Engine suggestions: Human elo ~1800

[govert]

I haven't played much chess OTB for a long time, but my guess is that I am somewhere more or less below ELO 1800.

Does anyone have any suggestions for engines that would be fun to play against in that ELO range?

EDIT: strike that. I'probably around 1500 at best. Anyway, some engines in human ELO range 1500-1800 would be interesting.

[Volker Pittlik]

I haven't played much chess OTB for a long time, but my guess is that I am somewhere more or less below ELO 1800.

Does anyone have any suggestions for engines that would be fun to play against in that ELO range?

I'd recommend to use Crafty and play around with the "skill" option until it fits your needs. I also suggest to generate a book with limited number of moves in it.

vp

[Sylwy]

I haven't played much chess OTB for a long time, but my guess is that I am somewhere more or less below ELO 1800.

Does anyone have any suggestions for engines that would be fun to play against in that ELO range?

EDIT: strike that. I'probably around 1500 at best. Anyway, some engines in human ELO range 1500-1800 would be interesting.

Hi !
Try Brain Games Chess v 1.0
http://www.onhandsoftware.com/BrainGamesChess.html
The engine is in your range . Has 15 personalities . A good book. Nice 3D graphics.

Regards,
Silvian

[govert]

That's a good option.
Is there a link to the crafty documentation somewhere?
(Command line options, .rc settings, etc)

[Volker Pittlik]

That's a good option.
Is there a link to the crafty documentation somewhere?
(Command line options, .rc settings, etc)

As far as I know its a bit hidden in main.c

Code: Select all

                   New "skill" command that can be  *
 *           used to "dumb down" Crafty.  "Skill <n>" where n is a number      *
 *           between 1 and 100.  100 is max (default) skill.  Skill 70 will    *
 *           drop the playing Elo by about 200 points.  Skill 50 will drop it  *
 *           about 400 points.  The curve is not linear, and the closer you    *
 *           get to 1, the lower the rating.  To use this feature, you need to *
 *           add -DSKILL to your Makefile options otherwise it is not included *
 *           in the executable.             

In the craftyrc it just "skill <something between 1 and 100>". Your executable have to be compiled with that option activated. Play around with it a bit.

BTW Shredder may be an option for you too. Both programs play with a "realistic" time management when using the skill options. Others I tried move immediately, what makes me crazy. Some other programs offer this option too but it seems not to work at all.

vp

[govert]

Thanks Volker, but what about command line options?
Specifically: How do I point out the .rc file I want to use?

[Jim Ablett]

Thanks Volker, but what about command line options?
Specifically: How do I point out the .rc file I want to use?

Hi Martin,

The Crafty Chess Gui by Valters Baumanis is great.
You can adjust skill/elo/strength level with an on-screen slider.
Unfortunately his website seems down at the moment >
http://h1.ripway.com/valters/crafty/gui.php

Here's my link to the program (which will remain)>
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/crafty_chess_5.0.zip

regards,
Jim.

[Jim Ablett]

Sorry website isn't down, my 'MalwareBytes Anti-malware' program thinks this website has a malicious IP address and is blocking it.

Jim.

[govert]

Thanks Volker, but what about command line options?
Specifically: How do I point out the .rc file I want to use?

Hi Martin,

The Crafty Chess Gui by Valters Baumanis is great.
You can adjust skill/elo/strength level with an on-screen slider.
Unfortunately his website seems down at the moment >
http://h1.ripway.com/valters/crafty/gui.php

Here's my link to the program (which will remain)>
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/crafty_chess_5.0.zip

regards,
Jim.

Oh ya. That old gem! Had forgotten about that one

What about the command line options for crafty?

Jim, does your compile support the skill setting?

[Jim Ablett]

Thanks Volker, but what about command line options?
Specifically: How do I point out the .rc file I want to use?

Hi Martin,

The Crafty Chess Gui by Valters Baumanis is great.
You can adjust skill/elo/strength level with an on-screen slider.
Unfortunately his website seems down at the moment >
http://h1.ripway.com/valters/crafty/gui.php

Here's my link to the program (which will remain)>
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/crafty_chess_5.0.zip

regards,
Jim.

Oh ya. That old gem! Had forgotten about that one

What about the command line options for crafty?

Jim, does your compile support the skill setting?

Yes, look for the 'full-feature' compiles.

From Crafty doc >

skill <n>
New "skill" command that can be used to "dumb down" crafty. "skill <n>" where n is a number between 1 and 100. 100 is max (default)
skill. Skill 70 will drop the playing Elo by about 200 points. Skill 50 will drop it about 400 points. The curve is not linear, and the
closer you get to 1, the lower the rating.

Add the command to the 'crafty.rc' file

Jim.