A trash-talking cat bot on chess.com is at least partly responsible for the biggest Chess boom ever.
Yes, bigger than the boom during the pandemic and after the release of the fabulous chess mini-series on Netflix called The Queens-Gambit.
It is only logical that now I get asked many times: “Noël, should I play against chess computers or only against humans?”.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the pros and cons of playing chess against a computer, and help you determine if it’s the right choice for you.
At the end of the article, I will also reveal my favorite chess computer challenge.
The Mittens Chess Boom
Before we jump right into the tips, I want to quickly summarize what happened in January 2023 in terms of the Chess boom.
In an article titled ‘Chess is Booming! And Our Servers are Struggling’ chess.com listed the cute Cat Bot Mittens as one of the reasons for the recent chess boom.
So what is this “Mittens” cat bot and why should you know about it?
Play Against Different Computer Opponents On Chess.com
Chess.com has many different computer bots you can play against. They range from famous streamers to Top Players and chess personalities. The weakest bot is rated 250 while the strongest has a whopping 2840.
On top of that, you can play against an Engine ranging from Level 1 (250 rated) to level 25 (3200 rated).
While those computer opponents were appreciated, a little silly cat called “Mittens” rated 1 point strong brought millions of new users to the site.
Mittens plays much stronger than her ‘1’ rating point and even trash-talks you while you play against her. This obviously attracted not only chess fans but also all content creators.
From GM Hikaru Nakamura to Levy (Gotham Chess), the Botez sisters, and my amazing fiancée Alessia, everyone made a video trying to beat this bot.
But not only in Chess circles Mittens became famous instantly. Many articles were written featuring this cute cat-bot (Wired, esports.gg…).
40% Increase, Number 1 Free App
This attention led to a huge increase in chess players online.
On January 19th Chess.com for the first time got 1 Million visits in a single day via Google. Their servers are constantly struggling because the traffic in January was 40% higher than ever before.
On the first of February, Daniel Rensch, CCO of Chess.com posted a screenshot that shows their app as the Number 1 Free App on the IOS store.
Also, Lichess, the best 100% free playing site, has increased traffic and Top Events such as the Tata Steel Chess tournament attracted huge viewership.
We can finally say that playing chess is cool!
Now that you know thayou are cool, let’s answer the question you came here for: Should you play against chess computers?
Pros And Cons Of Playing Against Computers
My short answer would be: if you do it for enjoyment, yes, if you want to improve your games against humans, no.
If this sounds mysterious right now, I’m sure it will make sense after reading the whole article.
Pros of Playing Chess Against Computers:
Let’s dig into some of the upsides of playing against a Computer.
- Always available. At least if the servers of chess.com are working… You don’t have to wait and can play against them any time of the day.
- Stability. As you can decide the rating of your computer opponent, you know what you’ll get. A 1500-rated Computer will play similarly in most games. Amongst human opponents, the range of strengths and weaknesses will be much bigger.
- No fear of losing your rating. Many chess improvers are intimidated to play “real” games online because they might lose some rating points. In that case, playing against computers can make sense, because you get some practice in and don’t risk losing rating points. (If the fear of losing rating points is something you struggle with, make sure to read my articles in the mindset category.)
- Play against the bot-versions of famous chess players. It can be fun to face off against the computer version of your favorite player/streamer.
As you see, playing against a Chess Computer can have some upsides. But there will be downsides as well.
Cons Of Playing Chess against computers:
As you will see, the main issue with playing against a chess computer is that you don’t train against a human. What is totally obvious has one serious flaw: you most likely want to improve your game against humans.
The best way to do so is also to train against humans!
- Lack of human factor. Most of you reading this will want to improve your (online) rating. This rating comes from playing against human opponents. When you play against a computer, you are not 100% training for what you will face in a real game. You might then get upset by the “weird” choices from humans.
- No time pressure. Playing against a computer bot usually happens without time. When you suddenly switch to playing with limited time, you will not be ready for it.
- Standardized openings. Especially if you play against the same computer several times, you might face only some standard openings. While this is nice, human players, especially online, will confront you with weird gambits all the time. You will feel uneasy about these gambits if you never trained to play against them in the first place.
- Limited Emotion: Chess is a game of strategy and tactics, but it also has emotional elements. Playing against a computer can be a less engaging experience as it lacks the emotional elements which can be experienced while playing against a human opponent.
Should you play chess against a Computer?
As a Coach, I don’t recommend playing chess against Computer opponents as training. I believe the cons are outweighing the pros. Only if the alternative would be not playing at all (most likely because of the fear of losing rating mentioned above) should you play against a computer.
Playing games against human opponents will have a bigger impact on your chess improvement.
If you want to enjoy a game against a computer opponent from time to time (especially with fun bots like Mittens) that is totally fine.
Above all the key is to analyze your games no matter if you play against Computer or human opponents. Make it a habit to analyze every single game you play and you will improve your chess.
If you don’t know how to do that, make sure to read my article on it.
My Favorite Chess Computer To Play Against
I promised you at the beginning that I will reveal my favorite bot challenge. Here we go.
On the Play Magnus App, you can play against World Champion Magnus Carlsen at different ages. You can choose his age and test yourself against the AI version of Magnus, starting at only 5 years old.
I recommend starting early because there is a reason he is the greatest player of all time…
If you don’t mind getting totally destroyed by a young kid, this app can be a fun challenge.
My best was to beat him aged 15 when he was already a strong Grandmaster. But don’t be fooled. I got my ass kicked many times even against young Magnus aged 12…
Let me know in the comments if you manage to beat Magnus at any age.
In any case, have fun playing chess, be it against a computer or a human opponent.
Keep improving!
Noël
PS: If you liked this article and want to improve your chess training further, get my free guide to organizing your Chess training. Click here to get it.
To be more precise, I would be tempted to talk about a chess engine rather than a computer.
Playing against a chess engine can be similar to playing tennis and hitting a ball against a wall. But this is the only comparison I can think of.
There are now different engines of different strengths that can be found on the internet (I think in particular of what can be found with the Lucaschess software). Of course, there is no interest for a player of 1350 elo to play a whole game against Stockfish and his 3300 elo
As a tool and training partner, it seems irreplaceable, especially since we cannot train regularly with partners who do not always have the same availability (job, family).
So, in my opinion, it remains useful to work on an infinite number of positions (with different times and different engines) while taking the time to develop our calculation and a thinking process: openings, middle game with a strategic theme, endgames (not sure to find someone who is ready to play 50 times in Lucena’s position against white),
Hi Francois, in my career I have basically never played against a computer/engine and I do not think it is needed for good improvement. The “playing out a position against an opponent” kind of training is only needed at a very high level. At this level, everyone basically has a Coach or training partner.
For your Lucena example, I just don’t believe it is worth your time to repeat that process so many times. You can repeat the standard position every 3-6 months and focus on other things in between.
The ROI on other things is much higher. So if you have limited time, play against human opponents (online you have near unlimited training partners) or solve positions of a book/course.
I’m 77 years old. I played as a child and a bit as a young adult, never had formal training and was never really any good. 50 years have gone by and recently started playing again against an app my iPad as there are no humans that I know who play where I live . I don’t have a rating, feel embarrassed and intimidated to play against people who have deep experience. I want to learn as I find the game keeps my mind sharp but clearly am not as neurologically nimble as I was back then. What advice do you have for an old codger like me?
Hey Kevin, I have dozens of similarly aged adult improvers among my readers. So you are not alone!
You can play against human opponents both on chess.com and lichess for free. The great thing is that you will be paired with people with a similar rating. So even if you might lose some games in the beginning, you will face opponents with the same limited chess experience.
Do not feel ashamed of your lack of experience. I’m sure you are an expert in other fields. So enjoy the experience of playing chess and try to learn something new step by step.
As you say, it will also benefit your mind. Happy learning & improving!
Noël
Personally I found playing serious games against the playmagnus app really helpful. Somehow I find the stile much more human than any other bot. At my rating (~2200 Fide) age 12/13 are a serious challenge, but I find it really helped me in calculation and foreseeing opponent’s resources. One of the important pros for me is that I can leave the game in background on my tablet and play a couple of moves each time I have 10 minutes of spare time
The bot is created on the basis of Magnus’ games, so it makes sense that you feel a difference from other bots. I can see the benefit of not having to play a full game at once.
Glad it works for you, but make sure to get also games in against human opponents 🙂