Ratings in "Chessmaster"

I recently got "Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition" and have played a few games in "ranked play" mode. In this mode it doesn't let you take back moves, or even save a game that's still in progress, which is a good thing I guess, because I have a habit of taking back bad moves against a computer if I can, because it is not as if a computer opponent "cares".

I've been playing the suggested opponent personalities (time control was Fischer 20/20). I've played the following personalities with the following alleged ratings so far:

• Seb - 1299

• Liz - 1495

• Marie - 1675

• Waldo - 1763

• Roxy - 2013

I beat the first 4 personalities, and it was a draw against "Roxy". I was up 2 pawns at the end (and then 1 pawn after I allowed one to be captured), but we both had queens, and she was able to perpetually check / force repeated positions, and the 3 repetition rule went into effect. Here's that game:

Now, I highly doubt that I could beat someone with a real USCF or FIDE 1763 rating (or even a 1675 rating), and I also doubt I could draw with a 2013 rated player. I've never played in a tournament and I've never played someone with a real ranking, but when I first got online in 2000, I played quite a bit of chess on Yahoo (usually Fischer 10/10 time control), and there my rating hovered around 1500, for whatever that's worth.

In any event, does anyone know what these Chessmaster personality ratings translate to in real life? They seem to be greatly inflated.

I don't know about Chessmaster, but if you want to find out how good you are against an engine, try playing with the free chess software Nagaskaki.

You can find it here: http://www.mayothi.com/nagaskaki.html

It was tested against other chess engines and found to have a rating of 2140 (source: http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404/rating_list_pure_all.html).

If you can beat that then maybe you are above 2000.

You can also try Crafty, which has a rating of 2811 :)

It is available here: http://nightmarechess.com/crafty/. You can also adjust the strength on it as well.

Or, for something much easier you can try the tarrasch toy engine: http://www.triplehappy.com/. It has a rating of about 1400.

These are all free software and will give you a decent idea where you stand, if you don't believe chessmaster.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll start with Tarrasch. Tarrasch

Subtract about 700 rating points from your Chessmaster Grandmaster Personalities to get their real FIDE rating. It is only my idea of their FIDE ratings.

I had defeated a personality named Lou (rated 2604) and Najdorf (rated 2900s). They are actually between 1800-2000 in FIDE, thats all!

That would make more sense. I wonder why they inflate the ratings like that.

I downloaded Tarrasch and started playing on its default settings. Pretty soon I was getting trounced. I was thinking: there is no way this is rated at 1400. Then I noticed it said "Rybka 2.3.2a mp 32-bit". So I went to options > engine and selected the Tarrasch Toy Engine, and that was a lot different. I won that game, though it was kind of a sloppy win:

I like this Tarrasch Toy Engine; I've played it quite a few times now and I've won some and lost some. It doesn't play like a human though; sometimes it is stupid and sometimes it is brilliant. For example, it made some pretty bad moves in the following game, leading to a pin which cost it a piece and the game:

But at other times, it comes up with an impressive string of moves that decides the game in its favor.

Interesting. I am playing rapid chess (10 min) with Chessmaster and in Chess.com. Guess what ? Having about 700 games on both I have about the same rating - revolving around 1200. Following previous posts it can not be like that. I guess that inflating is more truth for highest numbers than 1200.

Maxim, your last diagram should read "Tarrasch Toy Engine vs. MaximRecoil", no?

Why do you think that? I was playing white, which means it should say "MaximRecoil vs. Tarrasch Toy Engine", just as it does.