A friend and myself recently discussed this. For us, it is easier to player over-the-board (OTB) compared to online. There is something in the brain about having a physical chess set to play from which can help calculation and understanding. Even Kasparov lamented that he made a blunder against Deep Blue in the past because of the digital layout of the board.
With that being said, we are in a much more tech-savvy age, and some higher rated players have stated they are more or less just as good online as OTB. However, many chess coaches and instructional videos have encourage lower-rated players to play OTB and go through books with a physical board as much as possible. Again, there is something about looking at an IRL board which is conducive to learning chess.
Hey Folks
Pretty new here, just joined early in the year after having played chess back in my youth and trying to slowly get back into it, and I wonder if people who still have the opportunity to play both real life and digital chess regularly notice a difference in their skills and level between the two?
Of course your overall tactics and knowledge of the game will be the same, and this is probably more for beginners (like me) or intermediate players, but I have a feeling that whenever (or if...) I'm able to play physical chess again, the change of perspective, the actual presence of my opponent, the actual moving of the pieces etc.. would make me an (even) lesser player than I can be on chess.com.
Like I feel that you may be able to see the overall board better on the screen as opposed to in real life.
As regards the actual presence of the opponent, again, perhaps more applicable to beginners, but when I do a blunder, I tend to scream and curse myself loudly, whereas in real life you might wanna try to keep your composure and bluff your way in, hoping your opponent may not have spotted it...
also chess.com has a few legit features which, at my level, I tend to rely on, like hitting a piece and it shows you everywhere it can go (useful for a knight or a checked king).
Or if a piece is pinned to a king due to say a faraway bishop and you may not have spotted that, you can't even move that piece. In real life chess, it would be easy for beginners to miss that.(which I guess the opponent would flag, presuming the pin was on purpose
)
Anyway, curious to know if anyone else have an experience or an opinion about that!