Author: Jeroen van Dorp
Date: 05:45:46 07/25/01
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>There have been some negative voices heard about this program. Like about Shredder, Junior.... :) >Statements >like "just pushing wood around with no plan" etc. Sounds like a computer to me. >Also the results haven't >been too good. A lot of effort has been put down to test different settings >in CM8, with some fruitful results. My question is if anybody has done the >same with Nimzo 8? A while ago I read some suggestions of changing the >"Middlegame mobility" from default 24 to 48 - and the "Endgame mobility" >from 10 to 20. But I'm not sure about the results. The tweaking of **these** values definitely made Nimzo more succesfull in blitz and other short time control games. In longer time controls there's nothing wrong with Nimzo 8, and it is something of an Angstgegner for Fritz 6 in a lot of S(low)TC games. Fritz 6 lost a lot of games from Nimzo 8 when I played it at tournament level (40/2h) >Then there are other >parameters in Nimzo like "Weight king safety", "Weight pawn structure", >"Futility cutoff", the different "Piece values" and also the styles of >"Solid", "Aggressive", "Offensive" and "Allround". >If not an absolute top program, at least it should be possible to make >the playing style interesting and attractive. It depends on what you're looking for. Of course these are **great** values to chance, especially those regarding king safety and pawn structures. However you must change the values quite a bit. My rule of thumb is at least 15%. Also piece values can help you let Nimzo play more risky, especially by lowering queen value. I think these high values are certainly 33% of the "boring" play. But only change them if you want Nimzo to play oddball lines or risky, not to make it stronger in "Computer Chess Only" games. A bit of a problem with Nimzo 8 is it's dull opening book. I think this book is nice for people who don't want to stray from regular opening theory. It's ...... efficient. There are hardly any oddball variations. Maybe it's a reaction to earlier books of Nimzo (befor 7.32, like 98 and 99) which could have some nice screwups inside. A lot of CC games (correspondence) with a lot of gambits can help out, but that's just your own taste. However, if you're looking for optimized parameters, decide if you want to play it yourself (FAT pluses to mobility, lower king safety with at least 20%, lower pawn structure solidness equally, and lower the value of at least the queen to around 1100 or so); if you want to play Blitz in computer only games: (mobility changes as mentioned above only) if you want STC computer only (keep the default settings) That's my advice, but YMMV. I could look up an occasional game with the sliders wildly adapted, I can remember a rook sack in a game against me, but I have to look that up at home. >Any comments are welcome. To be honest, you got some, and from your reaction not all were equally welcome :)) J.
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