Hi all. I'm beginner to chess.

I have played a few games against the computer and I don't understand why computer difficulty seems to suddenly jump a lot. For example, opponents like Lucy (1006) and Berry (1068) seem to play really bad and I can win them easily. But then opponents like Raj (1068) and Jeff (1133) seem to play really good and totally dominate me. Also there is a huge difference in how long the computer thinks for the moves, the first 2 opponents move almost immediately, but the later 2 can think for minutes.

So basically I don't understand why the computer difficulty doesn't increase gradually and why is there such a large difference suddenly? Could the problem be that I am using the "high resource engine", TheKing350_64.exe? I could try with the other version of The King, maybe that will help...? I also have a pretty fast computer, not sure if that could be the problem.

The computer personalities have several settings which allow them to act differently... although the ratings might be very close, in certain situations they will play very differently.

Lower-rated personalities are designed with low search capabilities (Lucy is set to 4 moves) as compared to the higher-rated personalities (Chessmaster is set to 99). So in the case of Lucy, searching will be very fast.

Obviously, computer speed affects search time. You're using the 64-bit engine... you can change it to the 32-bit engine, but that still might not make much difference with the lower-rated personalities you're using.

So to summarize: there is no problem; Chessmaster is acting normally.

Thanks for the reply. I did switch to the 32-bit engine and the computer seems to play a little worse so that helped a bit. I still get my butt kicked though.

Me too, found some AIs are much much tougher than other AIs in the same ELO range.

So I set up engine-engine match on them and I was proven correct. For example, Marie(16xx, she is descibed a pawn hunter) is able to beat any AI below 1800 --- just crush them dominately; and is able to win 50% chance against AIs between 1800 to 1900.

In some instances, a lower-rated personality can beat a higher one; but I will admit that the overall percentages you've seen seem rather odd.

But if we're talking human play, I think part of the issue might be psychological -- when playing against a personality that moves very quickly, I tend to play much faster than I ought to...

Marie(16xx) beats Vlad (18xx) easily..every single time.

Try it.