🚀 go-pugleaf

I once saw a chess game for an IBM PC that actually had the
chess pieces move by animation.  The pieces would actually
battle with one another.  This is chess, so you always know
which piece will kill another, but it's fun to watch two
pawns going at it or a queen vaporizing a bishop...

Does anyone know if this is in the works for the Macintosh?

Thanks,

-Scott

In article <3513@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU> halam2@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Haseen 
Alam) writes:
>  So basically CM2000 and SargonIII were playing with each other. [...]
> Whichever program started won the game

The player who moves first has an advantage. This is true for us humans as 
well as for computers. The proof is not so much by analysis as by checking 
the results of chess matches played over the last hundred years or so: 
statistically, white wins more often.

>  First I played at the lowest level on both, and then on the next higher
>  level.  The results were interesting, but the whole thing was getting 
boring
>  so I did not try out all the user levels.

Sounds like you didn't really mediate many games between the two programs. 
You'd probably need to play quite a few at each level to get any real 
notion of how the two stack up. It may not be worthwhile: since neither
program plays like you do (I assume - see below), which one beats the
other may not have much bearing on what kind of game each would give you.

> Results indicate both Sargon III and
>  ChessMaster 2000 are aggressive players.  [...]
>  But this knowledge makes these games less challenging, since
>  you can create traps by offering.

I have never seen a computer chess program that played "like a human 
being". They have their strengths and weaknesses, as we have ours; if you 
learn a program's weakness and play to it, you'll do better against it, 
just as you would playing to a human's weak points. I'm not well familiar 
with the Mac's programs (I have Sargon III but haven't used it much) but I 
remember a program on a mainframe that played tactically well (leave a 
piece weakly protected and you'd lose it every time) but strategically 
poorly (little notion of proper development once its opening book was 
exhausted, poor control of the center), and it was terrible at end games. 
The way to beat it was to play a conservative, defensive game, while 
trading pieces evenly as quickly as you could. Your goal was to reach the 
end game quickly while remaining even in material and perhaps superior in 
position. Then you could clean up fairly easily.

I've never liked computer opponents, since I like to concentrate on a 
strategic game, while they generally force me to focus on short-term 
tactics instead. But this just means that they're playing to *my* 
weakness. Sargon III on my Mac Plus could whup me regularly at a low 
setting, so you should take my comments with a grain, if not a bag, of 
salt. :-)

BTW, I like Sargon III and have been considering getting Sargon IV for my 
Mac II.

==========================================================================
Rick Holzgrafe              |    {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!rmh
Software Engineer           | AppleLink HOLZGRAFE1          rmh@apple.com
Apple Computer, Inc.        |  "All opinions expressed are mine, and do
20525 Mariani Ave. MS: 77-A |    not necessarily represent those of my
Cupertino, CA 95014         |        employer, Apple Computer Inc."

In article <22550@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> rsvp@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (R. Scott V. Paterson) writes:
>I once saw a chess game for an IBM PC that actually had the
>chess pieces move by animation.  The pieces would actually
>battle with one another.  This is chess, so you always know
>which piece will kill another, but it's fun to watch two
>pawns going at it or a queen vaporizing a bishop...

A friend of mine has this. It is called "Battle Chess" and it is quite
entertaining. Of course it takes longer to make a move since you have to
wait for the animation to play. As far as I know there is nothing like
this for the mac :-<

========================================================================
|Curt Stevens     (303) 492-1218| / |arpa: stevens@boulder.colorado.edu|
|University of Colorado, Boulder|o o|uucp:{ncar|nbires}!boulder!stevens|
|Computer Science Dept. ECOT 7-7| | |----------------------------------|
|Campus Box 430                 |\_/|I don't believe in intuition, but |
|Boulder, Colorado 80309     USA|   |I have a strange feeling I will!! |
========================================================================

========
| Curt |
========

    I'm unimpressed with the playing abilities of Sargon (from a
chess-playing standpoint, not from a programming standpoint), and I
refuse to continue to play with a "master" that sounds like a moose. 

    They both play agressively because that's easy to program, and makes
them seem better than they are.  They both suffer seriously from the
horizon effect, and are therefore very susceptible to traps. 

-- 
 _
Kevin D. Quitt         Manager, Software Development    34 12 N  118 27 W
DeMott Electronics Co. 14707 Keswick St.   Van Nuys, CA 91405-1266
VOICE (818) 988-4975   FAX (818) 997-1190  
MODEM (818) 997-4496 Telebit PEP last      demott!kdq   kdq@demott.com

      96.37% of the statistics used in arguments are made up.

In article <3513@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU> halam2@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Haseen Alam) writes:
>In article <1874@murdu.oz> cjm@murdu.oz (Chris James Marone) writes:
>>	I'm looking for a chess program for the mac. I have a (very old)
>>version of Sargon and would like something more up to date -like one that
>>will play specific openings. Can anyone recommend something?  Ideally
>>it would run on a MacII and a Plus.
>
> Here is my opinion.  I used to have Sargon III (presented to my brother
> after I upgraded to my IIci), and my ex-roommate had Chessmaster 2000.  One
> day I was curious and had to try out something.  I borrowed my roomies SE
> and his CM 2000.  I plugged the two 1meg SE's with dual floppies right next 
> to each other and started up the two chess games.  On one Mac I would let
> the Mac make the first move, and on the other I would duplicate the move. 
> So basically CM2000 and SargonIII were playing with each other.
> [results deleted]

You say that whoever moves first wins, but I've found this not to be the
case always.  When Psion came out, it's major claim to fame was its three-d
board, and that it would beat Sargon III.  SO, using switcher (this was a few
years ago :-), I played them against each other and Psion won both games.
This was at the lowest level.

Has anyone ported GNU Chess 3.0 to the mac?


============================================================================
= Chris Sterritt - "Kleenex makes my nose run" - chris@adms-rad.unisys.com =
= "The secret is dirt. D-I-R-T. 'D' as in dirt, 'I' as in dirt, 'R' as in  =
=  dirt, 'T' as in Orange Pekoe." -- Churchy LaFemme                       =
============================================================================

Try posting to rec.games.chess for a recommendation.