castling
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Ubridge
Nov 30, 2018
0
#1
Every chess book I’ve ever read describes king safety with regards to “castling” as critical perhaps even paramount for overall chess success. However when i play against the computer on chess.com at a level far beyond my own, the computer rarely if ever castles. Am i so bad that the algorithm does calculate the need or have i been misled in the true absolute necessity to castle no matter what? Beginner so if this a dumb question be easy😁
Nov 30, 2018
0
#2
For decades there haven't been any engines that play at a level of, for example, 1200 or 1300.
So to make engines at a 3000 level play so much lower, they have to do some odd things. They can limit things like search depth and thinking time.
Castling is a strategic type of move. It improves the position for the future. An engine that thinks for a fraction of a second or only 1-2 moves deep may not ever castle.
This is one reason human opponents are better i.e. engines play artificially and are generally poor strategically. They've beaten humans for decades because their short term tactics are basically flawless, not because they make good long term moves.
Nov 30, 2018
0
#3
Ubridge wrote:
[Is it an] absolute necessity to castle no matter what? Beginner so if this a dumb question be easy😁
There are cases where castling is bad because it's done too early, or castling is just wrong altogether, but 9 times out of 10 it's better to castle, and a player is much more likely to castle too late than too early.
Particularly in 1.e4 e5 games and 1.d4 d5 games, the center is liable to open quickly, so it's very important to castle quickly.
Nov 30, 2018
0
#4
“This is one reason human opponents are better i.e. engines play artificially and are generally poor strategically. They've beaten humans for decades because their short term tactics are basically flawless, not because they make good long term moves.” Excellent point! Which also explains why i even struggle beating the computer at a level far less than my own. Makes it next to impossible to gauge my improvement or lack there of. Thanks