ChessMaster Malfunction - 2007/03/09 10:19ChessMaster didn't have to resort to this tactic, but it did.
After castling (playing white), I kept my rook next to the king. A few moves later, I needed to reposition my knight back to K1. The next move was to have been made by Black, but instead, I saw ChessMaster move my rook to the left and my knight piece disappeared off the board!!! I hit the "take back" key on my small GameBoy, thinking that maybe my eyes had deceived me, but there it was, White takes White! The computer was using my own pieces to decimate my forces.
I have played about ten games now with this unit, and this is the first time anything like this has happened.
Could this just have been a random glitch in the program, a symptom of a weakening batteries (I did go on to defeat the computer, albeit the setting was set on the third weakest difficulty setting!) or perhaps a malfunction in the ChessMaster program for the sequence of moves played?
ChessMaster Malfunction - 2007/03/13 08:55The malfunction I described is symptomatic of insufficient energy from batteries. The GameBoy has no "low battery" indicator, so I determined that when I was checked with no accompanying audio of "Check!", as well as a feeble checkmate display, that it was time to try new batteries, which for the time being seem to have corrected most of the "phantom" moves. I have yet to beat this GameBoy past the second easiest setting!!
The fact that I have to be vigilant against these "phantom" moves the computer makes against me by using my own piece to take my own pieces is like it is voluntarily handicapping me by making me lose pieces involuntarily!!
One advantage of being able to use an adaptor is that your computer set gets a constant energy supply vs. wondering when your batteries are going to weaken with the resulting "funny" game moves by the computer.
ChessMaster Malfunction - 2007/03/13 23:16It can't be that it's set up to discourage by letting players not get past this stage you described on purpose
ChessMaster Malfunction - 2007/03/28 08:32It looks like the batteries were the main problem.
I haved accepted the fact that this ChessMaster program has some bugs in it, or perhaps the Gameboy is malfunctioning at times.
Most of the time I am able to complete games without problems, but every so often, the program restricts me from moving a piece telling me that the piece cannot be moved. That is the correct message when a piece is restricted from movement due to surrounding pieces or the rules concerning the individual piece, but sometimes a piece CAN be moved yet the program doesn't allow it to be moved. It doesn't happen often, so when it does, I just either end the game or accept that the game is being compromised in quality. I may in the future just write down the position of pieces and see what happens if I set up the board with the position that existed before the problem, and see what happens.
Although this ChessMaster program is basic, it does allow me to "setup" the board in a customized way, piece by piece.
What I am yet to find, is a way that I can tell the program, "I surrender." All it seems to offer is the selection of a draw. And if the computer turns that down, it just keeps on playing. The only other alternative I can think of for telling the computer that it has won, it simply to turn off the power.
The best I have done so far is to have gotten a draw on the third easiest setting with "deep thinking on" and me playing as white. Being observant of the computer's moves has taught me more about positioning and multiple attacks on individual pieces. It is something to see how the computer shuts down exits. But when its technique is turned against it, a draw became possible for me. The draw was as good as a win for me. All part of the learning curve as I re-develop chess skills.
ChessMaster Malfunction - 2007/03/29 17:36Dharma_Knight, I think you're right. Learning from the computer is a valuable element within the whole as well. Are you only playing chess on the computer, or also in "Real" ?
ChessMaster Malfunction - 2007/03/30 07:02For now, I'm just playing against the computer, since I am still warming up those chess brain cells after not having played for some time.
Last night, I finally beat the computer, albeit on one of the easiest settings, but even so, it was a beautiful game. I tried a different opening as white, where I developed almost all the pawns before any other piece was moved. It was amazing seeing how much of the board became protected from penetration. Even with an overlooked piece being given up, the positional advantage of my pieces allowed me to recover ground and ultimately allow my rook, pawn, and bishop checkmate the computer's King. I learned three things from the game: that strength can be obtained through slow and patient positioning of pawns, that a rook is extremely valuable (in my end game it controlled 1/8 plus one square of the board's space, and that one pawn can be at least as valuable as a bishop in controlling squares. In my case, after having traded various offensive pieces with black, the few remaining pieces allowed me to use the rook, one of my pawns, and bishop, to dominate black's King's movements. Granted, if the chessgame's settings were being played beyond the second easiest settings, the middle game would not have devolved the way it did enabling me to dominate the end game, but it was a beautiful game, from my point of view, showing how a game can progress from the setup to trading pieces to leading up to controlling space around black's king making all his other pieces irrelevant. Can't recall having played a game like that in many many years.
Do you just play online?
Some years ago, I played a few games on some online chess board, something like instantchess or chessexpress. Can't recall the name. I see that chesscircle has an online chess link. Maybe I'll explore that. (I like to play ChessMaster because I can do so just before bedtime. I have limited time and would be hesitant to commit to a game online unless time allowed me to do so. Hopefully it will in the future.)
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