FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for March 17, 2012

I’ve only managed to get my computer into a stalemate on Mac Chess. I can beat human opponents depending on skill level.

It never takes me more than 2 games to identify a computer chess program’s flaws. At that point it becomes pointless to play because the computer makes the same mistake every time.

THIS is the trouble with every chess program I’ve ever seen. It either does absolutely STUPID things or it’s impossible to beat, depending on how I set the difficulty control. It never seems to be able to make RATIONAL moves at a level that allows me to win some of the time.And my grandfather was a champion chess player YEARS before personal computers ever existed, so I know something about the game, having played with him for many years when I was a kid.Johnny von Neumann sort of “put his finger on it” when he said that Chess is NOT a game. It’s a well defined form of computation. You may not be able to work out the best solution to any given situation, but it exists.A computer being simply a number cruncher either gets the right answer or just blunders along depending on how much time you allow it to ‘think’.

I should add to the above:

People you can ‘bluff’ so chess with people becomes sort of a battle of wits. I never could bluff my grandfather but in the process I learned how to bluff a LOT of other people in chess.But a computer, being just a number cruncher, you CAN’T bluff. Either it does something stupid or it nearly always gets the right answer.

Processor shot…? He wouldn’t be able to play chess…. or see anything on the screen other than “no signal”

I beat my computer once. I’ve never admitted this to my astonished friends, but, well, it was actually an accident.

I’ve only play chess against my MAC when I’m bored and i have nothing better to do.

I have tried alot of chess programs, and everyone of them quits or crashes halfway through my opening moves. For some reason they do not like my standard opening. I alternate all my pawns 1 square forward, 2 squares foward until they are a solid wall.

Aaw!

The thing about when you play chess with a computer , is that it anyalizes the best way to beat you, and how to move their pieces. It never makes one wrong mistake. It’s impossible to beat a computer in a game of chess. Just impossible.