Author: John Merlino
Date: 10:51:30 03/30/01
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On March 29, 2001 at 21:36:49, Mike S. wrote: >Hi, > >at first I want to say that I've had several Chessmaster versions, which I most >often liked in general. But there is a CM-specific curiosity, which I dislike, >and I assume many users will be of the same opinion. Only people which have >never seen another chess program than CM, may not be aware of that: > >Did you ever wonder, why other chess programs neither have, nor seem to need at >all, a "Wake up" function? Because they work like this (which is standard btw. >since the days of the first chess computers): > >1. In a given position, i.e. if it was loaded from a file or whatever, "Computer >move" (or what it's called, doesn't matter) STARTS the calculation for the side, >which has the move. In other words: The programs SWITCH to the side which has >the move automatically. Most do not differentiate between human-comp and >comp-human. The human will automatically play for the other color, if comp-human >is the current mode. Chessmaster 8000 does this. I just tried loading a game which was human vs. comp, with the position saved at comp (Black) to move. Immediately after loading the game, the comp's clock started ticking and a few seconds later, the comp made a move. >2. "Force move" STOPS a calculation (earlier, if desired). CM8000 does this also. >3. After a position has been set up, or loaded, they do NEVER start to calculate >immediatly, but can ALWAYS be started as described above in (1), no matter which >side has the move. This seems to contradict the behavior you want in item 1. Unless I'm confused about something. Do you want the calculation to start immediately or not? >4. After the engine has started to think, the CLOCK of the side who has the move >starts too. As mentioned above, this is how CM8000 works. >5. At the start of a normal game, colors are assigned simply by either > >(a) the human makes the white move, or >(b) the human uses "computer move" to start the program. This would be very non-intuitive for our typical user. Imagine how many people would be waiting for the computer (and which personality is playing?) to make a move before they figured out that they had to TELL the computer to move (which does not mirror reality anyway -- why should White (the comp) not move until Black (the human) says "go ahead and start now"). >6. They never fall asleep (and if they do, it's a bug). This (rare) bug was fixed in the patch. >I think it would really be a big improvement, and appreciated by the computer >chess fans, when the next Chessmaster 9000 could do that the same way like most >of the other chess programs do. It's really the much easier handling. > >Maybe this is one of the last steps needed, towards perfection :o) > >Thanks, >M.Scheidl So, unless I'm VERY confused about what you are saying above, it appears that CM8000 works exactly like you want it to (with one exception -- item 5). Please let me know if I misunderstood you. jm
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