Re: The chess thread

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Tue 17 May 2022 - 9:32

Fangirl Three wrote:And yet it said your initial knight move was a 'blunder'.

Why didn't it take your knight with its f7 pawn?

It was, theoretically, a blunder by me but that level of bot isn't smart enough to take advantage of it.

Every level of bot is programmed to make mistakes. The lower the level, the greater the mistakes. The low ones are designed to not bother protecting their rooks and queens. Also, they're designed to miss the opportunity to capture your pieces at critical moments. That's why it didn't take my pawn.

I found, with the bots, that the best way to learn is to play repeatedly against the toughest one, not caring that you're being massacred every time. You quickly learn what it's not a good idea to do. Then, when you tackle the lower bots, you find you can walk all over them.

It's hard to learn from just playing the lower ones because they let you get away with too much and, therefore, you never really improve.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Tue 17 May 2022 - 9:38

Fangirl Three wrote:But the knight one I couldn't crack. I quickly queened my pawn, but for the life of me I couldn't win with that nasty knight helicoptering around and putting me in check every time I thought I'd got the enemy king boxed in.

I did learn one thing though, to keep my king and queen on the same coloured squares so that the knight couldn't fork them.

Personally, I'd concentrate on chasing the knight around the board with my king and queen. At some point, you'll either manage to trap it and capture it, or it'll end up in a line with your opponent's king and you can attack both simultaneously with your queen.

by Fangirl Three Tue 17 May 2022 - 13:31

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:
Every level of bot is programmed to make mistakes. The lower the level, the greater the mistakes. The low ones are designed to not bother protecting their rooks and queens. Also, they're designed to miss the opportunity to capture your pieces at critical moments. That's why it didn't take my pawn.

Based on something I read in a computer magazine in 1983 I assumed that the lower level bots just looked fewer moves ahead.

I found, with the bots, that the best way to learn is to play repeatedly against the toughest one, not caring that you're being massacred every time. You quickly learn what it's not a good idea to do.

I shall take your advice (again). Because I noticed that the endgame practice bot is pretty shrewd - it's very good at tricking you into stalemates, and with the knight and bishop ones I learnt very quickly that certain opening moves by me always led to instant victory for the computer.

Personally, I'd concentrate on chasing the knight around the board with my king and queen.

I didn't think of that, I'll try that too.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Tue 31 May 2022 - 21:14

Chess Trap to Trick Your Opponent: Tennison Gambit Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Variation.

That is very useful information. yes

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Tue 31 May 2022 - 21:21

Chess Trap to Trick Your Opponent: BFG 10000 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile counterattack.

by Fangirl Three Wed 1 Jun 2022 - 7:17

I still haven't managed to checkmate K+N with K+Q.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Wed 1 Jun 2022 - 9:34

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Wed 1 Jun 2022 - 9:36

I would suggest getting your queen into the very centre of the board. That way, it's attacking the maximum number of squares, which increases its chances of attacking both the king and knight at the same time. Then try closing in on the knight with your king, forcing it to retreat. With any luck, at some point, both it and the king will be in your queen's firing line.

by Nightjar Wed 1 Jun 2022 - 10:12

I played chess once.

Didn't like it. Colbert

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Wed 1 Jun 2022 - 11:47

by Fangirl Three Fri 3 Jun 2022 - 7:20

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:I would suggest getting your queen into the very centre of the board. That way, it's attacking the maximum number of squares, which increases its chances of attacking both the king and knight at the same time. Then try closing in on the knight with your king, forcing it to retreat. With any luck, at some point, both it and the king will be in your queen's firing line.

This was good advice - in subsequent practices, I've moved the queen to the centre 4 squares as soon as I can, and it has meant that I've dominated the action, rather than being chased round the board like I was before.

The problem is that I can't seem to get the knight away from the king far enough to fork them with my queen. It always escapes and puts me in check so I have to draw back.

And I get preoccupied with making sure that my king and queen are on different coloured squares so that the knight can't fork them.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Thu 30 Jun 2022 - 14:58

I've just beaten the Chess.com computer with it set at "Super Grandmaster" level. box

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Thu 30 Jun 2022 - 14:58

It took just 21 moves. box

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Thu 30 Jun 2022 - 15:03

And now I've just beaten it at its maximum setting. box

In 35 moves. box

I think there might be something wrong with it. shifty

by Fangirl Three Thu 30 Jun 2022 - 15:23

I myself became disillusioned with chess after failing to solve the K+Q v K+N conundrum.

by Nightjar Sun 24 Jul 2022 - 15:33

Chess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent

Moscow incident occurred because child ‘violated’ safety rules by taking turn too quickly, says official

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/24/chess-robot-grabs-and-breaks-finger-of-seven-year-old-opponent-moscow