I have played a few hundred games against the various levels of Maia (https://lichess.org/@/maia1 https://lichess.org/@/maia1), and it has helped me improve fro

I have played a few hundred games against the various levels of Maia (https://lichess.org/@/maia1 https://lichess.org/@/maia1), and it has helped me improve from 1100 to 1425 blitz rating on lichess (along with playing against stronger players in the arena tournaments). It does seem to encapsulate the “average” playing style and common mistakes of the different ratings. It feels much fairer, more instructive, and more relaxing than playing against Stockfish, who will wildly blunder and then subsequently torture you. However, even as a weak player, Maia is exploitable in a way that even novice humans are not. For example, it loves to give up obvious back-rank mates and almost never protects against it (e.g. with h3). It is easy for humans to spot if they are in danger of back-rank mate (especially if you’ve been burned before) and defend against it, so it does not happen much even at low levels. But Maia, game after game, gifts you an obvious mate in 1.