Chess Software as Training Partner

Hello, Could you please recommend a chess software as a training partner to simulate as if I am playing in a real tournament game? I mainly want to play slow time control "rated" games with ability to make engine play at a specific strength (e.g. 1800 ELO) with typical tournament time controls (e.g. 90+30)? Which software/engine simulates the experience of playing a human opponent most effectively?

Yeah, it's really better if you can train with real people. There are probably several commercial engines that can play reasonable chess at that strength. (Reasonable meaning that the moves aren't too "computerish".) However, engines typically make lousy conversationalists; All they can do is jibber-jabber numbers and variations. If you want a computer playing partner, I can suggest a few, but if you want a computer training partner, I think you'll be disappointed with your quest.

Unfortunately its difficult for me to do so apart from playing someone online (and don't have a reliable connection which will last long games). That's why I'd also like to use a computer as a training partner especially for slower time control games.  

I guess I meant I really need a computer playing partner :-)

but nevertheless pfren is still right though, get human opponent.

Download winboard software ( use google search ) it is free. It comes with software rating 2300 or so. But you can down load weaker engines and install them in winboard. Problem with using stronger software is that it plays many moves at its natural 2800+ then randomly makes a blunder to reduce its strength making it very un-natural opponent. But if you play a software which is weak ( say its basic rating is no more than 1800 ) then it feels like a human opponent. As for as commercial software like fritz is concerned its version 2 was already had strength of 2100. And current versions are too strong even for a world champion.  

If you don't care too much whether the moves are "nearly human", there are a number of free engine/GUI combinations you could use. But if you really want "nearly human" moves, I think you need to go with one of three commercial engines - HIARCS, Delfi Trainer, or Shredder.

My clear favorite for natural play would be HIARCS. The only quirk I've noticed, at least at the lowest levels, is that the engine is much stronger than the stated elo value. For example, my HIARCS 13.2 engine set at 750 elo has an even record against my Delfi Trainer engine set at 1200 elo. But I love the way HIARCS plays; even at the lowest levels, HIARCS knows the basic mates like KR vs. K and KQ vs. K. (The only maddening thing about Shredder and Delfi is that below 1200 or 1300 elo, those two engines can't perform those basic mates, so they end up drawing by stalemate or 50-move rule when they should win the game.) I don't think you can buy the HIARCS 14 engine separately; I think you'd have to buy the HIARCS Chess Explorer GUI, which contains the HIARCS 14 engine. (I don't have the HCE GUI, so I can't say what it's like to use.)

I wouldn't recommend the Delfi Trainer GUI for you, because the GUI is very basic and only allows a single time control of x minutes per game with move increment; It doesn't offer multiple time controls. But you could use the Delfi engine in another free GUI like Arena that does offer multiple time controls. The Delfi package is considerably cheaper than the other two GUI/engine combos, but then you'd only be using the Delfi engine along with a free GUI of your choosing, like Arena.

The native Shredder GUI is really easy to use. (Native means you buy the download GUI version from Shredderchess.com; Not the Chessbase GUI with the Shredder engine.) One quirk of the Shredder engine is that it plays much weaker than its stated elo level. Again, this doesn't really matter, because you just keep adjusting the elo level until you find a good engine match for your skill level.

Lucas Chess has a bunch of engines with it, various levels, can tutor you through the games if you want, or not.  You progress through the engines as you win, acheivement style.  Kind of fun, but the strength of Lucas Chess lies in it's other features, if you ask me (opening training, tactics training, analysis features, guess-the-move, and other mini-game style trainers).

Sure.  Get Lucas Chess.  It is good.

Dunno, never heard of it.

Thanks, man.  You're a weird dude, too.  That's not how you wear pants.

One option not mentioned above is that, since your internet connection is not reliable, why not play a number of Online chess games with 24 hour move limits (or longer).  That would give you a human opponent, you could put upper and lower limits on strength, and you would not be cut off by a bad connection in live play.  You are a diamond member, so you could play many games at once to keep you busy.

I'll add another vote for HIARCS.  It's easy to use, reasonably priced (around $50), and  plays very humanlike moves.  You can choose to play it full strength or at your level.  It also has about 100 starting positions so you can, for instance, choose to play the Tarrasch French as white until you're pretty confident of the main lines.   Database function is easy to use as well although not as sophisticated as Chessbase because it only handles 1 file format.   The ads also say it's Vishy Anand's favorite engine because of the human quality of play.

Lucas Chess is fun to use and a great free program but not quite in the same league as HIARCS IMHO.   

Thank you ALL for your feedback so far!

Looks like HIARCS seems like the most preferred so far (apart from of course playing human opponents as far as I can especially with the 24 hr move limits - wonder if I will find opponents who are willing to play slower time controls such as 60 mins with 30 sec increment or above at levels upto ELO 2000 or so).

I like Fritz/Chessbase GUI the best based on what I see in comparison with HIARCS or Shredder (from reading information from respective websites) - however I am willing to try out whatever will work best! 

Any inputs on Fritz or Houdini - what do you think about the "Rated" game feature in Fritz using either Fritz 13 engine or HIARCS engine or Houdini 3 engine at a lower rated level (say 1800)? Is the Rated game feature in HIARCS native UI (HCE) equally good (especially like the ability to set multiple time controls and the fact that Fritz also records time taken for a move)? 

Thanks again!

I have Fritz 13 but do not use it for playing, just post-game analysis.  I do not know how "realistic" the Fritz engine is, but you can install almost any engine in the Fritz 13 GUI.  Also, Fritz 13 has many customizable variables you can set for play styles along with the playing strength slider.  I'm impressed with the features, but I'm sorry that I can't give you any advice on how realistic it might be, as I haven't used it in that manner.

Don't buy/download any engine, just play human opponent.

I'm willing to play slow games -- here's the problem.  You're far stronger than I am and I would not be a challenge in any way, shape or form (I'm a novice).   I try to never play any "faster" than 45/45 although i will occasionally play a 30 minute game and almost always wind up losing on time because I'm a slow player.  Nevertheless, I'm happy to do this (unrated please!).  You can see how fast you can beat me!  ;)    Although My rating is absymal and I'm not strong at all, I am told that I'm stronger than my rating suggests (because I play stronger players all the time and, of course, lose to them!)    

I talk entirely too much.  Bottom line, I'm willing to do slow games on the live server if you don't mind playing a (very) low rated player some non rated games.  

Thanks again for all the inputs. I've decided to try out HIARCS with HCE or Fritz 13 GUI depending on what works out better. I also downloaded Lucas Chess and seems quite interesting as well. I'll share my experience in a month or so. Meanwhile, thanks for all the inputs on playing human opponents as well - will try out with the 24 hr move limits and see how it works out. Thanks Michaele for the offer to play slow games - let's definitely give it a shot!

Lovely! I have sent friend request and see you accepted. Thank you. Is there a time that's good for you to meet on live server? We can continue to discuss via PM if you'd like. I'm actually in "live" a lot of evenings. Alternatively (or in addition to), I can do an online game as well (unrated please!) for a bit of practice.

Sorry for the slow response Michaele! I am usually online my late evenings (10p) which is around 9a your time. Which possibly may not work except weekends. We can discuss via PM to finalize a time of play. I would prefer live game vs. online game. We can play unrated either ways.