Author: James Robertson
Date: 16:48:40 02/24/00
Go up one level in this thread
On February 24, 2000 at 18:59:48, Graham Laight wrote:
>Hi Everyone,
>
>I've dropped myself in the soup, but there may still be time to rescue the
>situation.
>
>My friend and I are both about 1600 Elo. I challenged him to play Bringer with
>the computer a queen down, and the computer having only 5 minutes on the clock
>(to his 55). He accepted, and the game will take place on Monday.
>
>I assumed I had just set myself up for an easy 1 GBP, but I was in for a shock:
>compared to us, Bringer is a brilliant player - but it has a blind spot for this
>particular situation. It doesn't realise that when you're down you must
>
>* avoid trading material
>
>* mix it tactically
>
>I have found that, under the stipulated conditions, even I can very easily beat
>Bringer, because it plays quietly, and easily allows exchanges. My opponent
>would have to make a relatively obvious blunder to get any trouble from this
>program.
>
>In my quest for more information, I have played 3 other machines under the
>stipulated conditions.
>
>1. The version of Chess Tal ('96) I am using has some interesting ideas, but is
>ultimately not strong enough for this challenge. Also, it keeps trying to
>resign!
>
>2. Rebel Decade 2 threw its pawns forward and immobilised my position, making it
>very difficult to play against, even though it remained a queen down! However,
>it does not run under NT.
>
>3. Travel Champion 2100, as ever, created tactical mayhem from a quiet looking
>position. It made me panic, it made me lose material, and generally made a
>mockery of me. Another advantage is that if I can persuade my friend to use this
>machine (my NT portable could develop an untimely "fault"), the pieces are
>rather small and dark, thus placing the human at a further disadvantage. The
>drawback of this machine is that if one can somehow survive the Tyson-style
>middle game, there is a very easy end game to follow - I'd rather my
>representative had strong end game skills (though the inevitable loss of morale
>from the middle game frights may throw him off his game (witness DB V GK '97
>game 2)).
>
>If anyone has some suggestions for programs which I can easily download,
>configure, and run under NT, and which have both a strong end game and a
>tactical middle game, I'd be very happy to read your suggestions!
>
>Thanks for your help with this.
>
>Graham
LG is a wizard if it ever gets more than a few pieces near your king. I would
recommend it. TCB is fairly strong. Crafty plays the most solid game, but its
habit of winning the endgame isn't so good if it's a queen down.
James
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