Re: possible improvement to glChess gnome game

[Robert Ancell <bob27 users sourceforge net>]

Hi Ashwin,

Thanks for the feedback.

The computer player is provided by GNUChess which is developed outside
of GNOME Games:
http://www.gnu.org/software/chess/

You are also able to use different computer players, a list of
supported engines is here:
http://live.gnome.org/glChess/ChessEngines

Regards,
--Robert

2009/4/28 Ashwin Ganesan <ashwin ganesan gmail com>:
> Dear Bob and Andreas,
>
> Just a thought.
>
> I recently used the glChess 2.22.2.1 (part of gnome games) that came
> installed with Ubuntu.   During a recent chess game, the computer traded a
> rook for my pawn, and I thought about whether pawn-promotion situations are
> can be evaluated better by the computer program.  More specifically,
>
> Some of the pieces are located as:
> White (human): Qd4, Pawn f5, Pawn c3, Nb4
> Black (computer): Qe7, Pawn c7, Rook e8, d8.
>
> The last few moves were:
> 1. black: pawn to c5
> 2. white: pawn to f6
> 3. c5 takes queen on d4
> 4. f6 takes queen on e7
> 5. d4 takes pawn on c3
> 6. e7 takes rook on d8, pawn promoted to queen
> 7. Re8 takes queen on d8.
>
> I wonder if the computer's decision for move 5 assumed, during its
> calculation, the pawn on e7 to be worth as much as a queen (since it becomes
> a queen after promotion the next move), and therefore was willing to trade
> its rook on d8 for my pawn on e7.  I haven't analyzed the game carefully,
> but if this move was not optimal for this reason, then pawn-promotion
> situations can be evaluated in a better way by the program.
>
> Thank you very much for the efforts on the gnome games.  It must be a very
> interesting and challenging project to write those programs.
>
> Ashwin.
>
>