Ruud

Distinguished
Apr 9, 2004
39
0
18,530
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

It was said on chessbase tv by one of the members, during coverage of the
match Leko-Adams currently held, after a question of a kibitzer, that the
new version of Fritz, number 9, will be released in october 2005.
I know a lot of people were wondering, so I thought I'd mention it.

--
 

Ruud

Distinguished
Apr 9, 2004
39
0
18,530
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

It's said to have some new features and a much improved endgame.
The guys didn't say much else.

"Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> schreef in bericht
news:d7ovrj$rhn$1@news3.zwoll1.ov.home.nl...
> It was said on chessbase tv by one of the members, during coverage of the
> match Leko-Adams currently held, after a question of a kibitzer, that the
> new version of Fritz, number 9, will be released in october 2005.
> I know a lot of people were wondering, so I thought I'd mention it.
>
> --
>
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Among the new features will be the ability to crash your computer faster,
more completely, and more permanently. And yes, Fritz has finally solved all
possible variations of K vs. K+N.

"Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> wrote
> It's said to have some new features and a much improved endgame.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

I hope some of the new features includes being able to play Fischer
Random Chess. That would be terrific. Other than that...I hope they
fix the useless analysis board so it can be turned around if one plays
Black during a game. Another pet peeve...variations to a main game
shouldn't cause the entire game from the main branch to turn bold.

One feature I hope Chessbase does NOT incorporate...software
activation technology.

On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:29:04 -0400, "Angelo DePalma"
<adpspammersgotohell@tellurian.net> wrote:

>
>Among the new features will be the ability to crash your computer faster,
>more completely, and more permanently. And yes, Fritz has finally solved all
>possible variations of K vs. K+N.
>
>"Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> wrote
>> It's said to have some new features and a much improved endgame.
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

"Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> wrote in message
news:d7ovrj$rhn$1@news3.zwoll1.ov.home.nl...
> It was said on chessbase tv by one of the members, during coverage of the
> match Leko-Adams currently held, after a question of a kibitzer, that the
> new version of Fritz, number 9, will be released in october 2005.
> I know a lot of people were wondering, so I thought I'd mention it.
>
> --
>
>
>
There is a description of Fritz9 on the ChessBase website.
See:

http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=247

"Available by the end of October 2005". My guess is that
is the release date for Europe and the US will be about a
month later.

Regards,
John
 

Ruud

Distinguished
Apr 9, 2004
39
0
18,530
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Of course the question remaining:
'Will it be stronger than all current engines'?
Now that we can safely say that chess engines are better at chess than
practically all humans combined, it will be harder and harder for
programmers to improve the level of play. Who gives them advice for
improvements?
Only someone who is more or less an expert on both chess and informatica
(like Max Euwe , who started a lot of todays developements in the 50s and
60s) could take it further, if it is wanted.
"John Sheatsley" <jsheatsley@earthlink.net> schreef in bericht
news:HyeWe.11850$9i4.2467@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> wrote in message
> news:d7ovrj$rhn$1@news3.zwoll1.ov.home.nl...
>> It was said on chessbase tv by one of the members, during coverage of
>> the match Leko-Adams currently held, after a question of a kibitzer, that
>> the new version of Fritz, number 9, will be released in october 2005.
>> I know a lot of people were wondering, so I thought I'd mention it.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
> There is a description of Fritz9 on the ChessBase website.
> See:
>
> http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=247
>
> "Available by the end of October 2005". My guess is that
> is the release date for Europe and the US will be about a
> month later.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

John Sheatsley wrote:
> "Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> wrote in message
> news:d7ovrj$rhn$1@news3.zwoll1.ov.home.nl...
>
>>It was said on chessbase tv by one of the members, during coverage of the
>>match Leko-Adams currently held, after a question of a kibitzer, that the
>>new version of Fritz, number 9, will be released in october 2005.
>>I know a lot of people were wondering, so I thought I'd mention it.
>>
>>--
>>
>>
>>
>
> There is a description of Fritz9 on the ChessBase website.
> See:
>
> http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=247
>
> "Available by the end of October 2005". My guess is that
> is the release date for Europe and the US will be about a
> month later.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
>
23. September in Europe.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Ruud wrote:
> Of course the question remaining:
> 'Will it be stronger than all current engines'?

Who cares?

Fritz 6 can already whip my arse if I unleash it. I'll bet it can with
most people here too, regardless of what they say. What I care about in
chess programs at this point has more to do with interface, flexibility,
etc.--with how it operates and accomodates my preferences, in other
words--than with sheer engine strength.

I see Fritz seems to be going the gimmicky route, though. "The Turk"?
Pu-leeze. Maybe this is a clue they really couldn't improve it
significantly, so they're now trying a lot of the Chessmaster-style
gimmicks. (And I love Chessmaster, but I really don't need 3-D animated
boards that dance and jump for me.)

I wish they'd just refine their interface and forget the gimmicks. They
could overhaul the program to make things like saving games and
transferring, converting and deleting files much more intuitive and much
more like most other Windows programs. *That* is something I'd slap
down my credit card for. I don't need the Turk, or horses that look so
real they leave poop on the squares!



John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Anyone who buys this product is nuts. You can download the Arena user
interface for free, and a host of incredibly strong engines, also for free.
Knut Neven sells a fantastic database of games for a fraction of the cost of
CB Megabase (the only thing "mega" about it is the price). My favorite free
engine is Fruit, which on my machine has beaten Shredder in multi-game
matches at every time control.

The only reason to purchase a $50 playing program is for the extra features.
Unfortunately Chessbase products have very few that I could recommend. CB
has not significantly upgraded or de-bugged its interface since I've been
purchasing its products (going back to Fritz 5.2). Yeah, the program looks
prettier when it starts up and now you can play videos in them, but that's
hardly worth the $$. The training functions are pathetic and don't work as
advertised, it's impossible to handicap the engines reliably, there are all
sorts of nonsensical things that pop up (for example when you play the
computer it *always* prompts for a result and there's no way to turn this
feature off), you can't configure the startup mode (play or analyze), the
file system sometimes causes the programs to freeze, and the documentation
is HORRENDOUS.

I've had problems with every CB product since around Fritz 6. They hog
memory and CPU, they're extremely clunky, they don't work well with Windows
XP, causing crashes galore. Most of them require upgrades just to function
properly.

And last but not least since Steve Lopez (bless his soul) stopped providing
customer support, there is no support whatsoever from the Germans. You are
on your own. You would probably have an easier time getting support from
programmers of free products than from ChessBase GmbH.

I should point out that ChessBase USA are terrific people and provide very
high-level, thoughtful customer service. If you must purchase CB products
you should definitely do it through them. I cannot praise Mr. and Mrs.
Maddox enough. But I don't believe they provide technical support.

Angelo DePalma

"John Sheatsley" <jsheatsley@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:HyeWe.11850$9i4.2467@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Ruud" <rhilll@home.nl> wrote in message
> news:d7ovrj$rhn$1@news3.zwoll1.ov.home.nl...
>> It was said on chessbase tv by one of the members, during coverage of
>> the match Leko-Adams currently held, after a question of a kibitzer, that
>> the new version of Fritz, number 9, will be released in october 2005.
>> I know a lot of people were wondering, so I thought I'd mention it.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
> There is a description of Fritz9 on the ChessBase website.
> See:
>
> http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=247
>
> "Available by the end of October 2005". My guess is that
> is the release date for Europe and the US will be about a
> month later.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Excellent post.

"The Man Behind The Curtain" <johngrabowski@earthblink.net> wrote in message
news:432A4B87.8050004@earthblink.net...
> Ruud wrote:
>> Of course the question remaining:
>> 'Will it be stronger than all current engines'?
>
> Who cares?
>
> Fritz 6 can already whip my arse if I unleash it. I'll bet it can with
> most people here too, regardless of what they say. What I care about in
> chess programs at this point has more to do with interface, flexibility,
> etc.--with how it operates and accomodates my preferences, in other
> words--than with sheer engine strength.
>
> I see Fritz seems to be going the gimmicky route, though. "The Turk"?
> Pu-leeze. Maybe this is a clue they really couldn't improve it
> significantly, so they're now trying a lot of the Chessmaster-style
> gimmicks. (And I love Chessmaster, but I really don't need 3-D animated
> boards that dance and jump for me.)
>
> I wish they'd just refine their interface and forget the gimmicks. They
> could overhaul the program to make things like saving games and
> transferring, converting and deleting files much more intuitive and much
> more like most other Windows programs. *That* is something I'd slap down
> my credit card for. I don't need the Turk, or horses that look so real
> they leave poop on the squares!
>
>
>
> John
>
> --
>
>
> Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
> Ruud wrote:
>
>> Of course the question remaining:
>> 'Will it be stronger than all current engines'?
>
>
> Who cares?
>
> Fritz 6 can already whip my arse if I unleash it. I'll bet it can with
> most people here too, regardless of what they say. What I care about in
> chess programs at this point has more to do with interface, flexibility,
> etc.--with how it operates and accomodates my preferences, in other
> words--than with sheer engine strength.
>
> I see Fritz seems to be going the gimmicky route, though. "The Turk"?
> Pu-leeze. Maybe this is a clue they really couldn't improve it
> significantly, so they're now trying a lot of the Chessmaster-style
> gimmicks. (And I love Chessmaster, but I really don't need 3-D animated
> boards that dance and jump for me.)
>
> I wish they'd just refine their interface and forget the gimmicks. They
> could overhaul the program to make things like saving games and
> transferring, converting and deleting files much more intuitive and much
> more like most other Windows programs. *That* is something I'd slap
> down my credit card for. I don't need the Turk, or horses that look so
> real they leave poop on the squares!
>
>
>
> John
>
I agree in most you say, but need to point out, that if you want
database features, Chessbase is already selling a program called
"Chessbase".
Fritz and the other engines came later, so there's probably no reason to
expect them to improve the DB-facilities in their engine-GUI.

More advanced analysis-features would always be welcomed by me. Also for
such (analysis), the strenght of particular engines might matter!

HD
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

HD wrote:
> The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
>
>> Ruud wrote:
>>
>>> Of course the question remaining:
>>> 'Will it be stronger than all current engines'?
>>
>>
>>
>> Who cares?
>>
>> Fritz 6 can already whip my arse if I unleash it. I'll bet it can
>> with most people here too, regardless of what they say. What I care
>> about in chess programs at this point has more to do with interface,
>> flexibility, etc.--with how it operates and accomodates my
>> preferences, in other words--than with sheer engine strength.
>>
>> I see Fritz seems to be going the gimmicky route, though. "The Turk"?
>> Pu-leeze. Maybe this is a clue they really couldn't improve it
>> significantly, so they're now trying a lot of the Chessmaster-style
>> gimmicks. (And I love Chessmaster, but I really don't need 3-D
>> animated boards that dance and jump for me.)
>>
>> I wish they'd just refine their interface and forget the gimmicks.
>> They could overhaul the program to make things like saving games and
>> transferring, converting and deleting files much more intuitive and
>> much more like most other Windows programs. *That* is something I'd
>> slap down my credit card for. I don't need the Turk, or horses that
>> look so real they leave poop on the squares!
>>
>>
>>
>> John
>>
> I agree in most you say, but need to point out, that if you want
> database features, Chessbase is already selling a program called
> "Chessbase".
> Fritz and the other engines came later, so there's probably no reason to
> expect them to improve the DB-facilities in their engine-GUI.

That's not what I'm saying. They can just improve their overall GUI.
I'm not talking specifically about the database, since I rarely use it.
(My games would probably be better if I did.)

> More advanced analysis-features would always be welcomed by me. Also for
> such (analysis), the strenght of particular engines might matter!

That's a good point. I also wish I could get more insightful commentary
than "That doesn't get the bull off the ice" and "Black's position is
tied up in knots."




John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Angelo DePalma wrote:

> I've had problems with every CB product since around Fritz 6. They hog
> memory and CPU, they're extremely clunky, they don't work well with Windows
> XP, causing crashes galore. Most of them require upgrades just to function
> properly.

I share some of your frustration with CB products. But I can't say I've
ever had one crash in XP. Not even once. Not even with other programs
running alongside it. I find the products very stable. A bit boring
these days, and with a clunky interface that needs to be rewritten from
the ground up, but crash-free.



John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Hi!

At least I can printed score sheet! Splendid!
But Turk, I am afraid, will demand the better part of my Celeron's power.

Regard
SoloMoon
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
> Angelo DePalma wrote:
>
>> I've had problems with every CB product since around Fritz 6. They hog
>> memory and CPU, they're extremely clunky, they don't work well with
>> Windows XP, causing crashes galore. Most of them require upgrades just
>> to function properly.
>
>
> I share some of your frustration with CB products. But I can't say I've
> ever had one crash in XP. Not even once. Not even with other programs
> running alongside it. I find the products very stable. A bit boring
> these days, and with a clunky interface that needs to be rewritten from
> the ground up, but crash-free.
>
>
>
> John
>

I can't say crash-free, but I haven't had all that trouble some people
tend to have with their installations - CB or other. It's always nice
hear from those don't have problems under XP (I find it a bit weird
too), but it's indeed weird to hear from those who seem to have a lot
problems with certain programs that runs almost flawlessly at most
peoples machines (something seems to be working badly together).
Personally, I haven't had more problems in the same period with
CB-programs, than I had with Arena and ChessAssistant. Many other
Windows programs also have their share if they're used enough!

Regarding the new Fritz, I'm not sure if CB have re-wamped the hole GUI
- sub-surface - or just continued the old one. It appears to me like
Frederic Friedel promissed Mig Greengaard a lot of new features, but
from reading on the German Chessbase site, I can't find much of such,
except visual gimmicks and beginner-stuff. Personally I don't care for
that. I want a wealth of advanced analytical features!!!

Regards,
HD
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

HD wrote:
> Personally, I haven't had more problems in the same period with
> CB-programs, than I had with Arena and ChessAssistant.

same with me, with WinXP; comparing CB8 with CA7, CB8
is more stable, but CA has more interesting & advanced
features, like playing on the internet, opening book
building, etc.
Compared with other PC programs in general, Chessbase
definitely has reasonable/good quality, typical
thorough German engineering i tend to think ..
:)
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

HD wrote:

> Regarding the new Fritz, I'm not sure if CB have re-wamped the hole GUI
> - sub-surface - or just continued the old one. It appears to me like
> Frederic Friedel promissed Mig Greengaard a lot of new features, but
> from reading on the German Chessbase site, I can't find much of such,
> except visual gimmicks and beginner-stuff. Personally I don't care for
> that. I want a wealth of advanced analytical features!!!

Just judging from the screen shots I've seen, it appears they've just
gussied up the existing GUI with cute animations and stuff, a la
Chessmaster. The rest looks exactly the same as my Fritz 8. Plus, if
they had reworked everything, you'd think they'd brag about it in their
description.

I'm happy with Fritz 8. I don't need an animated Turk, or dancing
graphics. I'm really disappointed this is the latest upgrade, unless
there's a raft of really useful features they just aren't telling us
about yet, in which case I take back my criticism. But as it is, if
this is how the new German owners are going to shape the company, I'm
not enthusiastic.




John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

superchess@wanadoo.nl wrote:
> Chessbase
> definitely has reasonable/good quality, typical
> thorough German engineering i tend to think ..
> :)

Ha! Have you driven a Mercedes lately?



John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
> HD wrote:
>
>> Regarding the new Fritz, I'm not sure if CB have re-wamped the hole
>> GUI - sub-surface - or just continued the old one. It appears to me
>> like Frederic Friedel promissed Mig Greengaard a lot of new features,
>> but from reading on the German Chessbase site, I can't find much of
>> such, except visual gimmicks and beginner-stuff. Personally I don't
>> care for that. I want a wealth of advanced analytical features!!!
>
>
> Just judging from the screen shots I've seen, it appears they've just
> gussied up the existing GUI with cute animations and stuff, a la
> Chessmaster. The rest looks exactly the same as my Fritz 8. Plus, if
> they had reworked everything, you'd think they'd brag about it in their
> description.
>
> I'm happy with Fritz 8. I don't need an animated Turk, or dancing
> graphics. I'm really disappointed this is the latest upgrade, unless
> there's a raft of really useful features they just aren't telling us
> about yet, in which case I take back my criticism. But as it is, if
> this is how the new German owners are going to shape the company, I'm
> not enthusiastic.
>
>
>
>
> John
>

I'm with you most of the way. But they're usally no good at selling
their program via the presentations, at least not to people who looks
for the more advanced stuff. Sometimes, it seems, they don't even know
if it's there themself!
So I know what to hope for, but not always when to be optimistic or
pessimistic!

HD
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

I'm due for a new computer in a year or so. I'll see how the re-installs go.

"The Man Behind The Curtain" <johngrabowski@earthblink.net> wrote in message
news:432AFA72.3010904@earthblink.net...
> Angelo DePalma wrote:
>
>> I've had problems with every CB product since around Fritz 6. They hog
>> memory and CPU, they're extremely clunky, they don't work well with
>> Windows XP, causing crashes galore. Most of them require upgrades just to
>> function properly.
>
> I share some of your frustration with CB products. But I can't say I've
> ever had one crash in XP. Not even once. Not even with other programs
> running alongside it. I find the products very stable. A bit boring
> these days, and with a clunky interface that needs to be rewritten from
> the ground up, but crash-free.
>
>
>
> John
>
> --
>
>
> Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

The CB crew doesn't know the difference between "feature" and "function."
They think that simply adding silly features like 3D boards and the "Turk"
will satisfy customers. It's as if we were all 11 year olds.

Chess players need software for cataloging and storing games, for practice,
and for analysis. CB does a fairly good job with its database function and
they're ok with analysis (although there could be more types of contextual
analysis). They score a 2 out of 10, however, on training and practice. I
hardly ever play my CB engines because there is no point in me getting
killed every time by a 2700-strength machine. The various strategies for
weakening the engines produce, in my hands, a 2700 player for 10 moves, a
patzer for one move (dropping a piece), followed by 2700. I don't have time
to figure out what the various "personalities" mean. I shouldn't have to.
There should be one scale for strength and another for style of play,
period. That is all we need.

Another shortcoming of these programs is their weakness in assisting in
opening training, and in building an opening repertoire. I should point out
as well that the main opening books sold by CB have a ton of errors in them.
I get the impression they got an over-worked IM to put them together 20
years ago and they haven't looked at them since. There are some real boners
in those opening books.





"HD" <hdchess@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:432be08b$0$18645$14726298@news.sunsite.dk...
> The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
>> Angelo DePalma wrote:
>>
>>> I've had problems with every CB product since around Fritz 6. They hog
>>> memory and CPU, they're extremely clunky, they don't work well with
>>> Windows XP, causing crashes galore. Most of them require upgrades just
>>> to function properly.
>>
>>
>> I share some of your frustration with CB products. But I can't say I've
>> ever had one crash in XP. Not even once. Not even with other programs
>> running alongside it. I find the products very stable. A bit boring
>> these days, and with a clunky interface that needs to be rewritten from
>> the ground up, but crash-free.
>>
>>
>>
>> John
>>
>
> I can't say crash-free, but I haven't had all that trouble some people
> tend to have with their installations - CB or other. It's always nice hear
> from those don't have problems under XP (I find it a bit weird too), but
> it's indeed weird to hear from those who seem to have a lot problems with
> certain programs that runs almost flawlessly at most peoples machines
> (something seems to be working badly together).
> Personally, I haven't had more problems in the same period with
> CB-programs, than I had with Arena and ChessAssistant. Many other Windows
> programs also have their share if they're used enough!
>
> Regarding the new Fritz, I'm not sure if CB have re-wamped the hole GUI -
> sub-surface - or just continued the old one. It appears to me like
> Frederic Friedel promissed Mig Greengaard a lot of new features, but from
> reading on the German Chessbase site, I can't find much of such, except
> visual gimmicks and beginner-stuff. Personally I don't care for that. I
> want a wealth of advanced analytical features!!!
>
> Regards,
> HD
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Angelo DePalma <angelodpnospam@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:
> I hardly ever play my CB engines because there is no point in me getting
> killed every time by a 2700-strength machine. The various strategies for
> weakening the engines produce, in my hands, a 2700 player for 10 moves,
> a patzer for one move (dropping a piece), followed by 2700.

I find that the handicap mode works better than the others. Tuning it
down to, say, 1500 strength plays reasonable chess through the opening and
middlegame. The downside is that its endgame play isn't too good so, as
long as I can get through the middlegame without being more than a pawn
down, I have a reasonable chance of winning. I suspect that turning the
strength up will give better endgame play, too, but it would slaughter me
in the middlegame then.

At least, in handicap mode, the program doesn't play like a grandmaster
until it's at +3 and then hang a piece to even things up.


Dave.

--
David Richerby Salted Frozen Hat (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ hat but it's frozen in a block of ice
and covered in salt!
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

You may recall my previous 2-3 posts regarding my search for an engine in
the 2050-2200 ELO playing strength range. In my opinion only a program
designed to play at that strength when it's going full steam ahead, or a
very intelligently designed handicap mode, can provide the kind of playing
practice most players need. I've been disappointed by every variant of
handicap mode for Fritz/Shredder that I've tried.



"David Richerby" <davidr@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message
news:Cpc*na2Yq@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk...
> Angelo DePalma <angelodpnospam@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:
>> I hardly ever play my CB engines because there is no point in me getting
>> killed every time by a 2700-strength machine. The various strategies for
>> weakening the engines produce, in my hands, a 2700 player for 10 moves,
>> a patzer for one move (dropping a piece), followed by 2700.
>
> I find that the handicap mode works better than the others. Tuning it
> down to, say, 1500 strength plays reasonable chess through the opening and
> middlegame. The downside is that its endgame play isn't too good so, as
> long as I can get through the middlegame without being more than a pawn
> down, I have a reasonable chance of winning. I suspect that turning the
> strength up will give better endgame play, too, but it would slaughter me
> in the middlegame then.
>
> At least, in handicap mode, the program doesn't play like a grandmaster
> until it's at +3 and then hang a piece to even things up.
>
>
> Dave.
>
> --
> David Richerby Salted Frozen Hat (TM): it's like
> a
> www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ hat but it's frozen in a block of
> ice
> and covered in salt!