Author: Ricardo Gibert
Date: 14:09:48 05/07/00
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On May 07, 2000 at 14:46:27, Jerry Adams wrote: >Hi > > > Am I just imagining this or is there a high number of draws between strong >humans and computers? Computers are appearing to be the classic draw master, >perhaps because they lack the creativity of the human player?? It is quite a bit easier to obtain a draw from a comouter, than it is to beat it. This is because to most programs, all equal positions look alike. A human knows that not all equal positions are the same. Some equal positions contain better winning chances than others. Since programs can't really tell the difference, humans can exploit this to garner more than their fair share of draws from them. Trying to beat them is much harder. Chess programs are very poor at creating winning chances in equal positions, but are relatively terrific at defending somewhat inferior positions, which paradoxically leads to wins for them. As Em. Lasker wryly put it, "When I am slightly worse, I stand much better." Trying to win often backfires, because you must try to create something and it easy to screw it up. This is what Lasker was referring to. It is particularly true in Human vs computer play. When trying to win, the short term gains in importance and this is what chess programs are good at. They are not stratagists, they are tactical opportunists.
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