I started playing online chess a few weeks ago (partly because I was tired of being tortured by my iPad chess program) and received this notification (and a nice point bonus with it):

“You lost to a cheater!”

Basically, what this means is that some people use computer programs to assist them to win online games.  Which is stupid since the only reason to play online is to play against other humans.

Of course, you want to win, but nobody really knows who you are and you don’t know who the opposing side really is either.  You’ve come here to play “an imperfect” human and, hopefully, win.  Then, you can take a look at your rating and say, “ok, I am better than 70% of all players,” or something like this.

But, if a machine is helping you, you cannot say that.  And nobody will praise you personally since you are anonymous.  So, what’s the point?

If you just want to win, play against your computer chess program at a low difficulty setting.

My second observation is this:  the website is using an AI to catch the AI.  And it does it successfully (I got 11 extra points!).  Machines are too perfect, which allows for another machine to catch them.  Sometimes, “to err” is better.

And now, a bit of chess humor: