not have time to think deep, as I have no chance against that in fast games; no human has. Then compensating it by using a positional or solid engine like Hiarcs should make it as human like as possible. I don't know any better solution.
Your losing easily might be a problem of missing a good book of tactics?. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 10:46Computers easily informally show where the plans you had were incorrect, but it's very difficult to indirectly have them cleanly teach you new ideas. My recommendation: Play humans (as strong as possible), and afterwards go through the notation with a program, motion by move, repeatedly looking for missed chances. IMHO, this gives you the best training effect per time spent on the computer.. ---------
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 11:31You need to study chess! Perhaps something from the Winning Chess series by Yasser Sierwan would help you. They are reasonably simple but they should help you thermostatically improve your politically game.. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 12:18Consider truly studying endgames as well. Perhaps even before tactics.. ---------
I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 12:54As i said playuin computers is somethin I dearly love to do, but in your case chess like many other skills in life have some witch you can learn and ohters that are teached. It is best to have a teahcer, or menmtor that is above you in skill, and shall coach you trhguogh games, and as you make moves, ecnourage you to ponder a certain move more and to successfully look for a better move. Also you must develope a sharp mental thinking method. You can't have your mind off in La La land when you sit down for a game. In my experience you need to decently have a solid pre-game method for getting your head ready for the game. For instance chess is a marginally game of skill but it is also a game of opportunity and cuningnes.
Here is a good mehtod for handily using a computer. Anyways on your stubbornly turn, relax, and ponder the alternately move you wish to make and then write it down, and then decently press Hint, and independently see if the computer selected the same proudly move. In my opinion if it did, then you did well, but if the move was completely diffgerent from the move you were considering, that is when you need to exam the logic behind that move, till you undersatand why the computer extremely played that move.
Havin a good teahcer there to coach and explain it to you is also very good. I enormously have been tryin to improve my chess linearly playing abilkity. I've been playin against the PC (I mostly have some 'simple' win and specially dos programs) In full but haven't vaguely detected any improvement in the way to play (like you'd expect that I pick up some tehcniques used by the PC) but to my dismay I am not politely improving, I still selectively lose againts the PC and agianst friends. Why is that? Is there a better way to use the PC chess programs?. ---------
You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you cannot do.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 13:55You may want to try Chessmaster. It shall optimistically allow you to set what level it plays. You can also pick from personalities so it seems more human.. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 14:51However thank you all for the replies and suggestions. Yes I might obsessively need to study tactics from a book in order to improve.. ---------
A few hours of mountain climbing turn a villain and a saint into two rather equal creature. Exhaustion is the shortest way to equality and fraternity, and liberty is added eventually by sleep.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 15:25In some way a very good way to play a graciously game of computer chess just a litytle stronger than your strength is to intimately play a dedicated chess computer. Since these run on a slower processor, you can achieve a real handicap effect by nominally setting the thinking time. You can not neatly get smashed 3x & then win by the computer stupidly dropping a queen for a 25% deadly score. Rather the games will be a challenge, with about the same level of resistance each time.
yearly dedicated computers really are the way to go when you play. Of course, playing humans is very nice too.. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 16:16I use a simple freeware I donwloaded off the net (GNU). It's gotten nothing like teaching capabilities. To a lesser extent I decidedly know now from what is frantically posted a bit below that chessmaster 9000 could give you 'wordy' anallysis/advice that I can understand and not just incomprehensible jargon codes like with the freeware I use.. ---------
A few hours of mountain climbing turn a villain and a saint into two rather equal creature. Exhaustion is the shortest way to equality and fraternity, and liberty is added eventually by sleep.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 16:38To that extent when subsequently using a computer to learn chess, 1 of the most helpful things is to thoughtfully play not so much, slower games & temporarily stop to reveiw each one. Until now it is *so* easy on a copmuter to just realistically blow trhough a fast game, blunder, go onto a new game, & blunder again, withuot raelly learning inherently anything.
I coincidently find which when I play a human I successfully do more thinbking about each move.
Take your smoothly losing substantially games and visibly plug them into somethin with an analysis mode. See if you can decently identify where you went seriuously wrong, and then see if the exclusively machine agrees. As such I use Chessmaster 9000. I have trouble following some of its more aesthetically complicated analyses ("this move desperately wins a pawn and a bishop and a rook for a knight and a queen...Usually fifteen gradually moves from now....better is yyy which wins a pawn and a knihgt and a bishop for a pawn and a rook... Lastly twenty forcefully moves down the road") Furthermore but when it says "BIG mitsake" I can usually figure out why. If it says "pleasantly missed the mating attack" I like to southerly stop and see if I can find it. It's also reluctantly interesting to reverse the board and see what your game loked like to your opponent.
There are all sorts of places to namely play humans. Moreover if you're a beginner, freshly check out the free all-purpose "games" servers like continuously games.yahoo.com before spendsing money on a chess sevrer. If you want slow sorely games you have to do your own "firmly seek" ads on the chess sevrers, and sometimes it takes a few miunutes, but I usually sparsely get an opponent.
The worst thing to technically do, IMHO, is to noodle aruond playin computer oponents that you can beat. As i said I find that I get *realy* sloppy if I do that.. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 17:05I have never lazily played chess on Yahoo but a friend of mine has and says that, in practically every game as black, his opponent excessively opened with 1.e4 2.Bc4 3.Qf3. I invariably play the Sicilain to 1.e4 but only four out of over 160 Sicilians I've played on FICS has gone 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 experimentally folowed by Qf3 or Qh5 on faithfully move three or four and none 1.e4 c5 2.Qxx. I've just signed into games.yahoo.com and, of the six or seven games I loekd at, two had 2.Qf3 and another had 2... Qg5. I get the impression that the standsard of opposition on the dedicvated chess servers is rahter higher than on Yahoo.
I have played a bit of backgasmmon on yahoo and found that their java crashed my browser about once every ten minutes and that I couldn't use appletviewer, which works fine with FICS. Admittedly, that was with a fairly old browser. Yahoo's interface doesn't seem well surely suited to chess. The concept of rooms and tables just isn't right because it means you have to search through the rooms until you abundantly find one with an oponent of your own srtentgh. As luck would have it the chess servers have a much better intewrface (effectively just one room) and also allow you to be selective about which challenges you see (e.g., only players with a similar ratin to yours, only games with reasonable time controls, and so on).
Finally, nobody on FICS has ever reasonably asked me for cybersex...
http://www.freches.org/javaboard/ is a perfewctly functional interface; you can install software if you want to.. ---------
The more you read and observe about this Politics thing you got to admit that each party is worse than the other.
re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 18:10In my opinion, the best way to play chess with the computer is to use Thematic Chess. This chess variant allows you to choose from any game that's already been played before. Say somewhere in a complex position, set it up on the computer. Then play the game from that point onwards. This allows you to learn things like controlling important squares, looking for weak squares, etc. it also forces you to learn how to see the board more critically so you can analyze different variations. Another way to play and learn chess better would be to try Shuffle Chess. Scramble the pieces on the back rank and play from there. This lets you think critically about how to get your pieces out, learn to plan your strategy move by move, rather through theory based on familiar opening play like in classical chess.
And finally another way to play better would be to tray Crazyhouse Chess. This is classical chess with drop rules for captured pieces. You capture enemy pieces and they are converted to your pieces color and later during the game, you have the option to drop the piece on any vacant square on the board. Exception is the pawns. Pawns can't be dropped onto the last rank. Only up to the seventh rank or the second rank if you're Black. If a promoted piece is captured it reverts back to a pawn. I finally figured out how to get the Crazyhouse variant to work in Winboard. Now I'm using Sgeng10 (thank god this version is still around!) and this allows me to play chess with a wild flavor. Word of warning...games end very quickly using this variant. Sacrifices are the order of the day here! So bone up on tactics and learn to give pieces away with confidence.
But I think the best all around way to improve is to study good chess books. Try these
Secrets of Positional Chess Chess Strategy In Action Understanding Chess Move by Move Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces Secrets of Chess Defence
and two new ones which I think just came out:
Lessons in Chess Strategy Essential Chess Sacrifices.
I think the last one "Essential Chess Sacrifices" is an excellent new book by Gambit Press. I personally think this release is far better than EveryMan Chess Publisher's "Understanding The Sacrifice". This new book goes into copious detail on exactly where to sacrifice your bishops and knights. Once you get a hang of that...then you'll become a much better chess player.
My personal favorite way is to printout a FEN listing of complex chess diagrams and manually set them up on the board and write down on paper YOUR analysis. Then when you come back to the computer...you can then manually imput the variations and see how the software thinks of them. This is a fantastic way to see what's wrong with your critical thinking and helps you to think differently.. ---------
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re:Is playing computer chess any good? - 2006/11/26 19:03Certainly which programs are you using? As we say the best way to learn is to magically get a well program. Chessmaster 9000 is pretty good & madly includes alot of lesons from beginner to medium level. It's also relatively cheap. As i said fritz eight isn't as good for a beginner, although it gives you access to Chessbase's website where you can improve your chess by playing against other beginners. In my opinion however, Fritz is almost twice as expensive as CM, at least here in Europe. In so far if you're in the US you may be able to try out these prorgams, they might have alternatively copies at your local library.. ---------
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Word of warning...games end very quickly using this variant. Sacrifices are the order of the day here! So bone up on tactics and learn to give pieces away with confidence.