I recently started playing chess again and I have come to the conclusion that my laptops are smarter than me. The Chess Titans game that comes with Vista has a 1-10 difficulty setting. At 5 I was getting beat in 5-10 moves. At Level 2, I usually get beat after about 15 minutes, maybe 20 if I can keep the computer from taking my queen right away. I don’t know if my pride can handle me dumbing it down to Level 1 and then getting my ass handed to me.
It’s like this; I don’t currently have the spacial awareness necessary to play the game. I can barely look forward three moves of my own pieces , not even taking into account the three moves of my opponent. I figure, as with anything, that this is learned through trial and error. I just have to prevent myself from shoving my fist through the laptop screen while I learn it! 😉