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Date: 30 Aug 2006 08:42:04
From: Gustaf
Subject: Rating and computer performance in Chessmaster 10
Me and my pal both have Chessmaster 10, and we both test our skills
against the various computer players in the game. My pal has a faster
computer than I do, and my question is: if we play the same person
(among the computer players), will we experience the same difficulty on
both computers? In other words, does a certain rating cause the same
difficulty regardless of computer performance?

Gustaf




 
Date: 30 Aug 2006 16:16:12
From:
Subject: Re: Rating and computer performance in Chessmaster 10

[email protected] wrote:
> Gustaf wrote:
>
> There are a exceptions. Eg, I believe Josh is always the same strength
> regardless of the computer hardware... but again, the rating it
> displays will tell you for sure.

Whoops, I forgot to mention why Josh is always the same rating,
regardless of CPU. That was for historical accuracy. Those ratings that
are displayed are the highest ratings that Josh achieved at that age,
and we felt those shouldn't change with CPU speed. Odds are the younger
versions will play right around their rating, while the older ones will
play stronger than their rating.

jm



 
Date: 30 Aug 2006 10:09:02
From:
Subject: Re: Rating and computer performance in Chessmaster 10

[email protected] wrote:
> Gustaf wrote:
> > Me and my pal both have Chessmaster 10, and we both test our skills
> > against the various computer players in the game. My pal has a faster
> > computer than I do, and my question is: if we play the same person
> > (among the computer players), will we experience the same difficulty on
> > both computers? In other words, does a certain rating cause the same
> > difficulty regardless of computer performance?
>
> The strength of a personality varies depending on which computer it's
> running, and that's accurately reflected in its rating. Eg, you may see
> "Trudy / 1513" on a weak computer and "Trudy / 1579" on a strong one.
>
> There are a exceptions. Eg, I believe Josh is always the same strength
> regardless of the computer hardware... but again, the rating it
> displays will tell you for sure.

Keep in mind, though, that MANY of the personalities (in particular,
the weaker ones) will not benefit much at all from a stronger computer,
even though the ratings may be displayed as being higher.

There are two reasons for this:

1) Fixed Depth -- Many personalities have a fixed depth that is very
small (5 or less), such that the depth will be reached very quickly
(less than a second) and it won't matter how fast your computer is.

2) Randomness -- A faster CPU may be able to search more moves, but if
the personality has a high randomness factor, that may even result in
WORSE play, depending on the other settings.

However, (as far as I can recall) the ratings calculation does not take
into account any of these factors. It just says "the personality is
rated X on the minimum CPU, so it gets this much bonus on YOUR CPU if
it is faster".

jm



 
Date: 30 Aug 2006 00:31:21
From:
Subject: Re: Rating and computer performance in Chessmaster 10
Gustaf wrote:
> Me and my pal both have Chessmaster 10, and we both test our skills
> against the various computer players in the game. My pal has a faster
> computer than I do, and my question is: if we play the same person
> (among the computer players), will we experience the same difficulty on
> both computers? In other words, does a certain rating cause the same
> difficulty regardless of computer performance?

The strength of a personality varies depending on which computer it's
running, and that's accurately reflected in its rating. Eg, you may see
"Trudy / 1513" on a weak computer and "Trudy / 1579" on a strong one.

There are a exceptions. Eg, I believe Josh is always the same strength
regardless of the computer hardware... but again, the rating it
displays will tell you for sure.



  
Date: 30 Aug 2006 18:24:32
From:
Subject: Re: Rating and computer performance in Chessmaster 10

SAT W-7 wrote:
> Have you two played computer vs computer and have the different
> personalities play each other as black and white ..In other words you
> two should take two weeks and play a tournament with all the different
> personalities.
> I think that would be interesting ..
>
> play the strongest level of each grandmaster personalty..

That's exactly how the personalities initially got their ratings, when
we were putting together Chessmaster 8000. More than 10,000 games were
played at Fischer 5/3, and more than 1,000 of those games involved USCF
rated humans.

Although today's faster computers will certainly make some of the
personalities stronger than they were back then, the general relative
ordering of the personalities probably wouldn't change much at all.

As for the GM personalities, we "cheated" there and rated them all
equally to avoid arguments.

jm



  
Date: 30 Aug 2006 18:04:17
From: SAT W-7
Subject: Re: Rating and computer performance in Chessmaster 10
Have you two played computer vs computer and have the different
personalities play each other as black and white ..In other words you
two should take two weeks and play a tournament with all the different
personalities.
I think that would be interesting ..

play the strongest level of each grandmaster personalty..