Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Strange humans (only?)

Author: Mike S.

Date: 02:10:23 05/06/04

Go up one level in this thread


On May 05, 2004 at 20:00:05, George Tsavdaris wrote:

>(...)

> As all moves lead to mate, all moves are the best ones.

Please have some chess culture and some taste! :-))

Which doesn't necessarily mean that the shortest mate is always the "best" from
a human viewpoint. For example, a #6 can be much more clear - giving the
defender less options or the like - than an "inhuman" problem-like #4. People
who like chess problems will have the opposite opinion, but will accept your
statement even less.

A statement like "Every variant which ends with mate, is equally best no matter
how long it is" is an attack against chess culture... I strongly recommend
programmers (and fans) not to underestimate the bad impression of "uglyness" a
chess program can give, when a too big compromise between good play and
practical success have been made.

There are cases, not only nullmove-related one's, when 2600+ chess engines move
like patzers for such reasons. Computerchess can do better. Sometimes, too much
is sacrificed for a few more engine competition Elo points... I dislike that,
even when it happens only in 0.x% of games. It's wrong priority (better strength
of course, yes, but not at all cost please).

The increasing importance of computerchess for chess in general brings an
increased responsibility for style and beauty of top-level chess, for
programmers.

Regards,
M.Scheidl



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.