Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Why I Hate Playing Computer Chess!


Today Even Grand Masters Hate Chess Computers!

Rant - Why I Hate Playing Computer Chess!

I have never enjoyed playing chess against a chess computer. I just don't find it much fun.

I think, for me, part of it is the need for competition - the desire to beat your opponent (at the end of this post you'll see some quotes from famous player's that echo this sentiment). I think the whole element of a "battle of the minds" seems rather pointless when your opponent is a machine.

The other big problem I have with computer chess, is computers just can't play like a real human being would. Human players can exhibit artistry, cleverness, craft, and cunning and just as easily display awkwardness, incompetence, inefficiency, and just plain ineptitude. We humans share one infallibility however - we will make mistakes. Computers can't mimic those "human" attributes in a believable way - especially the "making mistakes" part of the equation. I'm not sure they ever will.

Of course, perhaps the real root of the problem is I just can't beat the damn things. ;-)

- Rook Van Winkle

Famous chess players on the element of competition in chess:

"I like to make them squirm." - Bobby Fischer

“It’s just you and your opponent at the board and you're trying to prove something”(Bobby Fischer)

“Chess is like war on a board”(Bobby Fischer)

“I like the moment when I break a man's ego”(Bobby Fischer)

Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people. - Nigel Short

You cannot play at chess if you are kind-hearted. - French Proverb

Chess is a sport. A violent sport." - Marcel Duchamp

“Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events”(Benjamin Franklin)

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rambling Rants & Raves each Wednesday.

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