I remember those days well. I played a few postal chess games in my day. Of course, I suppose it's even possible to cheat nowadays in postal chess. As long as you are out of view of your opponent, cheating can be accomplished.

Myself, I think "What does it prove?" I play chess to improve my own mind, and if I used a computer to do my thinking for me, what would be the point?

I enjoy playing a real flesh and blood human, because even Kasparov himself admits that mistakes are made. And the game is to find and exploit your opponent's mistakes while minimizing your own. To me, that is what makes chess so interesting and fascinating. That is what gives it life. I have my own portable chess PC, but with all it's perfection of calculating, it's dull compared to playing a real opponent. The positions are static. With human's playing, there are a myriad of possible combinations and patterns to explore. It's the difference between night and day.

I have played a grand total of two games in my life. The first one, I was just a kid, was in a tourny at school and I signed up for some unknown reason. There was a guy standing behind me and he would talk to himself about what move HE would do. I did as he said, note he wasn't tipping me he was just an outloud thinker, and won! The dude I beat was really mad cuz he knew I didn't know what I was doing. The next game I didn't have anyone behind me helping and I lost about as fast as one can lose....never played again.

I've only played a few thousand games myself. Joined a chess club in the big city, and promptly and swiftly got my arse kicked.