Author: Ricardo Gibert
Date: 11:48:28 01/16/02
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On January 16, 2002 at 07:54:58, Graham Laight wrote: >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 What you are saying has some truth to it. A specific example: Sometimes a program with a bad position will avoid a difficult 5-man ending that loses in favor of a 6-man ending that loses very easily. That may be fine against another program with EGTBs too, but not against a human or a comp without the EGTBs. In such a situation, the same program might play better without the EGTBs (hence weaker).
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