Author: Mike Byrne
Date: 08:40:59 08/17/02
Save your money.
Poor chess program with very limited options. It has 8 levels 1-8. IF you
underpromote your pawn , you must go into positions setup to change your pawn
froma queen. Direct quote from the manual:
"The computer would(sic) always promote its pawn to a Queen. If you wish to
your pawn then you must advance it to the 8th rank when (sic) the computer will
automatically promote yopur pawn to Queen and begin to compute its own
counter-move.
If you wish to promote your pawn to a knight, bishoop or rook or underpromote
(sic) - as the rules of chess allow, you must wait until the computer completes
its counter-move. TAKE BACK the computer move (see section 8a) and use POSITION
SET-UP (see section 9d) and replace the Queen with the piece of your choice."
The only redeeming feature is that it is so weak, it may be suitable/enjoyable
for very weak/beginner players.
Illustrative Game between Crafty SE 17.16 (Novice setting) vs Novag Solo( level
3)
Crafty 17.16 SE is available for free via email to mfbyrne_pa@msn.com.. The
"novice setting" incorporates the following parameters:
search nodes=1000
piece values:
QUEEN=600;
ROOK=400;
BISHOP=275;
KNIGHT=275;
PAWN=200;
[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "Secane, PA"]
[Date "2001.08.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Novag Solo - level 3"]
[Black "Crafty 17.16 SE - Novice"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B20/05"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Time "10:38:29"]
[Variation "Short variation (f4)"]
1. e4 c5 2. d3 Nc6 3. Be3 d6 4. Nf3 f5 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Nd5 Rc8 7. Nh4 e6?
{
[D] 2rqkbnr/pp1b2pp/2npp3/2pN1p1Q/4P2N/3PB3/PPP2PPP/R3KB1R b KQkq -
Crafty 17.16 SE with "novice" setting is designed to play weak. That is why you
see the move 7. ...e6?. At this point, I fully expected Novag Solo to win this
game. It is amazing that it does not and it a true indication of how weak Novag
Solo is.
}
8.
Qh5+ g6 9. Nxg6 Qa5+ 10. Nc3? {the simple b4 is very effective here} Nf6 11. Qh3
Rg8 12. Nxf8 Kxf8 13. Qf3 Nd4 14. Qd1
Qb4 15. Rb1 Kg7 16. f3 e5 17. h3 f4 18. Bd2 Ba4 19. Rc1 Qxb2 20. Nxa4 Qxa2 21.
Nc3 Qb2 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. exd5 Qa2 24. c4 b5 25. Rg1 b4 26. h4 b3 27. Rc3 b2
28. Be2?{This move is inexcusable - it's almost like Novag Solo has no concept
of pawn promotion} b1=Q 29. Qxb1 Qxb1+ 30. Rc1 Qb2 31. Rc3 Nb3 32. Rxb3 Qxb3 33.
Rf1 Qc2
34. Ba5
{
[D] 2r3r1/p5kp/3p4/B1pPp3/2P2p1P/3P1P2/2q1B1P1/4KR2 b KQkq -
Just for the record "normal" Crafty sees a "mate in 11" here instantly and it
later drops to a "mate in 8".
34. ... Qc1+ 35. Kf2 Qe3+ 36. Ke1 Rb8 37. Kd1 Rb1+ 38. Kc2 Qxe2+ 39. Kxb1 Rb8+
40. Bb6 Rxb6+ 41. Kc1 Qb2+ 42. Kd1 Qa1+ 43. Kd2 Rb2+ 44. Kc3 Qa3#
} Qc1+ 35. Bd1 Qa3 36. Bd2 Qxd3 37. Be2 Qd4 38. h5 Kh6 39. g4 Qa1+ 40.
Bd1 Qa2 41. Be2 Qa1+ 42. Bd1 Qa2 43. Be2 Rcb8 44. Bd3 Qa1+ 45. Ke2 Qd4 46. Ba5
Qe3+ 47. Kd1 Qxd3+ 48. Ke1 Rb1+ 49. Kf2 Qxf1# {Mate} 0-1
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.