PART 1 • When it comes to computer chess,“ handicap” is not a nasty word
Adaptive play – the chess engine will, over time, attempt to change its strength to more closely match yours. The result of each game you play against the engine will help it to more closely align itself with your level of play until you are winning 20 % to 25 % of your games against it. While that number might not sound especially high, many experienced chess coaches will agree with that percentage as the“ golden ratio”, at which a student( i. e. you) loses often enough to promote the desire to learn and improve, but wins often enough to not become demoralized. The old Power Chess program was the first to use such a play mode, but a few other chess playing programs have introduced this feature down through the years.
The“ tactics seeker”- the playing programs produced by the German company ChessBase( Fritz, etc.) feature a mode in which the engine will look for tactics that you can play against it during its search and, when it finds such a possibility, steers play toward that position instead of away from it( as it would in a normal play mode). If you wish, the program will also flash a light on the screen to alert you of a tactical maneuver when you have a move that will create one in the present board position. The feature puts to rest the common concern among chess players that“ you can study tactics all day long but you ' ll never get to use them against a computer”.
Pre-programmed“ personalities”- these can be really cool to use if your chess program has them( I say“ can be” because I ' ve seen the idea abysmally executed in a few programs), especially if the personalities have approximate Elo ratings( you ' ll learn about the Elo rating system in Part Two). many programs down through the years have offered this feature in varying forms. Kasparov ' s Gambit named its personalities after historical figures( like Genghis Khan) but didn ' t offer anything other than a name and a rating. Power Chess contained various cartoon-like characters with a little bit of biographical information. Chessmaster 6000( and every version since) has provided the best execution of the idea, with a name, a rating, a photo of a real person, a little bit of personal information, and a capsule description of their chess tendencies. Some programs, though, offer nothing but a one or two word description or, worse, fake the feature; one program from the 1990 ' s offered a variety of“ opponents” who would move and speak, but they all played chess the exact same way. The point of a program ' s suite of personalities is to“ hook” you into playing more chess by( at least on a subconscious level) making you think you ' re playing people at a simulated chess club, and it ' s often pretty effective; I had a lively“ virtual rivalry” with one of the Power Chess characters many years ago. I ' ll offer some creative ways of using personalities later.
77 chessking. com