Skybird
09-11-10, 08:46 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11259419
I admit I am old school. Live online matches in real time on websites with thousands of players simply is not for me. I prefer it the way I grew up with it, or correspondence chess, now being done via electronic move transmission instead of postcards (which I also know from 25 years ago). The latter is my preferred format nowadays.
Computers have had an extreme impact on how chess is played from a standpoint of calculation, too. I am not getting warm with the new style of preparing for tournaments, and calculating. I have started a battery of almost 2 dozen correspondence chess matches some time ago, half of which are over (I boast with pointing out that my record so far has no dark spot :D ), but I have the very strong suspicion that some of my opponents are following computer's advices - I believe to recognise the style and patterns of computer chess, though I cannot nail it down to exact details. It is things like this that also have made an impact on the chess scene after it went elctronically international. I read that the numbers of players playing online therefore is decreasing. Two old platforms in Europe that I knew, have been abandoned, due to this. Players claim to agree to gentlemen's agreements, but they cheat nevertheless. By CC rules, the use of computers for analysis is legitimate, but if players agree not to use computers, then they should stick to it, I think - a question of honour and honesty.
Give me chess computers of the 80s and early 90s - that was fun, that was magic, that was fascination. Maybe just because it was not perfect. Today it almost is. And maybe that is the problem.
In the end, perfection is boring, because it marks a final ending point. What was that Chinese saying once again? It's better to travel, than to arrive...? How true.
I admit I am old school. Live online matches in real time on websites with thousands of players simply is not for me. I prefer it the way I grew up with it, or correspondence chess, now being done via electronic move transmission instead of postcards (which I also know from 25 years ago). The latter is my preferred format nowadays.
Computers have had an extreme impact on how chess is played from a standpoint of calculation, too. I am not getting warm with the new style of preparing for tournaments, and calculating. I have started a battery of almost 2 dozen correspondence chess matches some time ago, half of which are over (I boast with pointing out that my record so far has no dark spot :D ), but I have the very strong suspicion that some of my opponents are following computer's advices - I believe to recognise the style and patterns of computer chess, though I cannot nail it down to exact details. It is things like this that also have made an impact on the chess scene after it went elctronically international. I read that the numbers of players playing online therefore is decreasing. Two old platforms in Europe that I knew, have been abandoned, due to this. Players claim to agree to gentlemen's agreements, but they cheat nevertheless. By CC rules, the use of computers for analysis is legitimate, but if players agree not to use computers, then they should stick to it, I think - a question of honour and honesty.
Give me chess computers of the 80s and early 90s - that was fun, that was magic, that was fascination. Maybe just because it was not perfect. Today it almost is. And maybe that is the problem.
In the end, perfection is boring, because it marks a final ending point. What was that Chinese saying once again? It's better to travel, than to arrive...? How true.