Is playing computers ever worth it?
I never play computers, since they dont play at all like their supposed level and/or like humans do.
If you dont want to play humans for fear of losing rating while learning, i suggest you either play unrated or get an account on another site, and play there when you dont want to risk rating. Thats the only purposes i can see for wanting to play cpu. Cuz you wont get much out of playing computers when it comes to playing real people. So for tha reason as an "practice" id say i dont think its worth it at all
While I agree that Bots do not play the same as real people, I have found benefit in playing some bots. For example, at my rating level there are a lot of attempts at Scholars mate. Playing as black against Nelson you are pretty much guaranteed that he is going to go for Scholars mate and it has helped me to not only be able to defend the early Queen attack but also to punish the queen for coming out too early.
yes
I never play computers, since they dont play at all like their supposed level and/or like humans do.
Indeed. I find bots of a certain rating (1300-1500s) harder than human players of their rating. Indeed, their playstyle is computer-like and therefore they lack the human reaction aspect to moves and are less likely to blunder, which still happen at a regular basis between the 1400s and the 1600s.
I never play computers, since they dont play at all like their supposed level and/or like humans do.
Indeed. I find bots of a certain rating (1300-1500s) harder than human players of their rating. Indeed, their playstyle is computer-like and therefore they lack the human reaction aspect to moves and are less likely to blunder, which still happen at a regular basis between the 1400s and the 1600s.
The opposite of this is true. Bots of that range play weaker than a human of that rating, and make more insane mistakes.
If you are a beginner, I think it would be more beneficial for you to learn important concepts and basic theory first than playing bots. In my case, I didn't improve playing against computers, I did by learning concepts and theory and playing against humans opponents.
I would personally suggest you to learn concepts like {king safety ; counting exercice for capture sequences ; «danger levels» ; forks and skewers ; looking for immediate checks, forcing moves and captures from you and your opponent every move ; endgame theory (king and pawn versus king/king and rook versus king/king and queen versus king) ; two-three opening repertoires for both Black and White}
Try implementing progressively a few concepts at once into your games rather than overexerting youself with too much.
Also, it is essential to recognize basic checkmate patterns.
For new players, the Puzzle Rush and the puzzle section on this website helped them to spot better important patterns on the board. You could give it a try.
I don't think playing against computers at your level would be that helpful if you don't know what you are doing.
It may be more interesting the more you go up the rating ladder.
It can't hurt. Just be ready to lose every single game you play with it. I did it for years when we didn't have online chess. Kasparov Radio Shack Aragon. No idea what it's rating is and it still works. I never beat the third hardest level.
if you find value in it. They make good sparring partners for low to mid level players -- they don't get bored with beating you, can be configured to favor an opening you are studying, don't care if you cheat, and so on.
the trouble is that computer chess is all or nothing. Attempts to make it stupider consistently give bad results, and playing it on beats all humans mode is just frustrating to most people. Its very difficult to express in a program 'ok, now you found the best move, don't play that, play something that a human would do'. You can try limiting its depth, but there is a steep change from 3-4 move depth where it loses to average players to predictable tactics to 5-8 move depth where it almost never falls prey to any plan.
