Author: Keith Kitson
Date: 09:07:48 04/06/99
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On April 06, 1999 at 07:13:20, Laurence Chen wrote: >On April 06, 1999 at 00:47:21, Brian Smith wrote: > >>Any opinions on what program is best positionally and what has the best >>combination of tactical and positional skills against humans (I know this >>question is also in the REBEL poll, but the reults might (or might not) be >>influenced by the many REBEL owners at going to the site. >> >>Thanks >> >>(sorry if this has been discussed a millions times already... I guess I came >>late) >There's no such thing as the best positional chess engine. If you want to get a >clear picture without any bias then my advice is to get as many different chess >engines as you can afford to buy. I mean different chess engines, and not >different personalities or settings one can modify in a single chess engine. The >reason is all chess engines are weak in this department, they all suffer from >"horizon effect", and they don't give the same evaluation for the same position, >some engines are stronger in some chess positions than others. So if you have >many different engines, you'll be able to better appreciate the chess position >and be able to get to the true evaluation of a position. Don't fall into the >pitfall of falling in love with a chess engine, remember that love is blind, and >the blind leading the blind, then both of them will fall into the ditch. :) >Laurence An interesting point of view. In my opinion it is possible to determine the strongest positional program to be the one that comes out top the most on positional 'decisions'. A lot of work has already been done in some circles in this area, and although not particularly impressive compared with good human chess players the 'knowledge programs' seem to do best (i.e. Hiarcs 7.01, Rebel10c and MCP8...possibly in that order) I reckon chess program writers have a long way to go with strategic decision making before they approach the capabilities of human players, however, at the present time there appears to be two main schools of thought in engine approach 1. Speed 2. Knowledge Knowledge appears to be holding its own and coming out on top against speed programs. I would plump for Hiarcs7.01 as the best positional at the present time.
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