Author: James B. Shearer
Date: 18:22:41 09/21/98
Go up one level in this thread
On September 19, 1998 at 23:30:45, Will Singleton wrote:
>
>I've noticed you specialize in the kingside attack, to which Amateur is
>sometimes susceptible. In fact, I'm looking at a game you played a minute ago,
>in which Amateur was ahead by a couple pieces, and you swindled a draw with a
>mate threat, forcing Amateur to draw by repetition. That's just the type of
>game that's interesting, since I can analyze when the mate threat became viable,
>and what caused Amateur to ignore it. In this case, it appears that Amateur saw
>a series of checks were possible, leading to what it thought was a "quiet"
>position, when in fact that position was a mate in two. Something to work on in
>the extensions; I can use the critical position from this game to change the
>code, then replay the move and see if it can detect the threat. But then,
>sometimes the time available becomes a factor, and limits the search. What fun!
Actually I think what happened was: Amateur, in a completely won position,
allowed me to threaten mate in one because it saw it could then win my rook with
check but failed to see that it would then have to continue to check to avoid
being mated. The position was such that the perpetual check could go on for
some time before the position repeated. In fact Amateur gave me several
opportunities to escape the checks, thereby winning, which I missed. I think
recognizing perpetual check is a general problem for programs.
>
>Re your comment about playing computers exclusively, I'm pretty sure that since
>you play blitz and bullet with good success, your rating would increase were you
>to play humans at the same time controls. But perhaps you feel you can exploit
>typical computer weaknesses, like king-safety and positional weirdness. In any
>case, thanks again for playing, and I'll think about the Crafty issues in light
>of your comments.
When I first started playing on ICC about a year ago I did play humans and
I seemed to be evenly matched at about 1900 rating. Playing computers (mostly
crafty clones) my rating rose substantially in a few months (then stabilized at
about the current level). Perhaps I would also have improved against humans,
however I suspect playing computers is giving me bad habits for human play.
James B. Shearer
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