Aggressive engines?

[Rowen]

First of all, thanks to everyone for the answers. I wasn't expecting so much information. I haven't answered before because I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Zappa Mexico II with the Dissident Aggressor settings is amazing! I wish I could limit his strength but even with all his strength it is very enjoyable to play against. Anie_Archy hasn't convinced me. It plays without opening knowledge (he doesn't know what it means to occupy the center, harmonious piece development, or even castling) and at a "human" speed until there are 15 seconds left, at which point it works like any engine. OpenTal is another fantastic piece of work. But he doesn't go crazy, he's a good attacker but he defends if necessary. I would also like to limit his playing strength but I understand that I can't have everything. I haven't been able to find Chess Tiger but Mchess Pro can be played here:

https://archive.org/details/msdos_MChess_Pro_1993

I've only played a couple of games, I need to keep testing it but I can't use it with Arena GUI (and therefore not with my electronic board which is where I want the engines to work)

I'm also trying Dragon 1, just by changing the personality to Aggressive it's already a very entertaining opponent. I don't have the knowledge to play with the King Safety, Dynamism values. What ranges do these parameters have? I've tried high values ​​but I don't see many differences.

LeelaQueenOdds with a queen down and attacking. What a surprise! She doesn't want to play with me all the time but it's a discovery.

I'll keep testing but I want to insist on thanking you for the help and advice. Talk chess!

I think when using Dragon you have to select- use regular evaluation- then it uses the parameters. Doesn't with NNUE? If you then increase those values dragon players aggressively and doesn't care about material. Increase those levels to maximum and you will see the difference and then adjust to taste. Plays like an aggressive kid. There's also the Komodo engines that were pre NNUE and evaluation was hand crafted. Also try rodent chess engine-is aggressive, and has the option of changing parameters, of which there any many. [open Tal is a version of rodent]. Also try fruit and toga engines, they have plenty of parameters, also by lowering nodes searched and other parameters you can limit strength. That's the beauty of parameters you can create personalities and different styles and strength.

[midgard]

Hello Rowen, on the Komodo website it explains it in more detail but, basically, it's what you told me (Komodo) Don't use Personality as it will overwrite the parameters I have changed and use Regular Eval which avoids NNUE evaluation. For the rest, I'm playing games with:
King Safety 120
Dynamism 200
Variety 30
UCI Elo 1800 (approx. my rating)
He is a very tough opponent who demands a lot of concentration from me. With sacrifices (sometimes it makes a strange sacrifice) and very fun games. I will continue testing engines with different parameters. Very instructive!

Thank you very much!

[chesskobra]

Another option you may try (which I have not tried but just discovered) is Auto Skill. It adjusts its skill level based on your situation in the game. Today I also looked at the komodo website to understand the settings, and it seems that these engines are quite interesting and allow for a lot of experimentation with parameters.

[chesskobra]

Incidentally, I ran a small round robin among the dragon personalities. Here are the results.

Name Games Win Draw Lose %

dragon-1 : 36 : 24+ : 10= : 2- : 80.56%
dragon-1 (endgame) : 36 : 13+ : 16= : 7- : 58.33%
dragon-1 (defensive) : 36 : 10+ : 17= : 9- : 51.39%
dragon-1 (positional) : 36 : 10+ : 17= : 9- : 51.39%
dragon-1 (human) : 36 : 11+ : 11= : 14- : 45.83%
dragon-1 (active) : 36 : 4+ : 16= : 16- : 33.33%
dragon-1 (aggressive) : 36 : 3+ : 15= : 18- : 29.17%

[Father]

Hello Rowen, on the Komodo website it explains it in more detail but, basically, it's what you told me (Komodo) Don't use Personality as it will overwrite the parameters I have changed and use Regular Eval which avoids NNUE evaluation. For the rest, I'm playing games with:
King Safety 120
Dynamism 200
Variety 30
UCI Elo 1800 (approx. my rating)
He is a very tough opponent who demands a lot of concentration from me. With sacrifices (sometimes it makes a strange sacrifice) and very fun games. I will continue testing engines with different parameters. Very instructive!

Thank you very much!

... Games like these make human chess and computing great... I would believe that not even in Julio Berne's fantasies would there be room for such great surprises from the advance of science, as to imagine these game scenarios.

[pgn] Event "Casual blitz game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/rNKzn8rZ"]
[Date "2025.03.10"]
[White "LeelaQueenOdds"]
[Black "ypcapo_20"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "rNKzn8rZ"]
[UTCDate "2025.03.10"]
[UTCTime "16:12:17"]
[WhiteElo "2000"]
[BlackElo "2205"]
[WhiteTitle "BOT"]
[Variant "From Position"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
[ECO "?"]
[Opening "?"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNB1KBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. f4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. d3 dxe4 4. dxe4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. h3 Bc8 7. Bd2 h5 8. Nf3 e6 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. f5 exf5 11. exf5 Be7 12. Rg1 Qc7 13. g4 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15. Bd3 Bd7 16. Rge1 Qg3 17. g5 Nd5 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. f6 gxf6 20. gxf6 Be6 21. Bb5+ Kf8 22. fxe7+ Kxe7 23. Bb4+ Kf6 24. Rf1+ Ke5 25. Rde1+ Kd4 26. c3+ Qxc3+ 27. bxc3# { White wins by checkmate. } 1-0[/pgn]

[reflectionofpower]

Nice mating attack

[midgard]

Another option you may try (which I have not tried but just discovered) is Auto Skill. It adjusts its skill level based on your situation in the game. Today I also looked at the komodo website to understand the settings, and it seems that these engines are quite interesting and allow for a lot of experimentation with parameters.

Hi, Auto Skill is entertaining, but I prefer to give the engine a rating if possible. Auto Skill doesn't give you an idea of how you're playing today, it adapts to you. The results against a fixed rating engine give you clues about how you are playing.

... Games like these make human chess and computing great... I would believe that not even in Julio Berne's fantasies would there be room for such great surprises from the advance of science, as to imagine these game scenarios.

Very good finish by the engine, but the move Kf6 by Black is a bit strange. Any human would have played Kd8.

I really like how Zappa Mexico II Disidente plays. An example with a game from a while ago:

[pgn][Site "El ajedrez de Lucas R 2.18c"]
[Date "2025.03.10"]
[Event "Jugar contra un motor"]
[White "Nacho Ros"]
[Black "Zappa Mexico II"]
[TimeControl "300"]
[TimeExtraWhite "720"]
[TimeStart "2025.03.10 19:22:48"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[TimeEnd "2025.03.10 19:37:07"]
[Reinit "1"]
[Opening "Defensa Siciliana: Variante Kramnik"]
[ECO "B40"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "Mate"]

1.e4 {[%emt 00:00:3.10]}{[%clk 00:16:56.90]} c5 {[%clk 00:04:60.00]} 2.Nf3
{[%emt 00:00:3.63]}{[%clk 00:16:53.27]} e6 {[%emt 00:00:41.14]}{[%clk
00:04:18.86]} 3.c4 {[%emt 00:00:4.07]}{[%clk 00:16:49.21]} Nc6 {[%emt
00:00:12.80]}{[%clk 00:04:6.06]} 4.Be2 {[%emt 00:00:5.09]}{[%clk 00:16:44.12]}
Bd6 {[%emt 00:00:10.47]}{[%clk 00:03:55.59]} 5.O-O {[%emt 00:00:7.31]}{[%clk
00:16:36.81]} Nf6 {[%emt 00:00:9.65]}{[%clk 00:03:45.94]} 6.Nc3 {[%emt
00:00:4.83]}{[%clk 00:16:31.97]} O-O {[%emt 00:00:8.15]}{[%clk 00:03:37.79]}
7.d4 {[%emt 00:00:21.67]}{[%clk 00:16:10.30]} cxd4 {[%emt 00:00:11.41]}{[%clk
00:03:26.39]} 8.Nxd4 {[%emt 00:00:5.46]}{[%clk 00:16:4.84]} Nxd4 {[%emt
00:00:9.68]}{[%clk 00:03:16.70]} 9.Qxd4 {[%emt 00:00:5.49]}{[%clk 00:15:59.35]}
Qc7 {[%emt 00:00:6.77]}{[%clk 00:03:9.93]} 10.h3 {[%emt 00:00:8.10]}{[%clk
00:15:51.25]} Be5 {[%emt 00:00:15.89]}{[%clk 00:02:54.03]} 11.Qd3 {[%emt
00:00:7.60]}{[%clk 00:15:43.64]} Bxc3 {[%emt 00:00:7.05]}{[%clk 00:02:46.99]}
12.bxc3 {[%emt 00:00:13.02]}{[%clk 00:15:30.63]} e5 {[%emt 00:00:5.86]}{[%clk
00:02:41.12]} 13.Be3 {[%emt 00:00:8.35]}{[%clk 00:15:22.28]} b6 {[%emt
00:00:7.64]}{[%clk 00:02:33.48]} 14.Rfd1 {[%emt 00:00:6.20]}{[%clk 00:15:16.08]}
Bb7 {[%emt 00:00:6.23]}{[%clk 00:02:27.26]} 15.f3 {[%emt 00:00:2.94]}{[%clk
00:15:13.14]} Ba6 {[%emt 00:00:10.23]}{[%clk 00:02:17.02]} 16.Bg5 {[%emt
00:00:29.17]}{[%clk 00:14:43.96]} Nh5 {[%emt 00:00:4.39]}{[%clk 00:02:12.64]}
17.Qxd7 {[%emt 00:00:9.44]}{[%clk 00:14:34.52]} Qc5+ {[%emt 00:00:6.42]}{[%clk
00:02:6.22]} 18.Kh2 {[%emt 00:00:13.33]}{[%clk 00:14:21.20]} Qf2 {[%emt
00:00:4.72]}{[%clk 00:02:1.50]} 19.Qd2 {[%emt 00:00:23.37]}{[%clk 00:13:57.83]}
Qg3+ {[%emt 00:00:7.56]}{[%clk 00:01:53.94]} 20.Kh1 {[%emt 00:00:13.25]}{[%clk
00:13:44.58]} Bc8 {[%emt 00:00:9.64]}{[%clk 00:01:44.30]} 21.Bf1 {[%emt
00:00:42.42]}{[%clk 00:13:2.16]} Be6 {[%emt 00:00:6.53]}{[%clk 00:01:37.77]}
22.Be3 {[%emt 00:00:16.38]}{[%clk 00:12:45.78]} Qg6 {[%emt 00:00:9.10]}{[%clk
00:01:28.66]} 23.c5 {[%emt 00:00:40.80]}{[%clk 00:12:4.99]} f5 {[%emt
00:00:8.80]}{[%clk 00:01:19.86]} 24.exf5 {[%emt 00:00:14.59]}{[%clk
00:11:50.40]} Rxf5 {[%emt 00:00:2.85]}{[%clk 00:01:17.01]} 25.Bd3 {[%emt
00:00:33.94]}{[%clk 00:11:16.45]} e4 {[%emt 00:00:2.50]}{[%clk 00:01:14.51]}
26.Bxe4 {[%emt 00:00:8.64]}{[%clk 00:11:7.81]} Ng3+ {[%emt 00:00:2.39]}{[%clk
00:01:12.12]} 27.Kh2 {[%emt 00:00:17.34]}{[%clk 00:10:50.46]} Nxe4 {[%emt
00:00:1.79]}{[%clk 00:01:10.33]} 28.fxe4 {[%emt 00:00:5.50]}{[%clk 00:10:44.96]}
Rf7 {[%emt 00:00:2.59]}{[%clk 00:01:7.73]} 29.cxb6 {[%emt 00:00:12.83]}{[%clk
00:10:32.13]} axb6 {[%emt 00:00:3.03]}{[%clk 00:01:4.70]} 30.a3 {[%emt
00:00:22.42]}{[%clk 00:10:9.71]} Raf8 {[%emt 00:00:1.05]}{[%clk 00:01:3.66]}
31.Bxb6 {[%emt 00:00:48.53]}{[%clk 00:09:21.17]} Bxh3 {[%emt 00:00:3.70]}{[%clk
00:00:59.96]} 32.Bc5 {[%emt 00:00:3.97]}{[%clk 00:09:17.20]} Bxg2 {[%emt
00:00:1.51]}{[%clk 00:00:58.44]} 33.Bxf8 {[%emt 00:00:9.88]}{[%clk 00:09:7.32]}
Bxe4 {[%emt 00:00:1.78]}{[%clk 00:00:56.66]} 34.Rf1 {[%emt 00:01:44.49]}{[%clk
00:07:22.84]} Qh5+ {[%emt 00:00:2.61]}{[%clk 00:00:54.05]} 35.Kg3 {[%emt
00:00:10.39]}{[%clk 00:07:12.45]} g5 {[%emt 00:00:1.77]}{[%clk 00:00:52.28]}
36.Qh2 {[%emt 00:00:57.94]}{[%clk 00:06:14.50]} Rf3+ {[%emt 00:00:0.09]}{[%clk
00:00:52.19]} 37.Kg2 {[%emt 00:00:10.25]}{[%clk 00:06:4.26]} Qg4+ {[%emt
00:00:0.10]}{[%clk 00:00:52.09]} 38.Kh1 {[%emt 00:00:18.84]}{[%clk 00:05:45.42]}
Rxf1# {[%emt 00:00:0.10]}{[%clk 00:00:51.99]}[/pgn]

Thank you and best regards.

[Vinvin]

May be in this tread : forum3/viewtopic.php?t=60709

Good afternoon. I am a chess player but I have always liked to face engines. I am a bit tired of engines that play like rocks. Even when you weaken them they play very strong and at some point there is a mistake that is difficult to see.

I have discovered the Patricia engine and it is a delight, it attacks, sacrifices and destroys me like a hammer against a poppy. I weaken it to a level similar to mine and I enjoy the games very much. So I have asked myself if there are engines that play like kamikazes. Engines that forget about the pawn structure, or the safety of their king. I don't care if the engine is already that aggressive or if I have to change some parameters.

I hope the question is not too silly and that I have some answer.

Thanks in advance.

[Jjaw]

Another highly entertaining engine is Homer 2.01 in gambit mode. It also has 4 or 5 GM personalities. ELO is about 2600.

[Rowen]

Another option you may try (which I have not tried but just discovered) is Auto Skill. It adjusts its skill level based on your situation in the game. Today I also looked at the komodo website to understand the settings, and it seems that these engines are quite interesting and allow for a lot of experimentation with parameters.

Hi, Auto Skill is entertaining, but I prefer to give the engine a rating if possible. Auto Skill doesn't give you an idea of how you're playing today, it adapts to you. The results against a fixed rating engine give you clues about how you are playing.

... Games like these make human chess and computing great... I would believe that not even in Julio Berne's fantasies would there be room for such great surprises from the advance of science, as to imagine these game scenarios.

Very good finish by the engine, but the move Kf6 by Black is a bit strange. Any human would have played Kd8.

I really like how Zappa Mexico II Disidente plays. An example with a game from a while ago:

[pgn][Site "El ajedrez de Lucas R 2.18c"]
[Date "2025.03.10"]
[Event "Jugar contra un motor"]
[White "Nacho Ros"]
[Black "Zappa Mexico II"]
[TimeControl "300"]
[TimeExtraWhite "720"]
[TimeStart "2025.03.10 19:22:48"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[TimeEnd "2025.03.10 19:37:07"]
[Reinit "1"]
[Opening "Defensa Siciliana: Variante Kramnik"]
[ECO "B40"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "Mate"]

1.e4 {[%emt 00:00:3.10]}{[%clk 00:16:56.90]} c5 {[%clk 00:04:60.00]} 2.Nf3
{[%emt 00:00:3.63]}{[%clk 00:16:53.27]} e6 {[%emt 00:00:41.14]}{[%clk
00:04:18.86]} 3.c4 {[%emt 00:00:4.07]}{[%clk 00:16:49.21]} Nc6 {[%emt
00:00:12.80]}{[%clk 00:04:6.06]} 4.Be2 {[%emt 00:00:5.09]}{[%clk 00:16:44.12]}
Bd6 {[%emt 00:00:10.47]}{[%clk 00:03:55.59]} 5.O-O {[%emt 00:00:7.31]}{[%clk
00:16:36.81]} Nf6 {[%emt 00:00:9.65]}{[%clk 00:03:45.94]} 6.Nc3 {[%emt
00:00:4.83]}{[%clk 00:16:31.97]} O-O {[%emt 00:00:8.15]}{[%clk 00:03:37.79]}
7.d4 {[%emt 00:00:21.67]}{[%clk 00:16:10.30]} cxd4 {[%emt 00:00:11.41]}{[%clk
00:03:26.39]} 8.Nxd4 {[%emt 00:00:5.46]}{[%clk 00:16:4.84]} Nxd4 {[%emt
00:00:9.68]}{[%clk 00:03:16.70]} 9.Qxd4 {[%emt 00:00:5.49]}{[%clk 00:15:59.35]}
Qc7 {[%emt 00:00:6.77]}{[%clk 00:03:9.93]} 10.h3 {[%emt 00:00:8.10]}{[%clk
00:15:51.25]} Be5 {[%emt 00:00:15.89]}{[%clk 00:02:54.03]} 11.Qd3 {[%emt
00:00:7.60]}{[%clk 00:15:43.64]} Bxc3 {[%emt 00:00:7.05]}{[%clk 00:02:46.99]}
12.bxc3 {[%emt 00:00:13.02]}{[%clk 00:15:30.63]} e5 {[%emt 00:00:5.86]}{[%clk
00:02:41.12]} 13.Be3 {[%emt 00:00:8.35]}{[%clk 00:15:22.28]} b6 {[%emt
00:00:7.64]}{[%clk 00:02:33.48]} 14.Rfd1 {[%emt 00:00:6.20]}{[%clk 00:15:16.08]}
Bb7 {[%emt 00:00:6.23]}{[%clk 00:02:27.26]} 15.f3 {[%emt 00:00:2.94]}{[%clk
00:15:13.14]} Ba6 {[%emt 00:00:10.23]}{[%clk 00:02:17.02]} 16.Bg5 {[%emt
00:00:29.17]}{[%clk 00:14:43.96]} Nh5 {[%emt 00:00:4.39]}{[%clk 00:02:12.64]}
17.Qxd7 {[%emt 00:00:9.44]}{[%clk 00:14:34.52]} Qc5+ {[%emt 00:00:6.42]}{[%clk
00:02:6.22]} 18.Kh2 {[%emt 00:00:13.33]}{[%clk 00:14:21.20]} Qf2 {[%emt
00:00:4.72]}{[%clk 00:02:1.50]} 19.Qd2 {[%emt 00:00:23.37]}{[%clk 00:13:57.83]}
Qg3+ {[%emt 00:00:7.56]}{[%clk 00:01:53.94]} 20.Kh1 {[%emt 00:00:13.25]}{[%clk
00:13:44.58]} Bc8 {[%emt 00:00:9.64]}{[%clk 00:01:44.30]} 21.Bf1 {[%emt
00:00:42.42]}{[%clk 00:13:2.16]} Be6 {[%emt 00:00:6.53]}{[%clk 00:01:37.77]}
22.Be3 {[%emt 00:00:16.38]}{[%clk 00:12:45.78]} Qg6 {[%emt 00:00:9.10]}{[%clk
00:01:28.66]} 23.c5 {[%emt 00:00:40.80]}{[%clk 00:12:4.99]} f5 {[%emt
00:00:8.80]}{[%clk 00:01:19.86]} 24.exf5 {[%emt 00:00:14.59]}{[%clk
00:11:50.40]} Rxf5 {[%emt 00:00:2.85]}{[%clk 00:01:17.01]} 25.Bd3 {[%emt
00:00:33.94]}{[%clk 00:11:16.45]} e4 {[%emt 00:00:2.50]}{[%clk 00:01:14.51]}
26.Bxe4 {[%emt 00:00:8.64]}{[%clk 00:11:7.81]} Ng3+ {[%emt 00:00:2.39]}{[%clk
00:01:12.12]} 27.Kh2 {[%emt 00:00:17.34]}{[%clk 00:10:50.46]} Nxe4 {[%emt
00:00:1.79]}{[%clk 00:01:10.33]} 28.fxe4 {[%emt 00:00:5.50]}{[%clk 00:10:44.96]}
Rf7 {[%emt 00:00:2.59]}{[%clk 00:01:7.73]} 29.cxb6 {[%emt 00:00:12.83]}{[%clk
00:10:32.13]} axb6 {[%emt 00:00:3.03]}{[%clk 00:01:4.70]} 30.a3 {[%emt
00:00:22.42]}{[%clk 00:10:9.71]} Raf8 {[%emt 00:00:1.05]}{[%clk 00:01:3.66]}
31.Bxb6 {[%emt 00:00:48.53]}{[%clk 00:09:21.17]} Bxh3 {[%emt 00:00:3.70]}{[%clk
00:00:59.96]} 32.Bc5 {[%emt 00:00:3.97]}{[%clk 00:09:17.20]} Bxg2 {[%emt
00:00:1.51]}{[%clk 00:00:58.44]} 33.Bxf8 {[%emt 00:00:9.88]}{[%clk 00:09:7.32]}
Bxe4 {[%emt 00:00:1.78]}{[%clk 00:00:56.66]} 34.Rf1 {[%emt 00:01:44.49]}{[%clk
00:07:22.84]} Qh5+ {[%emt 00:00:2.61]}{[%clk 00:00:54.05]} 35.Kg3 {[%emt
00:00:10.39]}{[%clk 00:07:12.45]} g5 {[%emt 00:00:1.77]}{[%clk 00:00:52.28]}
36.Qh2 {[%emt 00:00:57.94]}{[%clk 00:06:14.50]} Rf3+ {[%emt 00:00:0.09]}{[%clk
00:00:52.19]} 37.Kg2 {[%emt 00:00:10.25]}{[%clk 00:06:4.26]} Qg4+ {[%emt
00:00:0.10]}{[%clk 00:00:52.09]} 38.Kh1 {[%emt 00:00:18.84]}{[%clk 00:05:45.42]}
Rxf1# {[%emt 00:00:0.10]}{[%clk 00:00:51.99]}[/pgn]

Thank you and best regards.

Auto skill is a good option to have. Lucas chess GUI has a good implementation, The GUI will play a move that can be at the level at, or slightly better than the player etc. Sometimes, with Lucas chess ill play an engine at about my level, then Ill usually get a long game, and I will get to play an endgame. I think the GUI uses multi PV mode. Its a little artificial, But I will have a general idea how well I have played and off course I can always analyse the game afterwards, Its also another option to weaken an Engine, particularly those engines that cant be easily weakened. So a good option and in general Lucas chess is woth checking out.