Perhaps people should not use computers for analysis, and perhaps they should (just not as much). Same with calculators...maybe people should use them less, but if my life depends on someone's calculations, I want them using a calculator. Particularly my wife. I find her Ph.D. in mathematics has done nothing for her basic arithmetic.Tord Romstad wrote:Sure, many players do. I am fairly sure almost all of them would be better chess players if they never or just very rarely used computer programs for analysis. Being able to analyze quickly and precisely without any external tools is the single most important skill of a chess player, and using every opportunity to practice this skill is the best way to improve for all but the top few percent of all tournament players. I think the main reason why using computers for analysis at sub-GM level is laziness. Analyzing without a computer is hard work. Tournament chess players feel that they should do something to improve their chess, and analysing games or openings with a computer gives them the nice feeling that they are doing something, but in reality they would be better served by doing some difficult non-computer-assisted analysis.BubbaTough wrote:Well, just to play devils advocate, there are a pretty large number of people that use computers for things like analyzing their own games, or opening ideas and such.
I'm a mathematician by education, and have spent most of my adult life doing and teaching mathematics. One of the recurring discussions regarding mathematical education is the use of calculators. Many people feel that at least at the college/university level, doing basic numerical calculations by hand is a waste of time, and that using calculators should therefore be allowed at all exams. In my experience (and most other pure mathematicians I have discussed this with agree) students who are used to using calculators turn out to be severely handicapped in practice: They make far too many stupid mistakes in all sorts of moderately complex symbolic calculations where the calculator can't help them. They lack the precision and mental discipline which those who are used to calculating everything by hand have developed.
Even using a calculator just to check that something is computed correctly is harmful: It is important to develop the ability to calculate sufficiently precisely that you know the answer is right, without any method to check it with external help. I think this is even more important when playing chess than when doing mathematics, because when you discover that you have miscalculated something when making your last move in a game of chess, there is no way to go back and correct the mistake.
For players at GM level and above, for book authors, and for people who write about chess in magazines or on the Internet, chess programs are obviously useful analysis tools. For everybody else, I think they do more harm than good.
Same thing goes for playing against computers instead of playing against people. Maybe they do it too much, maybe not. Hardly worth arguing about. Whether people should be doing whatever they are doing to have fun is not very important. Saying we should not given them better analysis tools because they are bad for them is like saying its a waste of time making a better tasting hamburger because no one should be eating meat. Maybe its true they should not eat meat (maybe not)....but the fact is people do use computers for analysis, and do eat meat, enjoy both, and making better computer programs and better hamburgers is as good a use of ones time as anything else.
-Sam