Centaurs on RHP...

Is it because they cannot hack the competition over at FICS?
Opinions please.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Is it because they cannot hack the competition over at FICS?
Opinions please.

i never knew the mythical centaur played chess in his labyrinth. why does he not like it at Fics? is there some sort of mechanism for instantly detecting his bad habits and kicking him out?

i know that on other sites, which shall remain nameless, persons are allowed to engage in this form of chess of variant, but with full knowledge that others may also have recourse to the silicon beast. perhaps a platform for them to adopt their play legitimately would de criminalise the procedure and make for quite an interesting variant, man and machine, the perfect balance of tactics and strategy. would it stop centaurs from encroaching upon the rights of others in CC, nope but it would provide a place for them to be quarantined to.

FICS freely allows centaurs (strong chess players that also use engines to suggest moves) so there are some very strong ones there.

On RHP a centaur will only play other engine users part of the time because RHP bans all engine users, especially those with high ratings & few losses or draws against other blatant engine users.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
FICS freely allows centaurs (strong chess players that also use engines to suggest moves) so there are some very strong ones there.

On RHP a centaur will only play other engine users part of the time because RHP bans all engine users, especially those with high ratings & few losses or draws against other blatant engine users.

what do you think of the idea of allowing this on RHP? a specific platform for those who want to play this variant? does it not have merit?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
what do you think of the idea of allowing this on RHP? a specific platform for those who want to play this variant? does it not have merit?

In principle I would not be morally against a centaur area under certain circumstances:

1) anyone found guilty of breaking the current TOS who then "becomes" a centaur officially can still be booted for cheating whilst a non-centaur

and

2) once a new or existing user adopts the big red "C" next to their name they can no longer play in non-computer games or tourneys anymore or change back to a non-engine user

But I'm not sure what the take-up % would be amongst people already playing here as human players.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Is it because they cannot hack the competition over at FICS?
Opinions please.

I think it's because it wouldn't give the same emotional satisfaction of pretending to be legitimately strong human player. having the computer tag in their name sort of gives the engine the credit for any possible brilliancy. here they can act out the fantasy of being a real strong player, even a master.

for that I doubt the cheaters would switch to a centaur area if such was created. but probably people who believe strongly in engine evaluation and are interested in them might. especially if a secondary centaur account was allowed. it might even be interesting to see how things would turn out in 'blunderless' chess.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
FICS freely allows centaurs...

Is it true? I know I probably should read the terms on FICS, but maybe someone here knows.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
what do you think of the idea of allowing this on RHP? a specific platform for those who want to play this variant? does it not have merit?

I actually think this would be a good idea. Not necessarily having a user permanently branded with the (C) suffix, but having one or two unrated tournaments where engine assistance is allowed might be interesting ..

a) If someone enters such a tournament, and their level of play is no different to normal, that is in itself interesting, is it not?

b) As has been discussed elsewhere, a strong player guiding an engine can make the engine much stronger. Telling Fritz the first move in a complex position leads to a pruning of millions of positions from the tree, but the player needs to have the confidence and ability to do this in the first place.

I would expect that someone who blindly followed their engine would loose in such a tournament. This is why it would be interesting.

Originally posted by Guych
Is it true? I know I probably should read the terms on FICS, but maybe someone here knows.

There are accounts marked as computers. I don't know if they're all automated or if some have a person involved too.

Originally posted by Schumi
There are accounts marked as computers. I don't know if they're all automated or if some have a person involved too.

Thanks for your reply. Do you (or anybody else here) know if the accounts claiming to be normal persons are allowed to use computer assistance?
Thanks!

Originally posted by Guych
Thanks for your reply. Do you (or anybody else here) know if the accounts claiming to be normal persons are allowed to use computer assistance?
Thanks!

No assistance would be allowed for human accounts. That would include books and databases too, unlike here.

Originally posted by Schumi
No assistance would be allowed for human accounts. That would include books and databases too, unlike here.

Thanks. I'm happy with that rule.