Author: Will Singleton
Date: 15:52:42 05/24/99
Go up one level in this thread
On May 24, 1999 at 07:52:04, Manfred Schubert wrote: >Schubert it announces the release of Vanessa Chess 1.0, a shareware chess >application for the Macintosh. Manfred and all: I tested Vanessa, and it looks good. Mini-review, for Mac folks: The interface works well. The present functions work as advertised, and it's actually pretty slick. I was able to play several games without bugs or bombs. Its got a clock, and allows time or ply-based strength levels. There are some other nice features, Mac folks might want to check it out. Don't get the impression this is well-developed product; it's not. But it's a very good start. I played Amateur against Vanessa, each program set to play at ply 6. I also played against it myself. Tactically, it appears strong enough. Positionally, things are less good. Has little concept of king-safety. Problems with passed-pawns. Allowed a repetition draw showing +1, apparently didn't see it in the search. Likes to move rooks back and forth on the back rank. Doesn't appear to have an opening book. And, I think it will play the same moves each game, without variation, if allowed. Not a deep searcher, takes awhile to do six ply sometimes. Has either small hash table or none, I assume. Board is B/W, no color. Some documentation (html). Shareware. It credits C. Donninger, I suppose for null-move code? Also a credit goes to James Walker. To summarize: With a bit more work, this could become an attractive choice for Macintosh gameplay. -------- Aside: for Mac programmers who want to automate their progs to ICC, I have developed some code to do this without interfacing to a third-party board interface (like Robocrafty). I'd be happy to share it with anyone who wants it. Doesn't have timestamp. Will
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.