Winning by Time...

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Fernando
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Winning by Time...

Post by Fernando »

Today I won a laborious game to Chess System Tal I, that version with the ugly face making gestures according the situation and.... I won due to time. CSTAL surpassed the limit..
It was materially equal game but I was under pressure....
No more than two or three times an engine has been defeated by me due to that.
very curious.
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Monsieur Plastique
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Re: Winning by Time...

Post by Monsieur Plastique »

Fernando wrote:No more than two or three times an engine has been defeated by me due to that. very curious.
The Ron Nelson program found in the Deluxe Talking Touch Chess, Alexandra and Phantom Force has amongst other issues a habit of losing on move 40 on the tournament levels. In the many games over the years I've played against them, I'd say a good 50% of them were lost by the machine as it over-stepped the time control on it's 40th move on the 40 moves in 2 hour level. Because this was clearly some sort of bug (or at least a very poorly tested or implemented algorithm), I always let it play on.

As a slight aside, I have always admired machines that manage their time well - making obvious moves quickly and taking much more time over complicated moves. I have always felt that Novag machines were very good at this, for instance. Conversely, there have been some machines that could have been stronger with better time management abilities. The original Scisys Mark V being one of them as well as the (not dedicated) Nintendo Fritz (both of which move too fast and probably lose a good 50 points or so by doing so).
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Fernando
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Re: Winning by Time...

Post by Fernando »

Monsieur Plastique wrote:
Fernando wrote:No more than two or three times an engine has been defeated by me due to that. very curious.
The Ron Nelson program found in the Deluxe Talking Touch Chess, Alexandra and Phantom Force has amongst other issues a habit of losing on move 40 on the tournament levels. In the many games over the years I've played against them, I'd say a good 50% of them were lost by the machine as it over-stepped the time control on it's 40th move on the 40 moves in 2 hour level. Because this was clearly some sort of bug (or at least a very poorly tested or implemented algorithm), I always let it play on.

As a slight aside, I have always admired machines that manage their time well - making obvious moves quickly and taking much more time over complicated moves. I have always felt that Novag machines were very good at this, for instance. Conversely, there have been some machines that could have been stronger with better time management abilities. The original Scisys Mark V being one of them as well as the (not dedicated) Nintendo Fritz (both of which move too fast and probably lose a good 50 points or so by doing so).
It is not the case of CSTAL so I left him to be declared a loser.
Sometimes, when I see myself in problems, I look not for the very best move to defend myself, but the most complicated to get the program expending more time. At the very least It could have less time to search problematic moves...
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klute
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Re: Winning by Time...

Post by klute »

Monsieur Plastique wrote:
Fernando wrote:The Ron Nelson program found in the Deluxe Talking Touch Chess, Alexandra and Phantom Force has amongst other issues a habit of losing on move 40 on the tournament levels.
You can add the Excalibur GM to the list of occasional 40/2 time defaulters.
The Klute offers you the white pieces and the advantage of the first move.
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klute
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Re: Winning by Time...

Post by klute »

Fernando wrote:Today I won a laborious game to Chess System Tal I
If you mean the original DOS version, I love that program!

It was never one of the very strongest programs in absolute terms, but it really did play speculative attacking chess like Tal and was quite capable of defeating anything on a good day.

I consider author Chris Whittington to be an unsung genius of the chess programming world.

I feel inspired to dig my copy out of the cupboard just to see that weird face in action again!
The Klute offers you the white pieces and the advantage of the first move.
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Fernando
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Re: Winning by Time...

Post by Fernando »

klute wrote:
Fernando wrote:Today I won a laborious game to Chess System Tal I
If you mean the original DOS version, I love that program!

It was never one of the very strongest programs in absolute terms, but it really did play speculative attacking chess like Tal and was quite capable of defeating anything on a good day.

I consider author Chris Whittington to be an unsung genius of the chess programming world.

I feel inspired to dig my copy out of the cupboard just to see that weird face in action again!
I meant it. BTW, I have too CSTA II, for windows, which is stronger but not that funny. No face and grimaces... .:(
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