Yet another on line chess program

You're right - I'll go back to the old version and test the new changes a bit more.

New and improved Fun Chess 17.5 (same old URL)

Evaluation of king safety etc has been much improved. I've also tried to expand the opening book a little. Hopefully it will fair a little better against the 2000 ELO players. All feedback welcome.

Mike

Great, I will try and play it later today and give you my results. :)

It is still missing simple tactics- like:

I do not know how he detects simple tactics, but there's clearly a problem here...

Level 6, I played nearly as quickly as it did, a really scrappy victory.

The weird opening is to take it out of its book, as soon as possible. Also, engines do less well in closed positions than open ones.

I've taken all this on board but I'm also keen on changing the front end a bit. I wanted to have the option of a bigger board to play on. Many people prefered the idea of seeing what pieces had actually been taken. This has all made the screen look a little "busy" so I'm trying to improve this as we speak.

IM pfren - oddly it was just playing moves directly from it's opening book. The moves you were making were designated a mistake but unfortunately it's one thing calling them a mistake and another thing to get the program to capitalise on them. I'm not a strong enough chess player to comment further so instead I removed this line from it's book!

browni3141 - I'd say you played very well and managed to attack the program under it's radar. I've noticed it loose one or 2 games like this and I'm thinking about the best defense I can realistically put in. It wasn't clear what level you were playing - I should put this info in the PGN. I also noticed some errors in my PGN generation - I'll fix this.

Prawn - I'm very pleased the program manages to give you a good game. My aim has been to beat a few players of your strength. Hopefully soon ;)

Any suggestions on how to improve it's play are more than welcome. The new version will be released in a few days and should look a little better.

Look forward to it :)

One minor thing I noticed:

The PGN does not reflect checkmate. See the PGN for post 196.... 34. Rh7# was recorded as 34. Rh7+.

I was playing the default level 6. The program seems a bit too willing to move the kingside pawns after the king has castled there. That was a big part of my victory in the above game. Notice that the mate in the end couldn't have happened if he hadn't weakened the kingside dark squares with 14. ... g6.

A completely new interface with the new Fun Chess 18.1 (same old URL)

• It now has a cleaner, less cluttered look.
• You can expand the board size (little orange tabs).
• It shows the taken pieces separately under the board.
• The PGN has been improved.
• It's a little more careful with it's castle side pawns.
• I've only made minor changes to the "chess engine" but it seems to consistantly beat the old one.

A lot has changed so pleased be prepared for a few "issues". Next set of changes will likely include:

• Fixing any bugs.
• Steadily improving play but this is dependant on your feedback.
• Improve the king safety strategy.
• I'd like to add a pause when playing on the clocks (not sure who uses them).
• I want to allow the option to play say 40 moves in 5 minutes etc (not sure what the normal controls are).

I look forward to your feedback as always :)

Mike

Up until around move 30 you were a rook down and fun chess didn't have a bad position either. The move 30) ... gxh6 would be the first move it would look at but even on a quick 3 ply search this move scores poorly. I can only assume your computer was suddenly busy at that point and the chess program didn't even get enough time to search even that far. Normally a 3 ply search only takes a fraction of a second. Unfortunately I'm not looking over your shoulder so it's difficult to provide a more difinitive answer.

The simplest solution is not to run any major programs (video, virus checks etc) in the background. Other solutions are to simply raise the level a notch. You can always copy the PGN (up to move 30) into Fun Chess and play the final stage again - I'm pretty sure the result will be very different.

What did people think of the new interface? anyone? It's played approx 100 games since yesterday so I assume someone must have noticed it's changed

I'll try to play around with it sometime today and give you some feedback, was busy yesterday. :)

I've just updated the program to Fun Chess 18.2 (same old URL). It will now always search to a set minimal depth before playing a move. So now, if your computer is being heavily used,  this might mean you have to wait a little longer for a move but hopefully it won't just be the first move it found like before.

I've also added :

• timer options to play 40 moves in 90 minutes etc. I don't play in tournaments so could someone tell me if the options available are adequate?
• helpful hints at the bottom of the page really for those that have never used the program before
• an option to view the expected line of play

I'd still like to know a rough idea of playing strength. Obviously people are happier showing their victories but it would be nice to know if it wins or draws a few games - you can PM me if you like

i like the typewriter click. it beat me twice. i didnt record the games or would post.

third time lucky!!

You might want to fix the opening book in the caro khan. I found I can trap the bishop every time with basic theory.

I set up the same position and it still lost on level 6. Strangely, if I set up the position 1 ply before and play Kh2, it plays Kxh6.

This game was on level 8, 20seconds/move. I think it still have a problem with pawns, it doesn't understand the passed pawn power, and also seems to "lack a plan" in the end game. I LOVE the new layout! I haven't done the timed feature yet but will try to soon. Your program is getting stronger, just has some weak points which if players know, can exploit easily. Perhaps increasing its book knowledge and end game technique will strengthen it to about where you'd like it. Keep it up!