Chess

[DallasDad]

I've recently started playing the Windows 7 version of Chess Titans. There are a few strategies that work, even at level 10, because the program doesn't make good choices when you attack its home row.

If I don't play the desperately aggressive strategy that would lose against a human, I find the program remarkably difficult to defeat at level 7 or level 8. I used to be considered good at chess, but I haven't played against anyone who could beat me for 30-some years, so I'm quite out of practice.

Leaving aside the chess masters and geniuses, I wonder if most people play better against humans than against computers. The damning thing for me is that I have no psychological edge -- threatening the queen often ends up with the computer accepting a trade because it's better for the computer's game in the long run. When playing against a human, I'd judge whether to offer a disadvantageous trade based on how the human was likely to respond, rather than its overall tactical advantage. Another problem is that the computer rarely overlooks one thing in favor of another. It patiently looks ahead at all of the options, and even seems to do fairly well at predicting what its opponent will do. Aside from the back row problems, it doesn't seem to make mistakes.

What's the best approach? I don't know whether getting better at beating Chess Titans will affect my play against humans, but I'm humiliated that the stupid thing beats me 3 out of 5 times.

 

[nimzov]

I think you should to play a move based on its chess value alone not so much on so called "psychological" value. An experienced a chess player will gladly exchange queens if this gives him a small edge. Some beginners will hesitate thinking that they will lose something if they exchange queens so they try to avoid it. I played at master level a couple of decades ago, and I never could motivate myself to play against a computer. Now, of course, tournament chess players train with computers regularly.

 

[Beerina]

I can't help you if you're asking how a chess computer's play may be different from playing a human, as far as buffing your skills goes, but there are tricks you can use against a computer that won't work against a human (as you described.)

Kasparov, after being defeated in his famous series with Big Blue, was convinced he could pull it out in another match. Not only does he play chess well, but he knows how computers work, and how they play chess. All the mini-max stuff and taking advantage of its limitations, primarily the "horizon effect", is second nature to him and his way of thinking.

I recall reading that chess masters, playing others online, can usually tell when an opponent's feeding them a computer's results rather than another skilled human's.

 

[dudalb]

When you are playing a computer, no doubt a lot of the "mind games" that are a part of competive chess pretty much go out the window.