[Nobody]

A few questions about chess.
Has anyone been able to beat the computer? (I'm not very good, but even my friend was having trouble even on easy mode.)
Does anyone know how much it calculates in advance? Is it 60 Moves?
Thanks in advance.
-Bob

[Ronaldinho]

The engine behind Apple's Chess program is very, very strong. Furthermore, casual chessplayers tend to play a sort of "hope your opponent makes a big mistake" kind of game, and it's simply not going to make that kind of error.
I suspect it's only seeing a few moves ahead on easy level. And it never sees anywhere close to 60 moves ahead.

[iloveitaly]

yep, most people play wait for people to make a mistake game. I do, unlees i;m playing tht eocmp of course.

[dcipjr]

I've had it since the public beta, and I've never beaten it. I try one in a while to try to beat it, but I never do. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[TomMacs]

My friend and I both play chess and together we lost, we are no match agaisnt the chess app, yes, even in easy mode we lost. (we played on the same team, together agaisnt the computer) /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[mystery_stain]

In reply to:

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I've had it since the public beta

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It looks like the same Chess.app that was on the old NeXT Computers, which means it's an old Unix app.

[kruu]

I spent thousands of hours in my teens studying chess and playing in USCF tournaments. That was some time ago. Now I occasionally play chess with the computer for fun. I beat it sometimes, but those occasional wins come because of a strategic plan often involving a sacrifice. The program is just too strong at tactics to win by means of a short-term series of moves.
Try Sigma Chess (sigmachess.com) for a more robust program. You can set easy levels where the computer will make tactical mistakes you can take advantage of ---- if you are careful. You can also set the levels very high. Be careful.