Chess software or computer opponents with precise level settings.

Like the title says, I'm looking for a chess software or computer opponent with a very precise level setting. So similar to what is available in chess.com, but not in steps of 100 elo points; rather in steps of a single elo point.

Fritz has this, but it's minimum setting is a little above my comfort level (unfortunately).

Does anyone know another computer/software/website that has this feature?

That is going to be impossible. There are so many parallel concepts in chess that you can't isolate them into a linear progression. 

 

Let's take a step back and look at 2 example chess clubs. Chess club 1 meets every day and is coached by a GM. Chess club 2 meets once a week and is coached by a 2000 rated player who got that rating when they played in high school.

 

Who would win in a tournament match? Club 1 or club 2? Obviously club 1. This is what we see with the Olympiad. Countries have stronger overall performance than other countries.

 

Now, let's look at the NM title compared to the IM title. Being a national master in country 1 is not the same as being a national master in country 2. It's like the best player in club 1 compared to the best player in club 2.

 

In order to get "precise" levels we have to decide on an arbitrary standard. Will we throw out a Ruy Lopez to test players? Will we use the Sicilian? 

 

Some like to opt for London instead of QGD. There is no linear path. This is why the existing bots are in groups within 100 points. They test certain strategies. This would be like going to a gym and seeing the different weightlifting stations. They focus on different areas.

 

What I would like to see are opening levels. I went over a game mentioned in Kasparov's My Great Predecessors, Steinitz vs. Lasker. In that he compared other games. The position amounted to the same, there was a mate on the h file near the 8th rank.

 

There was a combination of using the LSB bishop on a "distant diagonal" (not longest but a2 to g8) and a rook exchange where white would be down material (rook for minor piece) instead of trading equally (minor piece for minor piece).

 

I would like to see games categorized this way. You could then put them in chronological order. 

 

As you go through them, the site would record your knowledge and then test you again in a week (Do you remember this game from last week?).

 

This way, the "precise" level is based on your growth history. Then, the site could compare and say "Based on others who studied similar games your rating is = blah blah blah blah points."

That is another interesting perspective. Thanks!

However, Fritz software does what I am looking for (save for the unfortunate fact that in the minimum Elo setting play is a bit stronger than I would like). I am hoping someone can point me to a chess computer, software or engine that does this AND has a miminum strength that more suits my limited abilities.

Fritz doesn't have what you are looking for. No software has this capability.

 

Stop trying to advertise for them with lies.

Although there’s a learning curve involved, the best way to get precise control over computer level is to use a GUI that lets you directly set all the parameters for whichever engine you are using. The problem I personally had with Fritz is that it lays so much of its own stuff over top of the engine that I never actually knew how the engine was set. One good GUI for working more directly with the engine is Arena Chess, although the design is very out of date and clunky at this point. And if you go this route, you’ll find that setting up the engine is much more complicated than just picking a “level”, but in the long run it’s a worthwhile learning experience.

Thanks, againseriously; you have some good points.

This put me on a search on search engine settings and I stumbled on a post on Shredder, where it mentions the option to set Elo rating of the computer. I might go for the learning curve that you mentioned some day. For now I will try Shredder and this feature (which, as you are right to point out, may be an oversimplification and might have it's drawbacks). 

 

Hi BasDe,

This suggestion is slightly off the letter of what you're asking about (very small increments of Elo tuning), but I think meets the spirit (an engine that's good for lower rating practice).

Take a look at https://maiachess.com/ for lc0. The setup instructions are on Git Hub https://github.com/CSSLab/maia-chess . Maia is designed to play in a more human-like way based on game data from human beings. The lowest target Elo is 1100. I loaded it as an engine in PyChess to play against. I think Fritz lets you load external UCI engines but I don't personally use it, so I am not sure.

I wanted a lower-rated, more human like engine to practice with. I've found Maia to be the best of any engine I've tried for this.

Slightly off the mark indeed, but also really very interesting. This is a whole other topic that I was wondering about for some time. Thanks! I intend to have a deeper look at this.

I tried Maia1 which is rated 1559 on the lichess site. I don't see how the target ELO is 1100. I have a current rating of 1903 there (albeit inflated I admit), and I don't think the following position falls under either online rating based on the "humans" I have played. If this is the best AI has to offer, we have a mighty long road ahead of ourselves.

 

 

Then I play it again, and it plays like a complete narbo. I don't know what is funnier, the discrepancy in its performance or the computer analysis which says it only had 20 centipawn loss for black.