Best engines for "dumbing down"

[Erik Roggenburg]

I'm a pretty lousy chess player, but I still like to play.

Right now, I'm fiddling around with engines that can be "dumbed" down like HIARCS 11.2 UCI, Deep Shredder 11, Deep Sjeng 2.7, and the Chessbase native engines (playing "Handicap and Fun" mode is amusing).

I'm trying Deep Sjeng 2.7 with the UCI Strength set to 1350, and it makes some horrible moves. It doesn't slowly lose a position by making small (e.g. 25 centipawn) mistakes. Instead, it makes BIG mistakes - mistakes that I'm actually able to spot and take advantage of on occasion. Tonight, my son played a game vs. Deep Sjeng 2.7 1250 Elo, and he was down about 250 centipawns (per post-game analysis by Fritz 11) and all of a sudden, Deep Sjeng played a "??" move that swung to eval to a 350 centipawn positive for the boy.

So, I pose this question: Of all the engines out there that can have their strengths adjusted, which ones come closest to approximating a lower strength player?

And finally, there are engines that have tons of parameters (like Glaurung, Fruit, Toga, etc.). Does anyone have some settings for those engines that effectively "dumbs them down" without making them overly stupid - i.e. making 300+ centipawn errors in just about every game?

Thank you.
Erik

[Tony Thomas]

I have to say chessmaster..I havent noticed any dumb moves from Deep Sjeng, that could be because I am a dumb player. The highest rating I played against Deep Sjeng was 1350, anything higher than that I get murdered without mercy. If you are one of those who likes to exchange pieces, try playing against Berry (chessmaster 1068), that hoe doesnt like to give up her pieces.

[LRoberts]

I prefer to play weaker engines rather than dumbed down strong engines. Cassandre is good for weaker players

[swami]

Hi Erik,

Heard Delfi is the best engine to dumb down its strength from the original one,atleast better than Chessmaster, thats what I have heard, anyway I still go with the usual way of referring to the rating list and choosing the engine having particular rating or in that range...

[Alessandro Scotti]

Hamsters can be quite funny to play when properly configured. One configuration that was recommended to me was (Hamsters 0.5):
- Limit ELO
- Blunder disabled
- knps 175
- Pick percent min 5 max 15

You may have to do a bit of tuning of course. Usually, Hamsters won't give away pieces and make terrible blunders. This is true even when the blunder option is enabled. In that case, Hamsters will sometimes try to setup a small combination for you to find, but won't leave a piece hanging.

P.S. When Limit ELO is enabled, Hamsters uses a completely different search algorithm and options. Only the evaluation is the same. It's a bit like having two programs in one...

[Erik Roggenburg]

I'll check into Hamsters, Cassandre, and Delfi. I don't want to play with Chessmaster. I have too much junk on my PC - I don't need that hog.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

I'll check into Hamsters, Cassandre, and Delfi. I don't want to play with Chessmaster. I have too much junk on my PC - I don't need that hog.

[Erik Roggenburg]

No offense to Johan DeKoenig and "The King" chess engine. If I could get that thing to work easily in other GUIs, I'd buy CM for the engine, and give the other stuff to my son.

[PauloSoare]

Fritz, but I think that L. Roberts are rigth, weak engines.

Paulo Soares

[Erik Roggenburg]

I prefer to play weaker engines rather than dumbed down strong engines. Cassandre is good for weaker players

I liked Cassandre - only because I beat it once just a moment ago.

Any idea of the estimated Elo of the engine? I probably got lucky!