Evan et al
Depends on your definition of normal! To me normal would fit within a system but
a system may be aggressive, solid or passive.
Take the game i just posted - a French Defence. Black 'normally' develops his
King's Bishop somewhere on the a3-f8 diagonal and that's according to the
variation adopted. My opponent played a fianchetto instead which is definitely
not normal. I woiuldn't call it passive because from g7 the Bishop is involved
for the fight for the e5 square. Nor would I call it solid because White has the
h2-h4-h5 advance to open up lines as per the game. Is it aggressive? Probably
although it doesn't look it at first glance.
Labels are funny things. One of my favourite stories is about Jon Speelman. As
Black he opened a game with a Pirc/Modern Defence. A short way he did something
odd and the game left Pirc/Modern theory. When he wrote notes to the game he
treated it as if they were on virgin theoretical territory. What he hadn't
realised was that he'd transposed into a main line of the Alekine's Defence!
Labels - fuuny things!
Tyson
On 11 February 2017 at 21:11 Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks Andrew.
I hope you’ll forgive me if I appear a bit dense, but if Solid is
somewhere between Passive and Aggressive, then what is Normal. I would have
thought Normal would be somewhere between Passive and Aggressive.
Evan
From: mordue andrew mailto:tyson.mordue@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM
To: usbca_chess mailto:usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: Some Questions About Shredder
Evan et al
Aggressive and Passive (levels) are what they seem. Solid is somewhere in
the middle but once again these are subjective labels. An apparently solid
move may be a mistake because a dynamic (a level beyond aggressive possibly?)
reply was needed instead. Too much solidity can lead to passivity.
Once again it's all about judgement.
Tyson
> > On 11 February 2017 at 17:52 Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > wrote:
Thanks Charles.
I did notice the different playing styles in the Settings. It’s set
to Normal by default, and I think I’ll leave it there for now. Some of the
labels for the different playing styles such as Aggressive and Passive seem
pretty self explanatory, but do you know what Solid means?
I’m going to keep the clocks off for now. I just want to play some
games with no time pressure for the time being.
I also like the Hints feature, and that it tells me when it thinks
I’ve made a bad move. So far, I’ve found that when it says that, I’d better
reconsider. I haven’t gotten into a situation like the ones Jim and Tyson
have described, but I’ve just started, so we’ll see.
Evan
From: Charles Rivard mailto:wee1sman@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 7:57 AM
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: Some Questions About Shredder
You can change a lot of what you see on the screen, as well as how
the app plays, from within the settings tab. Work your way through them and
you will see what you can do with it. For example, you can turn the “don’t
rate my puzzles or games” setting off, and it will then rate your play. You
can set the app’s playing strength and the style of play. You can choose to
use the coach or not. You can choose whether to use the digital clocks or
not, and how much time each player is allowed to take for your entire game,
and whether to add time to the clocks after each move.
“This game can still be rated.” means that the app is rating your
skill. If you win, the next game will be more difficult. If you don’t, the
next game will be at a lower skill level. As you play games, it keeps track
of your progress. It will give you an estimated ELO rating. Just for
kicks, I erased my rating at the beginning of this year and set the app to
play it’s easiest game, and I set the style of play to “aggressive”.
Unfortunately, I have had time for only 1 game so far. I use clocks, and
set the time we each have to 120 minutes, which is the maximum allowed. I
turn the “coach” off. Although it is too soon to mean much, after I won the
first game, it gives me an ELO rating of 1,250. It will play a better game
the next time we play. As for the opening, when you make your first move,
Shredder will choose an opening at random from those in it’s opening book.
If you use clocks, you will notice that it begins using it’s thinking time
if you vary from the chosen opening or if the opening has been played all
the way through. The evaluation number shows how much you, or the app, has,
as far as an advantage in the game. A point value is given for each of the
pieces as well as who the app thinks has a better board position at the
current time in the game.
Shredder is a great app. About the only things that I’ve found that
you cannot do using Voice-Over are to set up a board position and play from
that point, and you, as far as I know, cannot have two humans playing each
other using Shredder as the referee and time keeper. You also cannot use
Shredder as the interface for playing against someone online. But it sure
is one heck of a good electronic chess opponent that will play with ELO
ratings ranging from 850 to 2,600! I hope this answered most of your
questions. If it didn’t, ask away. Have fun with it!
If you think you're finished, you! really! are! finished!!
From: Evan Reese mailto:mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2017 7:28 PM
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Some Questions About Shredder
Hey Guys,
I just played my first game against Shredder. I went twenty moves
before I gave it up. But I’m going to start another one here in a minute.
I think I could get hooked on this app pretty quickly. I know it’s
not the same as playing against a human, but it’s a lot of fun and there are
no points on the line, as well as being great to be able to take moves back
and get hints if I want.
I just had a few questions.
Firstly, does anyone know what this Evaluation number means? It
seems to change every time I look at it. Currently it says Evaluation 3.68
after my 20th move.
Also, is there a manual for this program that explains the various
features? I hit the About button and the Info button, but I didn’t notice
any kind of documentation. For example, I played White in this first game,
and I did not consciously try a specific opening because I don’t know any,
but here it says Opening C26. How did it get that if I wasn’t playing an
opening? Another example of a question would be that it says at the bottom
right of the screen, “This game can still be rated. Image.” Does anyone know
how to activate that with Voiceover. It doesn’t appear to be a button. I
just brought up a Ratings screen, and it says zero games and zero ratings,
so how do I get it to start rating me. Can I get an ELO rating from it?
Thanks for any advice.
This is truly a great app, and extremely accessible with Voiceover.
Evan
>