Engine Players

Hi All, This is my first Blog ever. In fact, I can't even believe I am writing one. I want to talk about something I read in the forums about people that use engines to cheat on their online correspondence and live chess games. There were a lot of valid comments on the subject of fairness and honour.  In my personal opinion, who cares.

It's not as if it can be proven whether or not someone is using an engine. However, isn't it all relative? If members want to use an engine to gain upwards of a 10,000 chess.com rating, it’s  only a chess.com rating. You don't get any money or extras, do you? It’s not like it’s FIDE or USCF or ECF etc...

I joined this website because I was sick of playing (loosing loL) to my engine and to improve my over the board games. I try to play otb everyday at the local coffee shops.  It can be fun to play an engine, just not all of the time. Playing and meeting other people who are passionate about the game is what I find to be so much more fun and enjoyable.

Earlier this year I had just learned the proper rules to chess and have only been playing seriously and consistantly since then. The more I play and learn, the better I get, the more passionate I become about the game. Does this happen for the cheaters? I like playing the turn based correspondence games simply, because it is slower paced. Which allows for a  deeper  look into the position with out the time pressure.  In turn, I believe will help me improve my  game, through familiarization of different ideas, positions and tactics. If you did play, using the aid of an engine, telling you where to put pieces and  when to push  pawns ,  would you ever learn the theory behind the moves?  Would you ever  improve on  things like creativity, foresight, instinct, memory, calculation…etc The things that make a good chess player and great chess games?

After game analysis & discussion is another method I like to use to improve my game. That is why I love engines. They are an invaluable analysis tool that saves time, paper and sometimes sanity.  I would, however take the engine’s lines and suggestions with a grain of salt. They can sometimes lead to the most boring and irritating games. It wouldn’t hurt me to lose to a modern day engine . It can only help to humble me & improve my over the board in the real world, where a higher rating does matter. After all you can’t use an engine  to the World Chess Championships and get away  with it can you? Unless it's ofcourse, the Computer World Chess Championships:) So if you do use an engine, like fritz11, to get your chess.com rating points, just remember you could run into someone just like you with Rybka3, a more powerful engine. And if you want to play me, with an engine, fine. Bring it! Saves me the trouble of loading and playing my own engine that sucks up my computer’s ram & processor power.  How good would you feel about yourself knowing you can only win with the aid of a computer?

In conclusion, what does it matter if there are people out there who do use engines to cheat? It doesn’t improve their game, or their character.  I don’t think we will ever see them competing in any real world otb tournaments. I’m just glad  there are honest people on this site who are here to have fun, play and improve as I am trying to do. Thanks for reading and  good luck in your chess adventures;)

btw i don't kno how 2 blog, so comments r aprc8d thnks:D