What's the reason for this?

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/need-a-strong-free-chess-engine?page=1

Is it just to have another computer to play against? I don't know much about it.

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What's going on, woodshover? What's the reason for this?

weird is what i say

I was wondering why people need chess engines.

I assume they study positions with it. They also like playing one engine against another.

I figured the computer on here would be enough.

Variety?

The computer on here plays really weird.  From silly to hard, as long as you last long enough, it can't help itself and will throw away material.  How long the strong in between moves last depend on how high the setting is... so it plays this weird hybrid game that's not at all like playing against a proper computer and definitely different from a human.

I agree, many engines play this way. I have Chessmaster and I played some 1800 personalities on there and it seems they do the same thing.  Throw away material and then make strong moves for a period of time.  They should play more "human like". I also own Fritz 11 and it DOES play much more "human like." Chessmaster has some great learning software though and is still a good program.

I turned on the TV just in time to see a chocolate chess set being given away, a few minutes ago.

What's the reason for this?

A V-6 engine would be enough for my redneck neighbor, but he got the hemi....

The well-documented M.O. of a computer is that it stereotypically plays overly materialistically, and dogmatically follows a strict set of rules. So I find odd that you describe throwing away material as not enough like a human. Aren't human players more likely to throw away material than "material-minded" computer players?

I think what he means is that, owing to the handicaps used against mortal chess players, engines will make incredibly stupid moves in between periods of strong play. There is little attention paid to developing handicaps that would make an engine play to a consistent skill level, like a human.

What's the reason for this?

Waffles. Everything is for waffles

 They are not smart enough to think for themselves.

 I missed most of it, but apparently some nut on the Oprah show liked to carve things out of chocolate, and she was giving it all to the audience members.