Author: Graham Laight
Date: 13:50:14 02/26/00
Go up one level in this thread
On February 25, 2000 at 06:20:17, Graham Laight wrote:
>On February 24, 2000 at 19:18:07, Pete Galati wrote:
>
>>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
>>
I just had a flash of inspiration as to why, in the special situation of being a
queen down from the start, the 2 programs in my collection that put up the best
fight are Travel Champion 2100 (TC) and Rebel Decade 2.0 (RD).
Both these programs put a high valuation on mobility!
What happens when I give myself the opposite queen and play them is that first
they use their pawns and pieces to immobilise my position (so that I can't
either use my queen or swap off the other pieces), then, when I struggle to free
myself, they catch me in tactical traps!
TC is especially good at this. Uniquely among the programs I have tried, it also
takes a lot of time over each of its moves - even though it is playing at G/5 -
often over 10 seconds per move. This could be really useful for my challenge as
well - lulling the opponent into a false sense of security.
And what do TC and RD have in common? Dutch programmers. TC programmed by Franz
Morsch (the Fritz man), and RD programmed by Ed Schroder. Another Dutchman,
Johan De Koning, programmed Chessmaster (CM). This program, by reputation, is
also a mobility monster. The version I have, 2100, is certainly tricky to play
against - but I don't think that the early versions were programmed by Johan.
Anyway, given that I can't use RD under NT, I think I'll go in on Monday with
TC, and persuade my colleague to play this machine instead of Bringer. Unless
any of you out there know of a program I can download which puts a lot of
emphasis on mobility - I'm still open to suggestions - there's still time...
Thanks for your help, those of you who respond.
Graham
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