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I would strongly recommend to play against real humans, not the computer. The computer with a handicap just plays in very weird ways, and that is not really hel

I would strongly recommend to play against real humans, not the computer. The computer with a handicap just plays in very weird ways, and that is not really helpful for learning. I also played the computer at first, and level 3 is the first level where it actually puts up a fight. But it plays very weird combinations of strong moves and then completely blunders at times. The problem is that it blunders in a very non-human way, so it doesn't help you that much to learn how to take advantage of the kind of errors a human tends to make. The rating of the computer on Lichess is also kinda weird, you can't really rely on those. I'm a pretty weak player (I have only played a bit online recently), I did beat the level 3 computer on Lichess when I concentrated well enough on a game, but I'm certainly not 1400 against real humans.

mrslave 6y ago
Thank you. I do play against humans (I hope) but less than half the time. I too have noticed the blunders. What is the first level where you estimate it plays consistently?
- fabian2k 6y ago
  I never played it above level 3, and I would assume that any handicap will result in weird plays. And without handicap it is too strong for any human.
  - lizardmancan 6y ago
    i just play at the highest level and lose pretty much all of the time. it does greatly improve my analysis but you grow a fear of attacking which makes a boring player. beating the computer is done by sticking to positions you know well and winning before material leaves the board. every pawn removed makes the computer 100 times stronger. again, very boring
MauranKilom 6y ago
That has also been exactly my experience. Beating level 3 is just about capitalizing on the obvious blunders it makes. It feels completely unrewarding. Playing against humans, even significantly stronger ones, is so much more fun and rewarding. It's just way more exciting when both sides can capitalize on smaller mistakes, so the game becomes about building and maintaining an advantage. Or setting up a tactic that feels great to pull off. The computers will usually not yield any incremental advances at all (and they won't fall for tactics) until they make a dumb move that invalidates all the advantage they built up. Whether you win or lose depends mainly on how often the latter happens, and learning how to make that happen is both opaque/unfun and useless for playing against humans.
- colmvp 6y ago
  Yup. The computer will be able to find optimal plays that require looking ahead several turns ahead while blundering obvious moves (e.g. capturing a piece that's clearly hanging after you used that same piece to capture their piece). Or they'll constantly move the same piece over and over again.
loupgarou21 6y ago
I only very recently picked up chess and spend most of my time playing against the computer. lichess's computer plays really, really weird at low levels, not human-like at all. Chess.com's computer plays a bit more human-like, at least up to 1100, which is the computer level I'm currently playing against, but still not like a real human. I would compare it as: lichess - best move, best move, best move, completely random move that does absolutely nothing chess.com - best move, good move, best move, blunder that seems patronizing given previous moves I've only played a handful of games against real people online, but those games weren't anything like either lichess or chess.com's computer players.

mrslave 6y ago

Thank you. I do play against humans (I hope) but less than half the time. I too have noticed the blunders. What is the first level where you estimate it plays consistently?

fabian2k 6y ago
I never played it above level 3, and I would assume that any handicap will result in weird plays. And without handicap it is too strong for any human.
- lizardmancan 6y ago
  i just play at the highest level and lose pretty much all of the time. it does greatly improve my analysis but you grow a fear of attacking which makes a boring player. beating the computer is done by sticking to positions you know well and winning before material leaves the board. every pawn removed makes the computer 100 times stronger. again, very boring

MauranKilom 6y ago

That has also been exactly my experience. Beating level 3 is just about capitalizing on the obvious blunders it makes. It feels completely unrewarding. Playing against humans, even significantly stronger ones, is so much more fun and rewarding. It's just way more exciting when both sides can capitalize on smaller mistakes, so the game becomes about building and maintaining an advantage. Or setting up a tactic that feels great to pull off. The computers will usually not yield any incremental advances at all (and they won't fall for tactics) until they make a dumb move that invalidates all the advantage they built up. Whether you win or lose depends mainly on how often the latter happens, and learning how to make that happen is both opaque/unfun and useless for playing against humans.

colmvp 6y ago
Yup. The computer will be able to find optimal plays that require looking ahead several turns ahead while blundering obvious moves (e.g. capturing a piece that's clearly hanging after you used that same piece to capture their piece). Or they'll constantly move the same piece over and over again.

loupgarou21 6y ago

I only very recently picked up chess and spend most of my time playing against the computer. lichess's computer plays really, really weird at low levels, not human-like at all. Chess.com's computer plays a bit more human-like, at least up to 1100, which is the computer level I'm currently playing against, but still not like a real human. I would compare it as: lichess - best move, best move, best move, completely random move that does absolutely nothing chess.com - best move, good move, best move, blunder that seems patronizing given previous moves I've only played a handful of games against real people online, but those games weren't anything like either lichess or chess.com's computer players.