We are glad you are here, WhisperzQ--to play is most of the point of being here. Ed and Rob and Uwe are fantastic, and their sharp play makes us all sharper by exposure; those with lesser power bring other things to the table instead. Both inputs are important. Keep playing.

As for the computer question, insight is more powerful than the calculation. Man the toolmaker can program the algorithm, but the machine cannot program itself, or program insight. The human machine is outfront. I read an op-ed article in Chess Life that machines calculate in chess faster than a chessplayer; in the same vein, a motorboat moves faster through the water than a swimmer, and a forklift can lift more than a weightlifter. But none of the machines initiate any effort to play or to win--they only do what they are programmed or designed to do, and then only when they are told to do so. Sweep the pieces off the board in a rage against the machine, and the computer does not feel any anger towards you; it doesn't care.

You keep playing, and enjoy your games. Those for whom machines are a crutch, will hang themselves on their own ropes. Correspondence chess is a powerful thing.