Author: Alvaro Polo
Date: 11:30:06 02/10/00
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On February 10, 2000 at 13:46:50, Bruce Moreland wrote: >On February 10, 2000 at 04:41:32, Alvaro Polo wrote: > >>I agree with everything except that they can improve the play of most people. I >>believe that the play of most people is unimprovable by any means, after some >>years of practice. Of course there will always be exceptions, and possibly you >>can improve a little through titanic efforts, but generally speaking, my >>experience and the experience of most chessplayers that I know is that you don't >>improve significantly no matter what you try. > >I started playing against a weak computer when I was in high school, back when a >weak computer meant a really really weak computer. I immediately discovered >that if I left a piece en-prise, that the computer would take it, and my game >would disintegrate. This also happened if I dropped an important pawn early on. > The people I had been playing up until this time were too weak to punish me for >doing this, but the computer didn't miss this kind of stuff. I also learned >about forks, pinned pieces, and simple attacking themes like winning on the >e-file when the opponent is too slow castling. I improved very rapidly by >simply playing against this dumb computer until I could beat the tar out of it. >I think that anybody could do this. > >I don't know what the average person gains by playing against a modern program >at full strength, but I still learn something when I play against them, even >though I'm not very strong. I'm convinced that if I actually cared about >playing chess, that I could lever myself up a class by playing strong programs >often. > >So I think my statement is true. > >bruce I never said your statement was false, just that I didn't agree with something you said. I don't know if the statement is false or true, since I don't know the reality that much. My experience with computers is similar, but once I reached the 1800 level progress stopped. I believe that there are plateaus in every activity, why not in chess? It is clear that I am the only one holding this opinion in the neighborhood. I admit that programs can *perhaps* help someone reach his level of incompetence sooner, but beyond that I have too many doubts. Alvaro
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