Vista chess game

[umo]

Windows Vista Ultimate includes a chess game so elegant and
beautifully designed it would reduce even a cynical Bobby Fischer to
tears. It's truly a magnificent work of art.

 

[LoneStar]

Windows Vista Ultimate includes a chess game so elegant and
beautifully designed it would reduce even a cynical Bobby Fischer to
tears. It's truly a magnificent work of art.

I like it too. I just wonder how "strong" it is (FIDO rating). In any
case, another fine Vista addition.

EW

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Windows Vista Ultimate includes a chess game so elegant and
beautifully designed it would reduce even a cynical Bobby Fischer to
tears. It's truly a magnificent work of art.

It may look nice, but it plays *terribly*. Anyone with any skill at
all should be able to beat it easily. Even I can, and my chess skills
are a shadow of what they used to be.

 

[Alun Harford]

Windows Vista Ultimate includes a chess game so elegant and
beautifully designed it would reduce even a cynical Bobby Fischer to
tears. It's truly a magnificent work of art.

It's pretty, but it plays like a weak child. It's impatient, and lacks
an understanding of basic strategy.

Alun Harford

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I like it too. I just wonder how "strong" it is (FIDO rating).

That's FIDE (Federation International des Echecs), not FIDO.

I don't have an official number, but it's very weak. I would guess
around 800-1000.

In any
case, another fine Vista addition.

I couldn't disagree more. Considering its low level of play, I find it
useless.

 

[Robert Francis]

I am also disappointed by the weak play of the Vista chess game. I am rated
about 1900 and it is no match for me on level 10 difficulty while running on
a 2x3GHz machine. I estimate its level 10 rating at about 1500-1600, at
least on my computer.

 

[DP]

Pretty, but I wish it had a way to export games in .pgn files.

 

[Alfred Lorona]

It may look nice, but it plays *terribly*. Anyone with any skill at
all should be able to beat it easily. Even I can, and my chess skills
are a shadow of what they used to be.

A more formidable chess challenge is Arasan 54 (a free approximately 3.6 MB
download) which I understand is rated at about 2500. It displays about is
nice as the Vista game.

Good checkmating: AL

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Pretty, but I wish it had a way to export games in .pgn files.

Jeepers guys! You really make me feel inadequate. It beats me most times.
Now, I know I'm a useless player, but surely it's intended as a little "fun"
thing, rather than a serious opponent - PLEASE say yes! OTOH, someone who
wants a "serious" chess program that will seriously challenge a good player,
can look at dedicated software for the purpose I suppose. And then again,
maybe I don;t have a clue what I'm talking about (seems to happen more each
year that passes).

 

[housetrained]

It's rubbish, even I win every game on the ?hard? setting. Even my dog won
once. Useless!

 

[Jonathan M. \TacticalSniper\ Boyko]

Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but it's quite good.

--

«Kono kuni wa mada, hontô no hero wo shiranai»

TacticalSniper
http://tacticalsniper.blogspot.com/

 

[Alun Harford]

Jeepers guys! You really make me feel inadequate. It beats me most
times. Now, I know I'm a useless player, but surely it's intended as a
little "fun" thing, rather than a serious opponent - PLEASE say yes!
OTOH, someone who wants a "serious" chess program that will seriously
challenge a good player, can look at dedicated software for the purpose
I suppose. And then again, maybe I don;t have a clue what I'm talking
about (seems to happen more each year that passes).

Oh, I'd be happy with it if they supported the Winboard protocol, so
that we could use our 3rd party engines.
It's such a pretty interface. It's a shame that it goes to waste.

Alun Harford

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Jeepers guys! You really make me feel inadequate. It beats me most times.

No reason to feel inadequate because some of us may be better players
than you. I may be better than Vista's chess program, but there are
lots of better players than me too. And chess programs that play
better than I do too.

The point is simply that, as chess-playing software goes, this is a
very poor program.

Now, I know I'm a useless player, but surely it's intended as a little "fun"
thing, rather than a serious opponent - PLEASE say yes!

Sorry, I can't say what it's intended as. But my view as that in this
day and age of many excellent chess-playing programs, a product like
this one is a joke. It's truly terrible, and very easy to beat for
anyone with any skills at all.

My view is that Microsoft should either have done a good job with
this, or not included it at all. A product that plays this
poorly--especially as compared to the competition-- just makes them
look silly.

 

[JC HARRIS]

The purpose of games like this, dating back to the original minesweeper
and solitaire, was not to be a true challenging game but was a way to
get people, in a fun way, to learn to use the mouse (dragging,
double-clicking, etc.). I think MS still looks at these games in the
same way.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

The purpose of games like this, dating back to the original minesweeper
and solitaire, was not to be a true challenging game but was a way to
get people, in a fun way, to learn to use the mouse (dragging,
double-clicking, etc.). I think MS still looks at these games in the
same way.

I don't agree. That was certainly true of solitaire, and perhaps to
some extent even of minesweeper. But almost everyone knows how to play
solitaire, and minesweeper was very easy to learn.

But Chess is still mostly seen as an elite game (at least in the US),
and it's certainly more difficult to play. Not everyone knows how to
play, and not everyone is interested in learning how. Thus it doesn't
come close to being effective in the same role.

 

[John Harris]

WE don't look at it that way, but I am betting MS does.