My first win against Computer - Hard... WTF?!

Did my usual 1. c4 opening, and turned in to a game I've never had before (never met b5 as a counter to c4). I was trying different moves, such as not castling, sending pawns up the board, dubious sacs.

I was doing ok in the beginning, then PC had the upper hand in the middle game yet somehow it missed my obvious route to mate. Is there a bug in the logic code? No 2000 player, or indeed 1500 would miss that sort of move.

So there, my first ever win against PC hard when it hasn't decided to conventiently crash whilst losing. Feels like a hollow victory though, perhaps the PC was hung over?

Wow, sweet game. It is strange that the computer missed that mating threat. I've played my share of games against computer programs and sometimes they don't see mating threats for one reason or another. Congrats on the win against the hard computer!

I have a question for you. In your opinion what are the advantages and disadvantages for playing 1. c4 as white? I'm a bit of an amateur chess player and I've followed the advice found in many chess books: beginners should always play 1. e4 as white. I'm curious about your choice of move.

Someone recommended it me as a starting move for white. I went through a phase of losing every game as white with d4 or e4, but winning every game as black when playing sicilian against far better opposition, keeping my rating around 1400ish. I was told I might find c4 a decent opening, and I did, rating shot up to 1750 in a month or two.

Guessing its because a lot of players play against d4 or e4 as opening move, less so against c4. My theory is still way off, I barely take notice of what moves black makes until around move 4.

Don't think it was a sweet game, black managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory thats all ;)

Well said...

I think that playing against the computer can give the player a really sharp tactical vision, but it usually tends to kill the spirit of real strategic chess planing - for the computer can't really "understand the concept", it just calculates the variations.

Just my opinion