Game analysis bugs, one dull, one amusing

* The dull one is that when I play a rated game, if I want to perform an analysis, I must do so immediately when prompted at the end of the game. If I select Actions | Analysis Mode | Analyse, nothing happens.

* The amusing one, is that in one game CM got a bit confused.

Check out this position:

Black is in a losing position and has just played Rc4. Chessmaster's 10-second analysis of his move is:

"Leads to 55.Kg6 h5 56.Kxg7 Rf4 57.Rd3 hxg4 58.Rd7+ Ke8 59.f6 gxh3 60.f7+ Rxf7+ 61.exf7+ Kxd7 62.f8=Q Kc7 63.Qh8 Kc6 64.Kf6 Kc5 65.Qxh3. Better is Rf2, leading to 55.Rb3 Kf6 56.Rb7 Re2 57.Rf7+ Ke5 58.Rxg7 Re3 59.h4 Rc3 60.Kxh6 Rc8 61.Kg5 Kd6, which gains a queen and a rook and loses a rook and four pawns by comparison."

Not sure what CM's getting at with that final material summary.
I can share up the CMG if that would be helpful.

quote:

Originally posted by sholtom:
Game analysis bugs, one dull, one amusing

* The dull one is that when I play a rated game, if I want to perform an analysis, I must do so immediately when prompted at the end of the game. If I select Actions | Analysis Mode | Analyse, nothing happens.

You don't have to analyze a rated game immediately afterward... you can do it later, as rated games are stored in a PGN file.

Go to Training Mode, and select 'Load' from the File menu, and open your 'Rated Games' pgn file. Then select Game Analysis from the Mentor menu.

quote:

Originally posted by sholtom:
* The amusing one, is that in one game CM got a bit confused.

Check out this position:

Black is in a losing position and has just played Rc4. Chessmaster's 10-second analysis of his move is:

"Leads to 55.Kg6 h5 56.Kxg7 Rf4 57.Rd3 hxg4 58.Rd7+ Ke8 59.f6 gxh3 60.f7+ Rxf7+ 61.exf7+ Kxd7 62.f8=Q Kc7 63.Qh8 Kc6 64.Kf6 Kc5 65.Qxh3. Better is Rf2, leading to 55.Rb3 Kf6 56.Rb7 Re2 57.Rf7+ Ke5 58.Rxg7 Re3 59.h4 Rc3 60.Kxh6 Rc8 61.Kg5 Kd6, which gains a queen and a rook and loses a rook and four pawns by comparison."

Not sure what CM's getting at with that final material summary.
I can share up the CMG if that would be helpful.

I'll have to look into this later; but you might want to test things by letting it have more than 10 seconds per move for analysis...

I'd like to ask for a much wider range of skins in a wider range of colours, some of which are lighter than others, but less gaudy. At the minute we've got a very narrow range and none of them are pretty. I would also like a wider range of wallpapers which aren't all so dark and which don't take on the colour of the skin. At the moment I'm 'stuck' with the nature skin ('cos I want a light one) and green wood wallpaper, shouldn't wood be a shade of brown?

More importantly I think that during the tutorials, when the learner is having to move a black piece, the board should rotate so that they are playing from the black side.

It's been mentioned quite a lot already by others but I would like to ask for separate boards and chess sets.

I think that a beginner's performance in the tutorial quizzes should count towards their provisional rating. For instance, the length of time taken to make a move (if the game hasn't been paused) and the number of goes it takes to get the correct answer and if a problem has been bypassed by clicking the No in the 'Have another go' box that comes up if you don't give the right answer.

As I understand it, there is/are proper 'openings' book/s but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of 'endgame' books. If this is true, then why is it so and could this be rectified?

The wallpaper tones are related to the skin... if you switch back to the 'Default' skin, you'll notice that the Classic Wood wallpaper is a shade of gray. You can use other wallpapers that aren't related to your current skin; select 'Wallpaper' from the Preferences menu, select 'Browse', and click on the 'Up one folder' button. You'll see a list of folders, each related to a skin. Browse them, and perhaps you'll find a wallpaper that you like better.

As to your question about rotating the board... select 'Flip Board' from the Preferences menu.

While I will admit that the tutorials could use a little work, I have to disagree with your idea that they should count toward your rating. It's training... you should be able to learn and make mistakes without a penalty.

Thanks for the reply KHollister.

I understand the wallpapers can be chosen independantly, it's just that I think the colour of the wallpaper should also be independant from the colour of the skin. I actually like the wallpaper I'm using but not the fact that it's light green, which at the moment it has to be because I'm using the 'nature' skin.

I also understand about how to flip/rotate the board, but I think it would be simpler for beginners doing the lessons if the board was flipped automatically to the correct side when the beginner has to play as that particular side.

As for the provisional 'rating' being affected by the 'performance' during the quizzes in the lessons, I think it would be a good idea for the beginner to see how they are progressing during the lessons. It's all very well doing the lessons and seeing a tick in a box, but that doesn't really give any feedback. As far as I understand it, the game gives you a provisional rating when you play your first chessmaster game based on age and how many games played before starting with the chessmaster software. But I think this is a slightly 'daft' way of doing it, when the rating could be, at least partly, based on actual performance during the quizzes in the lessons.

I keep losing rated games by time, when in a winning position.

I would like to see an option to adjudicate a game when the time is running out.

I understand there is a US rule, where you can request this sort of thing in a tournament (ie have to request it), and then even if you lose, the analysis is done based on the position at the time, and if you had a near certain victory you would still win.

If a button popped up near the end to 'Claim victory' that would be best. This could then be useful in not having to play out the final moves when Chessmaster won't resign despite no chance of winning.

About the request I made for the Board to automatically flip when the learner is having to play as Black in the Tutorials: It seems to be doing that now! So either there was some sort of temporary bug OR I just didn't notice it!

Perhaps it would be a good idea if there was a simple 'in game' button to switch from OpenGL to DirectX as some graphic cards work better in one rather than the other? Sturmovik forgotten battles has one and I found my 7300GT worked better in OpenGL, so I could have higher graphics settings.

here is my feature request

i have health issues with my hands & wrists and spending hours clicking the mouse to move chess pieces is painful and sadly, just not worth it. i tried the "quick entry" and "2 click" options and this is better than the drag & drop, but why not skip the dang mouse completely ?

how about adding an algebraic entry popup window ? this way i never have to use the mouse when playing a game, the cursor stays in the popup window, and i just have to type keys for my moves. AWESOME

thanks

You can already play via keyboard. Just click on the board at the beginning of the game aand then type the moves in algebraic notation.
At the very bottom of the screen you will see what you type.

excellent !!! thanks so much !!!

i looked thru the pdf file doc & didn't see this trick, it is very helpful

Hello

I'm using the tutorials and I'm experiencing a weird behaviour of CM11.
When I finish a tutorial the one marked as completed in the list is not the right one, but someting ramdom in the list.
This behaviour happens, for instance, in the latest tutorial of Josh.

Did you know about this bug?

I've regularly updated the game and this happened in 2 different computers when I wanted to make a test.

Another thing I wanna ask is: the number of online users I can see is only 5-10 everytime I connect. Maybe I have some bug with the internet?

Thanks in advance

quote:

Originally posted by starbuck1969:

1) It's not realistic when I'm playing a 1600 oppenent and he sees a mate in 12. This is what happens when you play a 1600 rated Chessmaster oppenent.

2) Automatic draws in it's endgame database. The Chessmaster doesn't make the best moves at this point only reacts to it's endgame database where if it were to think about some of these positions it would make it harder for it's opponent. It's a subtle thing but I've noticed it a few times now. It would automatically play a really simple move that's in it's database as a draw anyway but it could have played another move that's still a draw but be more difficult for the huiman to figure out.