Have you ever beaten a computer at chess fairly?

[Destructionator XV]

The least couple days I have spent many hours a day trying to beat GNUChess, and every time, it wins. I have never fairly (as in not instructing it to go easy on me or taking hints for every move) beaten a computer at chess. I am not a bad chess player either; I generally beat human players I know.

I am going more and more towards the conclusion that a human beating a computer at chess is simply not possible. They see every move, and they don't make mistakes. Every time, brutal perfection.

Anyone here ever beaten a computer fairly? Or at least put up a good game against one?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Anyone here ever beaten a computer fairly? Or at least put up a good game against one?

I guess it depends on the AI level of the chess program itself. How good is the GNU chess AI, actually? And what is the difficulty setting?

[Destructionator XV]

I guess it depends on the AI level of the chess program itself.

I'm talking about a computer that knows how to play to win. There is one terrible program I played that I can whoop, but that is obviously just a poorly written program.

How good is the GNU chess AI, actually?

Quite good. Check out the FAQ about it's rating:

http://www.gnu.org/software/chess/chess_faq.html#[B.2]

A human grandmaster could probably beat it, but it still plays very well.

I am going to try to pit it against the Chessmaster 9000 engine, that should be a good game. I expect Chessmaster to beat it though.

And what is the difficulty setting?

It doesn't really have one. All I can do it limit the amount of time it is allowed to think, and I have not been doing that in my games, so the simple answer to your question would be "hard".

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

It doesn't really have one. All I can do it limit the amount of time it is allowed to think, and I have not been doing that in my games, so the simple answer to your question would be "hard".

Interesting. So the more time you give, the more calculation the AI can make. Good AI design!

Anyway, another factor is the power of the hardware itself. For example, I think the GNU chess can get more benefit (ie: harder) from faster processor, etc.

[Destructionator XV]

Right, faster hardware helps all but the worst chess programs. More moves they can examine before running out of time, the better plays they can make.

[Stofsk]

Are you white or black?

[Destructionator XV]

White most the time, but sometimes black. The computer tends to play well either way.

[The Jackal]

I am as of now unable to defeat chessmaster at the Hard difficulty setting. Anything before that is a piece of cake, though. I am a decent chess player, though by no means a pro, so I assume GNUChess would make a monkey of me. But I'd give it a try and lose with honor.