27 Jul 09
1 edit
Originally posted by Squelchbelchi 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?
Is it because they cannot hack the competition over at FICS?
Opinions please.
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.
27 Jul 09
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.
27 Jul 09
Originally posted by Squelchbelchwhat 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?
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.
27 Jul 09
Originally posted by robbie carrobieIn principle I would not be morally against a centaur area under certain circumstances:
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?
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.
27 Jul 09
2 edits
Originally posted by SquelchbelchI 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.
Is it because they cannot hack the competition over at FICS?
Opinions please.
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.
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27 Jul 09
Originally posted by robbie carrobieI 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 ..
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?
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.
27 Jul 09
Originally posted by SchumiThanks for your reply. Do you (or anybody else here) know if the accounts claiming to be normal persons are allowed to use computer assistance?
There are accounts marked as computers. I don't know if they're all automated or if some have a person involved too.
Thanks!