Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 11:46:32 11/10/02
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On November 10, 2002 at 13:34:41, Mike S. wrote: >On November 10, 2002 at 12:51:13, Bob Durrett wrote: > >>(...) >>How do the engines select their opening moves when "dumbed-down" to play at the >>amateur level? I suspect that they use the same opening book used against GMs. >>Do they? > >Usually yes. I'm not sure at the moment if older Chessmaster versions had a >"book depth" setting in the personality profile. I've recently suggested such a >setting for Fritz 8. > >But the user can decide to use another book for "dumbed-down" play. For example, >I have created an opening tree for the Fritz GUI, with variants only 6 plies >deep each: > >http://members.surfeu.at/mscheidl/Kurzbuch.zip > >This book will be much weaker than normal opening books, but OTOH it may even be >more difficult for a human amateur, when the engine continues with >non-theoretical moves from the 4th move on. (Mainly, the Kurzbuch is intended >for "book-neutral" engine matches. It contains ~20.000 positions.) > >Btw. it is possible to create such a book with standard GUI functions, from any >database of games, in several chess programs. IOW, this provides an additional >way to choose which openings are played from the book: You could i.e choose a >database of less strong players to create the book from. > >>(...) an opening book to be used for training of a weak player might be >>inappropriate for strong players and visa versa. > >I don't think so... because: > >>All of the opening books could be combined into a single opening book but with >>a different set of move probabilities for each performance level. >> >>Do any of the programs do that now? > >Many professional GUIs let the user choose from different probability settings >or opening types from within the same book. Also, freeware engines like Crafty >have similar options to control the book usage. These options can even be >relatively complex, including detailed settings of book learning and usage of >the learning results. Although not knowledgable about what is actually done in practice, I had the impression that the individual probabilities had to be set manually in the software mentioned above. That would not be practical for amateur users of the software and maybe impossible since the lower-rated amateurs might know almost nothing about openings. Perhaps something more automatic would be better. For example, the user tells the computer the desired engine playing strength and then the software automatically adjusts the opening move probabilities, all at one time, to provide the intended playing strength. Incidentally, my perception is that amateurs need to develop their skills in the opening phase as well as middlegame and endgame. Giving them the possibility of obtaining an opening advantage as a reward for their strong opening play might be educational. Amateurs cannot be expected to have memorized the large opening repertoires of stronger players. Amateurs must rely on "good judgement" in their selection of openings, especially if they are experimenting with new openings. IMHO. Bob D. > >Therefore I think, for the opening studies and practise of a human chess >amateur, a big good book will be best. He only has to care for a GUI which >offers the options like mentioned above. > >Regards, >M.Scheidl
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