Maybe surprisingly, chess is actually an acquired skill which takes practice. If you wasted enough time playing chess against a computerized opponent, I can guarantee that you would be able to beat most people who believe that they are good players.
One of the other fire officers that I worked with at a busy downtown station 25 years ago thought that he was one of the greatest chess players who ever lived. At that time I basically only played chess with a small computerized chess board that came from Radio Shack in the mid 1980s. I would play a game or two in the evening every night before going to bed to relax.
The poor guy would spend a lot of time trying to figure out his moves... I would take just a few seconds and beat him every time until he finally got frustrated and didn't want to play with me anymore. The program I was playing against was fairly predictable even at the upper levels, so I recognized situations developing from that predictability. This sharpened my skills a great deal.
Now that I have not played much in years, I am back to being mediocre.
Over the last six weeks or so I have begun playing chess against an AI. I will win only playing on a very basic beginner level. But when I increase my level, I lose badly. So I add on helps and hints.
It amazes me that the computer will instruct me not to take an easy piece and it amazes me the computer will often let me leave a knight or a bishop exposed. But I take the hints and I move as directed, and I am finding I win now more often than I lose.
I’ve known the basics of playing chess for well over 50 years. I’m now returning to it with a higher degree of interest