Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 07:41:06 08/22/05
Go up one level in this thread
On August 21, 2005 at 14:51:17, Fernando Villegas wrote: >As it have been mentioned here convincingly by several members, commercial >programs face at least a crisis. In short, why people is going to purchase >programs that are matched and even sometimes defeated on a regular base by some >exceptional freeware stuff? >The Gui alone is not an answer. Even now there are some freeware programs that >offer his own gui and, alhough inferior to chessbase standard, I cannot see any >reason the programmers cannot create something better, more catchy, tomorrow. >Besides, lot of chess computer fans are not interested in gui's. They even >prefer spartan programs that can be played from arena or any other already >existent platform. In fact some of them even despise pretty guis as something >akin and proper of "mass market" programs. >I think the only avennue still available is one that has been already walked to >a degree by Chessbase and Chessmaster programs: coaching. >Coaching until now is based in this: >a) flexible strenght of the engine: you can downgrade some of them to supposed >intermediate levels. >b) openning trainning. The current practice asked for the pupil is, nevertheles, >a song to boredom. It takes the soul of an insane guy pretending to be a GM to >keep tranning with the actual programming for that purpose. >c) the program mark critical points where you missed the point or got crashed. >d) stock of millions of games for you to play and study. This is monument to >yawning at his best. >e) classes about this or that ending technique, middle game tactics and so on. >It requires the patience and time of a guy condemned to life imprisonement > > >In fact, there is much to do in this field for intermediate players with >limited time and not too much patience, that is to say, for 90% of us. >Commercial programs must do it or they will just become antiques. How? >How to do it? >With a new concept that involves professional kind of programming. I call it the >"perpetual companion to chess". >What is it? >I don't know... Junior was an amateur program here: http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/97wm$tix.htm and yet the sky did not fall for commercial systems. It won't fall today either. The world's best selling chess program (by a landslide) is not the strongest (ChessMaster). The chess engine is a small part of a chess system. And if I listen to advice from a 2500 engine or from a 2800 engine the result will be the same anyway -- in one ear and out the other. ;-) And when I dare to play them the beating I receive is rather indistinguishable to me whether I am playing Shredder or Fruit or even Crafty. So, for the commercial programs, I believe that the sun will come up tomorrow and people will still buy it. In fact, I think that most people who buy chess programs will never learn the result of this contest (unless Zappa goes commercial).
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