Author: Graham Laight
Date: 04:54:58 01/16/02
There is a special situation where, IMO, weaker chess computers play better than stronger ones. When the opponent is clearly winning, but not yet completely won, very strong programs - possibly because they see refutation against all possibilities within their horizon - tend to "give up" and play bland moves which offer no fight to the enemy. If I was using a chess computer against a human opponent, and I was behind on material, I'd want the feisty old fighters of yesteryear - machines like Chess Master 2100, or Kasparov Travel Champion. In those days, they knew that the best way to trip up a human opponent was to create tactical mayhem. Many a time I've seen these great old machines snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. By contrast, newer programs tend to allow you to win just by playing obvious moves. Under the circumstances, they're trying to be too clever. They have the attribute that they can beat me without me knowing what went wrong - which is a sign of much higher mastery of the game - which the old fighters can't. But neither can they make a fight out of a lost position IMO. Of course - in normal chess, the stronger program is probably less likely to get itself into a mess in the first place... -g
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