user7644: I have been playing with chess engines for over a year now at extreme difficulty levels. I never played a single game with a human player. I am worried that when i face humans in a tournament, my chess thinking must be completely different and i might not survive.
Does playing against chess engines improve your ability better than against human players? What do you think? 

user7943: A Strong Chess Engine will make less mistakes than a human. Humans are tempted to play the moves that feel like winning or attacking moves. Engine plays solely on calculation.
Intuition is one of the main difference between Engine and Human. A lot of times Humans play moves trusting their instincts and may not calculate to the very end. Engines are bound with depth levels and there are chances that moves that are winning after depth levels are not found by Engine but can be found by human on intuition. 
Playing under time pressure is also a major difference. Engine as an opponent would hardly come under time pressure. So putting more pressure on opponent when he/she is in time trouble is one to be experienced. Playing same moves repeating for 2 times to gain time on the clock is what a computer may not do.
In a long game, as the game progresses, chances of Blunders/mistakes increase in case of Human players. On other hand Engine will perform same after any amount of time. So playing with humans can be helpful to increase stamina.
One obvious factor is managing the time along with writing the game on score-sheet.
So yes, for accuracy purpose engine is great opponent. But along with that for some small factors human touch is must!

user4362: There are two separate problems with your trainingspartner: Strength and style.

Generally you improve the most if you play against opponents slightly stronger than you. You have to adapt by upping your game, but you are still able to adapt! If you are always crushed you only learn to be solid at all costs. You can see this a lot if teenage prodigies play too early against world class opposition: Their game dries out. They systematically unlearn all creative impulses, because every risk taking is punished. 
If you play against engines that always beat you, their style doesn't really matter. But if you would play against an engine only slightly stronger than you (which would be a better choice), you would experience the problem, that you adapt to their particular style. Which usually means you get very good at sniffing out tactical pitfalls, but your positional understanding will stay underdeveloped. I know this very well because I played for two years almost daily against a Mephisto board computer before I joined a chess club and it took me many years to stop losing against human opponents who were far weaker tactically. 


7644: <p>I have been playing with chess engines for over a year now at extreme difficulty levels. I never played a single game with a human player. I am worried that when i face humans in a tournament, my chess thinking must be completely different and i might not survive.</p>

<p>Does playing against chess engines improve your ability better than against human players? What do you think? </p>
 7943: <p>A Strong Chess Engine will make less mistakes than a human. Humans are tempted to play the moves that feel like winning or attacking moves. Engine plays solely on calculation.
Intuition is one of the main difference between Engine and Human. A lot of times Humans play moves trusting their instincts and may not calculate to the very end. Engines are bound with depth levels and there are chances that moves that are winning after depth levels are not found by Engine but can be found by human on intuition. </p>

<p>Playing under time pressure is also a major difference. Engine as an opponent would hardly come under time pressure. So putting more pressure on opponent when he/she is in time trouble is one to be experienced. Playing same moves repeating for 2 times to gain time on the clock is what a computer may not do.</p>

<p>In a long game, as the game progresses, chances of Blunders/mistakes increase in case of Human players. On other hand Engine will perform same after any amount of time. So playing with humans can be helpful to increase stamina.</p>

<p>One obvious factor is managing the time along with writing the game on score-sheet.</p>

<p>So yes, for accuracy purpose engine is great opponent. But along with that for some small factors human touch is must!</p>
 4362: <p>There are two separate problems with your trainingspartner: Strength and style.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Generally you improve the most if you play against opponents slightly stronger than you. You have to adapt by upping your game, but you are still able to adapt! If you are always crushed you only learn to be solid at all costs. You can see this a lot if teenage prodigies play too early against world class opposition: Their game dries out. They systematically unlearn all creative impulses, because every risk taking is punished. </p></li>
<li><p>If you play against engines that always beat you, their style doesn't really matter. But if you would play against an engine only slightly stronger than you (which would be a better choice), you would experience the problem, that you adapt to their particular style. Which usually means you get very good at sniffing out tactical pitfalls, but your positional understanding will stay underdeveloped. I know this very well because I played for two years almost daily against a <a href="http://tluif.home.xs4all.nl/chescom/EngMephEurA.html">Mephisto board computer</a> before I joined a chess club and it took me many years to stop losing against human opponents who were far weaker tactically. </p></li>
</ul>
