Well, as of now, it seems that Robert Houdart's gamble paid off !Geonerd wrote: Setting contempt too high, relative to the other engines, can cost unnecessary losses, while setting it too low costs wins.
Actually, using Contempt 2 was a Master Stroke by Houdart. If Houdini lost, he could always claim that using Contempt hurt Houdini ; if it won, nothing like it.
Personally, I've never been in favor of using Contempt 0, as it assumes that Chess is a perfectly balanced game.
But Chess, like Life, is seldom balanced.
Chess is both a Science and an Art, and it is the Art part that confounds both Human and Machine, as it cannot be quantified.
That is why, no World Champion, no matter how good his understanding of Chess, is ultimately beaten by someone else.
Quite often, playing a little aggressively and not necessarily the best move, puts the opponent (human or machine) off-balance and he/it also makes mistakes.
Of course, the key word is 'little' and going overboard with the Contempt is also a bad idea.
)
