Yet another on line chess program

you're doing great! at my level improvements don't mean much because I don't have the experience to tell if it's playing 500 points above me or 600 points above me. :)

Did you try adjusting the level? it starts off at level 6 which is a moderately good club player and then you can adjust the level up or down by clicking on the brain in the bottom right. Many thanks for playing it and I appreciate your feedback!

Then obviously you're a little too strong for it - I'd suggest you try shredder or something similar. I'm guessing that it hung material to try and delay something worse from happening ie an impeding checkmate or the capture of a major piece.

She keeps saying that but never actually shows a game she played against it so we can know what really going wrong next when you supposedly destroy it actually post the game.

I can confirm strange goings-on:

Except, this time it wasn't checkmate (or stalemate) but mate in 1!

Thanks reporting the issues. I actually find it quite hard beating the program so I haven't uncovered any issues - I'll go through your games and find out what it's thinking at each stage and that should allow me to correct the errors. Getting it to play much better is obviously going to take a time.

Many thanks for taking the time to play it.

Improve its Sicillian book, and you should be good

also you need to fix its problem with droping pieces when it is losing by huge amounts of material. It virtualy let me checkmate it towards the end

 After waatching that game I can tell that things not  at a 1600 rating not even on level 10 at best this program just barely crosses 1500 but i'll have to do more test to be sure. Sorry for not reading the earlier post and I indeed owe you an apology but for the whole noob thing I'd like to see you challeng me and back those words up.

I fixed a lot of the issues with the last version. If anybody has a free moment could they try the program out. I'm still a long way away from where I want it to be but it seems to be slowly improving. Fun Chess 16.5

Had a very difficult game against level 6. I made a few mistakes and Fun Chess was able to take advantage. I managed to fight back from K + Q + B + B + 3P Vs K + Q + R + R + 7P (two exchanges and four pawns down!) to get a draw by repetition.

The final screen was a bit strange, it flashes both "Draw by repitition" and "Stalemate!"

Played against lvl 6, the computer could not handle a bishop sacrifice. Rather good program, but it moves it's pawns for nothing when there are better moves available.

RainbowRising : It's still a little weak on tactics, but it's a lot of fun! I loved the darth vader "impresive!" when I won!

I think the main thing is to keep it fun while steadily increasing it's strength. I have a fair few ideas left to implement and any suggestions you guys put forward will usually get incorperated.

RainbowRising : It makes odd moves in closed positions when it has a limited choice of moves... I wish I could show you the pgn! Is that possible yet?

PS I LOVE this chess set! One of the best looking chess sets I've ever seen online. Did you create it yourself?

Not sure why that is but I'll try out some example positions. I still haven't worked out how to do the PGN but it is on my list. The different piece sets were grabbed off the internet from public sources and then modified in paint.net - I did have a go at designing my own but the results were embarassing.

Aarnos : Rather good program, but it moves it's pawns for nothing when there are better moves available.

I'll correct that.

PrawnEatsPrawn : Had a very difficult game against level 6.... The final screen was a bit strange, it flashes both "Draw by repitition" and "Stalemate!"

I'm glad it's finally given you a better game at last. In time I hope to actually get it to win! I'll correct the spelling etc.

tomcrossman : played and won against level 7, with a bit of work i think it would become quite a good program.

also i love the 'impressive', kinda roboty voice after you beat i.

Thanks everyone for trying it out.

Fun Chess Version 16.6 (same web address as normal).

You can now copy the PGN format for a game and post it on here. The program also accepts PGN strings and will play from that position. The same is all true for FEN notation. The input string is at the bottom, under the board. It's all quite basic at the moment but hopefully it will help.

It also plays a little better because I removed a few small bugs which stopped it looking at certain moves.

Playing by the clock has been improved in that time is altered by clicking the clock (5 mins - 30 mins) and a field now pops up to allow you to add time for each move. I'll probably change this further going forwards.

Occasionally a warning will sound while it's thinking but this can be ignored. I will track it down and fix it shortly and it shouldn't alter play.

I've just released Fun Chess 17.1 (same URL as before).

I'm hoping that you guys will give it a stronger ELO rating than before. It doesn't seem to make any silly moves, everything seems to be aimed at damaging your position somehow, it also woops the old 16.6 version.

If you see it making a boob then please copy the game history at the bottom of the screen and paste it into the tool here. Obviously a little feedback (good or bad) would be nice :)

Many thanks - Mike

Hopefully it will be much more stable and play better than your last match. I'd suggest playing it at the default level 6 rather than bore yourself stupid on level 10 - I doubt if the increase in strength is worth the frustration of waiting a minute for it to move. The PGN can be copied at the bottom of the screen now which makes reporting the game a little easier.

I'm quite pleased it nearlly beat you! that shows there's a little hope in making in stronger. It's a shame you didn't keep the PGN of the first game as that might be helpful in seeing why it didn't mate you. I assume you might up your rating of the program now? :)

I am amazed how people can play it on level 10 - you guys must have more patience than me. I much prefer to click the clock at the start of a game and then play a 5 minute game on the clocks.

Thank you for your constructive critisism.

Mike

Just released the latest version Fun Chess 17.3 (same URL). It plays a lot better in end games now. I'd be interested to know what people think of it's current strength - in the past it's been rated from 900 - 1600 ELO but I'm quietly hoping that it's stronger now.

Personally I'd just play it on the default level as it moves quite quickly but if you want more of a challenge then just play it on the clock (say for a 5 minute game). If the game is interesting (for it's failings) then you can grab the PGN and paste it on here.

My current aim is to get it playing around 2000 ELO.

Mike