I've been wanting to practice playing longer games lately and I want to play the computer a lot to do this.  Why not the live option?  Because I have kids.  ha.  So I get distracted.  Against a computer I can stop and its ok.  Against a human the rating will dive, but the rating isn't really even important.  I just hate to bail on a game.

So I'm not that great.  I have heard that if you play against the computer a lot that you suffer as a result.  But I have a feeling that this is probably only true of great players.  Any thoughts?

Thanks

Playing against programs can elevate your game, but studying with them will help even more. One of the only problems i had after playing against high level programs was i was mentally trained NOT to look for tactics. Todays engines almost NEVER miss a tactical blow and i would find myself considering a tactic then mentally reminding myself that it the tactic I was considering was viable the engine would have certainly forseen it and not allowed it.

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So you want to get rid of your kids? That is perfectly understandable. Most people just drop their kids off at farms. There is a lot of room to play, and eventually someone will take care of them.

     You're welcome

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And now for the srious answer... losing to the computer so many times won't lead to much improvment... in fact, if anything, it will lower your self-esteem.

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I don't see how that is helpful, since you trust the computer to see tactics, you dismiss looking at them because the computer would have seen it and not played into it? How can that improve your tactical skills?

I believe it is out of print, but perhaps it has been released under a new title, but I used to carry pages torn out of Blokh's "Art of Combination" in my pocket and go over them whenever I had a moment. (Yes, out of print, and used ones selling for $80.00! Shouldn't have torn up that copy...http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8115/343/) Today I'm carrying around Lev Alburts "Chess Training Pocketbook". I've also spent a lot of time at another online chess site playing their Trainingbot, which presents a lot of tactical problems. However the best I've found so far is right here at chess.com in the Tactics Trainer, which gives you a rating so you practice problems at your skill level. Try it out.

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   That's the kind of response that gets you in trouble, joke or no joke.

 

   Back on topic:

   I've been playing computer chess programs ever since the original Battle Chess and Kasparov's Gambit way back when. I don't think it's a self-esteem killer and I have actually learned quite a bit from all of the analysis over the years.

   When I got Fritz 12 last year and Chessbase 11 just a couple of months ago, with all of the databases I have (numbering at least 10 million games total), I've learned a great deal when it comes to the aspects of chess and it just makes me work harder in preparation for OTB games. 

   -Mark

When you play the computer too much, you could definitely get very frusterated because you never beat it.

Thanks. I found a couple of engines that allow you to adjust the strength. So my thoughts were to play until I could barely beat it in a long game and play a bit stronger than that all the time. I actually enjoy tactics. I've spent about 70 hours in the tactics trainer. Lately I've discovered chesstempo which I think is fantastic. My elo on that site is 1470 for tactics. Also when I get time I have been reading how to reassess your chess. :) I'll be careful not to play the computer at a level that I'm never able to beat. Thanks. :)