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Chess Hints?

nope7308

nope7308

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 6, 2008
1,040
537
Ontario, Canada
I'm trying to learn how to play Chess, but I keep getting my ass handed to me by the computer. I'm playing the native Chess game that comes with Leopard.

Anyway, since I'm new to the game, I thought it would be helpful to watch how a game properly unfolds. I decided to use "Show Hint" for every move and allow the computer to play against itself...

Problem: The "Show Hint" function no longer works. I don't know what caused this problem, but I can't seem to find a solution. Any ideas?

--

And for those who are interested, when I play the computer against itself, the player (white) still lost the game. This was also on the easiest setting. I've tried documented moves multiple times but the computer never falls for it. Damn this thing to hell!
 
I would not use the apple chess application, if often breaks, quits unexpectedly.

There are lots of free chess applications out there.



Chess on the PC is the same as Chess in Real Life... once you learn the rules you just have to think out your moves a step or two ahead. (or more, haha)
 
MrMacMan said:
I would not use the apple chess application, if often breaks, quits unexpectedly.

There are lots of free chess applications out there.

Chess on the PC is the same as Chess in Real Life... once you learn the rules you just have to think out your moves a step or two ahead. (or more, haha)
Click to expand...

Hmm, so nobody knows how to fix this?

If so, which (free) Chess games would you recommend? I hate to sound shallow, but I would appreciate some moderate graphics.
 
Asking a computer for a hint probably isn't the best way to learn chess. Computers just think differently. Instead of using strategy to develop moves and positions like a human it'll just crunch options one move at a time till its decision time runs out and then chooses the 'best' option it thinks it has at that time. You're better off reading a book and playing some human opponents on-line. Yahoo has matches I'm sure other sites do as well.
 
Try deleting the preferences of the Chess application in the Library --> Preferences subfolder of your home folder.

I have never had a problem with the Apple chess application, it works fine. I believe it is a front-end for the GNUchess engine, which is a pretty standard chess engine.

I'm a pretty good chess player, and I can't beat the computer in chess if the slider is more than a third from the left. The strength of a chess engine depends on the speed of the computer, and most modern PCs will play chess at close to master level.

Also, if you are just learning chess, I agree with Schmittroth that it is better to read a few books and play with a few real human players rather than watch a computer game.
 
Try going to someplace like www.freechess.org and playing some games. Yahoo is also a good place to get some experience.

I can tell you as a chess instructor that watching the computer play is not going to help much. You have to get in and really play for yourself. If you don't suffer losses and see what's wrong with a move or really work out why a certain move is bad on your own through rigorous thought, you can never be a good chess player. Memorization only takes you so far in life and in chess.

I don't really like the Chess program that 10.5 comes with because there's no 2-D anymore (that I can find without really screwing with anything) and because it moves far, far too slow at the higher levels. I blitz against it when I play, but usually do okay (with some interesting wins) against it halfway on the "Speed/Strength" bar. Usually when I take the time to play like the time control is G30. In other words, it should beat most people, but is not a good engine by any stretch of the imagination. Most of its strength is because the modern computer is so fast and not any elaborate search algorithms (like with Fritz or Rybka).
 
That's the King's Indian Attack. You can try playing Nf3 and then c4 too before building the "house". It's a little more aggressive.
 
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