Author: David Blackman
Date: 00:45:32 09/30/99
Go up one level in this thread
On September 29, 1999 at 20:52:37, Michael Fuhrmann wrote: > From my limited understanding of computer chess, I gather that >programs choose moves based on the assumption that their opponents always make >the best possible moves. This may not happen -- especially in the case of a >human opponent. Which leads to the paradox that computers might win more games >if they sometimes played weaker moves. [ cut ] > So (a) Is any computer today capable of choosing this kind of >technically unsound, counter-attacking move (in positions where it will probably >lose anyway given best play) instead of the "correct" move according to its >eval? > And (b) Does anyone else agree that if a computer could do this, it >would add a human-like, "psychological" dimension to its arsenal? Various versions of my program Desperado have tried to play traps and swindles. The most recent version has been tuned up to play in a computer only tournament however, and testing suggested this is not a good way to play against other computers, so it has been turned off. I tried a few trapping methods, but the one that seemed most effective was when doing a N ply search for the computer, only to try opponents replies in the search if they looked ok at N-2 ply. (Then you would try them again as N-1 ply as normal.) This was done at several levels in the tree. This produced some spectacular crushes against players of about expert strength, but a game by IM Guy West showed that strong human opponents could keep the game under control, at least in some cases. Without the trapping code, it plays very boring chess and puts no pressure on the opponent unless they blunder. There have been rumours of some better known programs also being programmed to play traps. Aren't there "Anti-GM" and "Anti-patzer" modes in Rebel that are supposed to do this? Also i suspect Deep Blue did this in at least some of the games against Kasparov. And if it didn't, it should have.
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.