Author: Don Dailey
Date: 06:31:30 08/02/98
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On August 02, 1998 at 07:50:08, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On August 01, 1998 at 14:15:33, Robert Pawlak wrote: > >>I was wondering whether Rebel 9's time usage is realistic when operated in the >>ELO handicapping mode. >> >>I ask this because Fritz (my mainstay) does not have realistic time usage when >>in the ELO modes. It seems to move instantaneously when set at 1800-1900. >> >>Both CM5500 and CStal seem to have good/realistic time usage when playing at the >>weaker levels. Can rebel do the same? >> >>Thanks, >> >>bob P. > >There are at least three well-known ways to "dumb down" a program: > >1. reduce the search time (a time-handicap mode) to give the opponent >more time. This has to be done in conjunction with disabling "think on >opponent's time" or it won't work well. > >2. reduce the positional scoring terms so that the program loses the >significance of positional considerations. IE passed pawns become less >valuable, open files become less important, pawn structure becomes less >important, ditto for king safety, etc. > >3. factor in some sort of random number so that positions that are bad >will randomly look less bad or actually look good. Or, if the random >addition is large enough, but infrequent enough, the program might begin >to make tactical blunders (ICC has some *bach programs that do (or did)) >this, and they would make an occasional blunder like a weaker human). Another thing that has been done is to hurt the quies search. The problem is that beginners and younger players often get killed even with a 1 ply search. So a special beginner mode that does a one ply search with a broken quies works well and I think some of the novag machines had this. For instance, 1 ply no quies, 1 ply with 1 ply of quies and so on. They give a beginner a good chance to learn and excute simple tactics. A weak player will always lose tactically anyway, making the positional play weaker is good for more advanced beginners and intermediate players, but won't help the beginner much. - Don
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