USCF Chess

[OldAtarian]

Does anyone have this for Intellivision? Does it play a strong game? I just ordered a copy and wondered what strength I should expect.

[edintv]

Does anyone have this for Intellivision? Does it play a strong game? I just ordered a copy and wondered what strength I should expect.

 

Hi, do not espect much, I remember as a kid that when the computer player was cornered, the thinking time was very long, one time i left the Intv thinking about an hour but still don´t came out with a move, I wait several hours and found the game hung up, due to overheating of the Intv (that problem was fixed later removing the Rf shield). Spect the same when setting the board with complicated plays too.

[dooglehead]

There are 7 levels of difficulty to choose from. Like edniv said, on higher levels, it can take a very long time for it to make it's move.

[roberto]

Does anyone have this for Intellivision? Does it play a strong game? I just ordered a copy and wondered what strength I should expect.

 

As a chess player, I'd be surprised if it can actually play stronger than 1200/1300 ELO. Besides, on the highest levels, it'd most likely lose on time (or for "over heating" as reported in the other posts )

Edited October 26, 2010 by roberto

[+thegoldenband]

I recently played a game against the Inty on its second-highest difficulty level (#5). Details here, including the gamescore and an animated GIF of the game.

 

As a chess player, I'd be surprised if it can actually play stronger than 1200/1300 ELO. Besides, on the highest levels, it'd most likely lose on time (or for "over heating" as reported in the other posts )

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm guessing that the highest level will be about 1400 USCF, so in the same ballpark. It plays a better game than one would expect, but has a strange habit of self-destructing in the middlegame somewhere around move 25. Having said that, just about all our games have been in the same basic line (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4?!), and I haven't systematically tried anti-computer tactics against it. Of course, it's horrendously slow on Level 5, and I expect that'll only get worse on Level 6.

[roberto]

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm guessing that the highest level will be about 1400 USCF, so in the same ballpark. It plays a better game than one would expect, but has a strange habit of self-destructing in the middlegame somewhere around move 25. Having said that, just about all our games have been in the same basic line (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4?!), and I haven't systematically tried anti-computer tactics against it. Of course, it's horrendously slow on Level 5, and I expect that'll only get worse on Level 6.

 

Ah! The Vienna Gambit! One of my old favourites!!

Very interesting, thanks!

[cparsley]

I recently played a game against the Inty on its second-highest difficulty level (#5). Details here, including the gamescore and an animated GIF of the game.

 

As a chess player, I'd be surprised if it can actually play stronger than 1200/1300 ELO. Besides, on the highest levels, it'd most likely lose on time (or for "over heating" as reported in the other posts )

Based on what I've seen so far, I'm guessing that the highest level will be about 1400 USCF, so in the same ballpark. It plays a better game than one would expect, but has a strange habit of self-destructing in the middlegame somewhere around move 25. Having said that, just about all our games have been in the same basic line (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4?!), and I haven't systematically tried anti-computer tactics against it. Of course, it's horrendously slow on Level 5, and I expect that'll only get worse on Level 6.

 

I thought I read somewhere that the INTV chess program have a glitch in it that caused it's algorithm to break down between moves 23 - 27. If so that's what will prevent it from being higher than 1300 or so.

[OldAtarian]

I can't play it higher than level 3. Anything higher than that and the wait becomes unbearable. I've also had it black screen on me in the middle of a game a few times already. I don't think the INTY can handle the computations.

[+thegoldenband]

I thought I read somewhere that the INTV chess program have a glitch in it that caused it's algorithm to break down between moves 23 - 27. If so that's what will prevent it from being higher than 1300 or so.

Ooh, it'd be great if you can find a source on that, because it's exactly what I'm seeing: surprisingly strong play up until the mid-middlegame, then it mysteriously falls apart.

 

I can't play it higher than level 3. Anything higher than that and the wait becomes unbearable. I've also had it black screen on me in the middle of a game a few times already. I don't think the INTY can handle the computations.

You do know that the black screen is intentional, right? It's a screensaver to prevent burn-in on your TV; just hit the disc twice and the display comes back up. It could be that your copy is crashing, I suppose, but mine has played 6+ hour games with no problems.

 

I agree that the wait is super-long on higher levels, so I just multitask and do other things while I wait, especially once the win is clear.

Edited November 1, 2010 by thegoldenband

[voltron]

Does anyone have this for Intellivision? Does it play a strong game? I just ordered a copy and wondered what strength I should expect.

 

I know its an old thread. I played it yesterday and it seems to play at about 1250 to 1300 level. Plus old anticomputer tactics work against it. I played larsens opening as white and the computer fell for the traps in the opening. As Black I played English defense and the same thing it fell for the traps in the defense. So it appears back then it relied on brute force and not opening theory. Not quite deep blue yet But as a kid i never ever could beat it.

[voltron]

So I played it again as black And I played english defense bc I wanted to see how it plays endgames . Anyway I was able to promote two pawns to bishop and after a while able to get a two bishop checkmate in the end.