Author: Jorge Pichard
Date: 12:52:18 10/18/01
The symbiosis: man and machine The game of Advanced Chess makes a virtue out of the reality of chess playing computers. Each human player is equipped with a PC, which he can consult at will during the game. The rate of play is one hour for all the moves, so that the player must be careful to allocate his time well. He enters variations for the computer to analyse, but also spends time pondering the position himself, while the computer is checking the crucial variations. The human is always in charge and has the final decision on which move to make. In a tournament all players have identical hardware – the latest and fastest PCs – which they can use to help select the moves. They use the computers in different ways in three phases of the game: In the opening they will consult a giant database of almost two million games to check whether the moves of the opponent have been played before and with what success. In the middlegame the players use the calculating powers of Fritz to check the feasibility of their plans. Typically a player will execute a sequence of moves he would like to play on the PC and then make the program do a tactical search to see whether there are any "holes" in the variation. He may try a second or third sequence and compare their merits. In the endgame the players may search for positions for which the computer has full information, checking whether a winning position can be reached. Displaying the thinking process A very attractive feature of Advanced Chess is that for the first time the public is able to directly observe how top Grandmasters find their moves. The monitor displays of both players are projected on large screens, so that the audience can follow every action of the player. In the analysis room a chess commentator will have a third computer – with the same program as the players – on which he can explain exactly why certain lines were rejected by the players. Strength of the Advanced Chess player It is important to note that the human-computer team is stronger than each of its components. A top Grandmaster may be stronger than the computer program he is using, but he is able to increases his playing strength even further when assisted by the program. Experts have estimated that the best man-computer teams are able to achieve a performance rating of 3000 on the Elo scale (the world's strongest players are just around 2800). Advanced Chess on the Internet The man-computer concept of Advanced Chess ties in very nicely with chess game servers that are becoming popular on the Internet. Most online games cannot be monitored for fairness. It is clear that a large number of players surreptitiously consult databases and chess playing computers during their games. The answer to the dilemma is to legalise the use of computers – at least in certain tournaments. The Internet is the perfect site for an Advanced Chess tournament circuit, in which anyone can participate. For the first time even the weakest of players can enter a tournament without fear of disgrace. At worst they will simply follow the computer on every move. Naturally, a stronger player with the same hardware who actually uses it constructively (as described above) will be superior, but the games against the novice will still be very exciting and of a very high quality. A strong grandmaster who understands how to use the computer well will dominate the opposition and win most of the tournaments he enters. But it will quite meaningful for amateurs to play against him, and they will actually win occasional games. Most importantly the amateur will sense the spirit of competition and learn a lot about the game in the process. Frederic Friedel
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.