Author: Steve Lopez
Date: 19:58:45 10/25/00
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On October 23, 2000 at 15:50:07, Robert Pawlak wrote: >Chessmaster 6000/7000 - Blunders away material early on in the game, then plays >like the All Mighty until it's opponent is crushed. I've noticed this, too, but here's something else I've noticed: that's how *all* adaptive/handicapped opponents work (with the possible exception of Power Chess/Power Chess 98). Something I wrote in an old ETN issue (http://www.chessbaseusa.com/T-NOTES/081599.htm) addresses this: Here's a big secret that I'll reveal to you: this is exactly how Fritz' "Friend" mode works. When you start "Friend" mode, a small window appears that presents you with a numerical handicap. This is the amount of material (in 1/100ths of a pawn) that Fritz will "throw" to you once you've left the opening book. For example, if your handicap is 300, Fritz will attempt to pitch the equivalent of three pawns or a minor piece overboard before it starts to play at a normal level. I discovered this quite by accident. I played a few "Friend" mode games in which I noticed that Fritz would dump material early, but play the late middlegame and endgame like a wildcat. It eventually dawned on me that the program was tossing material in the early going but playing tougher as the game went on as a direct function of the handicap. >Clearly, program strength sells. And it seems to be where everyone's interest >is. Not as much as used to be the case. In fact, a major concern among the people I talk to who are shopping for a chess program is the need for levels that won't tear their heads off rather than the brute strength of the program. >Can someone tell me why there is not more emphasis placed on this aspect of >engine design? I've been pushing this aspect for the last 5 or 6 years. In fact (not to spill the beans here) I'm writing a CD on the subject of using chessplaying programs as an aid to improvement and these types of designs are a *major* emphasis in my forthcoming electronic book. >The obvious answer is that it is not very glamorous, and >therefore cannot be used to sell a program. Not to sound argumentative, Bob, but I sell boatloads of Fritz/Hiarcs/Junior/Nimzo programs by emphasizing Friend and Sparring modes over brute strength modes. >Does anyone even care? Sometimes it seems as though most people reading this >board are playing engine matches, and not really playig against the programs >themselves. And that's fine, but is it representative of what the typical player >expects from his/her software? If you read this board all the time, you see a lot of engine vs. engine posts. But in my experience, this represents a rather small subset of the chess program consumer market (sort of a hobby *within* the hobby). A few people are shocked to learn that I pay absolutely no attention to the Swedish rating list and very seldom run engine vs. engine events on my machine (I think the last one was in early 1999). The truth is that I'm too busy *playing* the danged things myself to spend time having them play against each other. I learned many years ago that most published chess program ratings are irrelevant to most of the consumer base -- most of us down here in the fishpond can still be easily whacked by Fritz1 or CM3K running on a 386, so the average consumer doesn't see a huge qualitative difference between getting slaughtered by a program rated 2565 and one rated 2580. The *features* such as the ones you described are what sells chess software these days and are what I've been emphasizing (successfully) for the last half-decade. -- Steve Lopez "Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people." - Nigel Short The Chess Kamikaze Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/ludekdudek/ The Chess Kamikaze Club: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/chesskamikazes
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