Tactical versus Positional

Dave: 5
Chessica: 26

Yeah, basically for every one of my wins, Chessica wins over five. For now, for now. I nearly won four more games, but Chessica flatly outplayed me at the endgame. The curious thing about the computer is that it'll roll over and play dead once you've got it -- you'll see it make moves where you're like "Huh??" and you realize it's the chess computer equivalent of desperation.

I'm a fighter, so I'll keep after it until I turn those numbers around. The challenge always with a chess computer is that it masters positional play -- perfect, set-piece play that creates a spiderweb on the board that's very difficult to crack. I'm not a positional player; I'm currently a sloppy tactical player, and always will be tactical, though I should eventually be able to diminish the slop. My hope is that I can work on my game and improve my tactics, and then turn things around, because I'm never going to be a positional type of player -- that style of play oppresses me (even though it is impressive to watch a good positional player create a marvelous trap on the board). So, all I can hope for is to be the best tactician I can be, because I'll never be a strategist.

The advantage of it is that you can "outwit" the computer once your tactics get good enough, or at least outmaneuver it on the board, despite its elegant positional tricks and traps. I'm amazed that this handheld chess computer is as good as it is, given that the last one I had was about the size of a dinner tray. Gotta love miniaturization. My favorite chess program was Chessmaster, which was on an old PC I had in the 90s. That thing was positively deadly -- any win against it was hard-fought, although Chessica's no slouch, obviously.

Once I eventually turn around my string of defeats, I'll eventually up the level of the computer to force me to work that much harder, figuring it's got to be good for the brain. I haven't played chess like this since the 90s, so it's fun to get back into it, even to realize that I'm out of practice, and Chessica is currently making me its chess-bitch.