philidor_position...I agree with you on both counts. However, while it may be well known that allows engine use & I'm sure many if not most players there do, I don't recall seeing anything at all in their rules condoning, authorizing, or permitting the use of such engines to help you win games. Thats not to say using them to analyze or review other positions or games is not appropriate, just as it is here, but they shouldn't be used for on-going games. No matter how you look at it, that is cheating. If the and their players want to pass out and hold official titles & championships based on the fact that one guy's computer beat the other guy's computer, they should include the words "computer chess champion" or "computer chess master" in all of them.
And what I meant by using a 2500 vs 3000+ engine relates to the original poster looking for a good, cheap or free engine. The vast majority playing here, myself obviously included, will NEVER have a need for an engine with the analysis ability of something like Rybka. Unless you're taking chess THAT seriously & are progressing accordingly, the difference in the engines are not going to matter. I enjoy the heck out of Chessmaster 11 (est. ELO 2825) and that's well more than enough for me! If/when I can beat it, I need to quit my job installing satellite tv and become a professional chess player. But, to each their own...enjoy your chess any way you'll have it :)
as for those who say 2500 elo is enough...pfft, try using a 2500 elo engine to analyse corres' chess games and see how many beatings you take (and before you harp on about 'cheating', engine use is permitted on iccf, the official fide endorsed corres' chess site).
Would that be the?? Because if you're talking about the
, I couldn't seem to find anything in the rules permitting or advocating engine use during gameplay. Contrary to that, there does seem to be a lot of discussion in their forums that admonishes inappropriate use of engines. Proper use of engines would be for study or analysis after the fact, not for help in defeating an opponent. That would be considered cheating here and could get you booted.
You vs a human opponent, an engine around 2500 ELO is probably more than sufficient, unless you're a Master or something. The only reason you'd need an engine over 3000 ELO would be to compete with others who are using them. Myself I don't see the point of pitting engine against engine. The best and most fun chess is played between two human competitors using their own knowledge & abilities.
Czech_M8, he is right, it's well known that does allow engine use, simply because they had no way of preventing it. It's obvious that a very large percentage of players would "cheat" if they had prohibited it, and they couldn't risk that because the stakes are much higher there as they give out official titles and hold official championships.
And about having a better engine instead of a worse engine. Call me silly but I'd prefer the better one against the worse. You don't have to be a cheater nor a master to go for the better one.
There's a huge difference in analyzing a game with Rybka Human and some random 2500 engine.