Anti-computer tactics

An anti-computer tactic is a particular style of play in various games that is used by human players to beat computer opponents . Such tactics are particularly common in games like chess or Arimaa . The human player tries to exploit known weaknesses of a computer opponent by choosing moves that are generally suboptimal, but difficult to refute by the respective program.

In chess

There are several tactics in chess that were and are used against computers at the master level.

An example of the use of anti-computer tactics is Brains in Bahrain , an eight-game match between the grandmaster and then world champion Vladimir Kramnik and the Deep Fritz  7 program, which took place in October 2002. The match ended 4-4, with two games won on each side and four draws .

Unusual opening

In 1997, Garry Kasparov played an anti-computer move at the beginning of a game in order to force his opponent Deep Blue out of his opening book: Kasparov chose the very rare lousy opening because he speculated that the computer in his opening book would not be sufficient Find refutation and would only play badly on his own. Kasparov played similar anti-computer openings in other parts of the match, but the tactic didn't pay off.

Positional play

In positional play, the human player attaches great importance to a long-term strategy in order to develop a long-term advantage that the computer cannot foresee because it lies beyond its search horizon . Instead of driving the game forward dynamically and aggressively, the human player plays more cautiously and tries to carefully develop the position in his favor. This makes it difficult for the computer to play to its strengths, since if it reaches the limits of its search horizon , it no longer perceives the threats that its human opponent has made.

Double fianchetto

The double fianchetto can be used as an anti-computer tactic, as it keeps the position closed and thus makes it difficult for the computer to play to its strengths. It's a form of positional play.

Fifty move rule

In 2008, Hikaru Nakamura showed that the top chess program Rybka refuses to draw a game according to the 50- move rule when it has a strong material advantage. A human player can use this as an anti-computer tactic in a three-minute blitz game.

Anti-computer chess games

• Garry Kasparov vs. Deep Blue (computer). On: ChessGames.com. IBM Man-Machine, New York USA (1997).
• Garry Kasparov vs. X3D Fritz (computer). On: ChessGames.com. Man-Machine World Chess Championship (2003).
• Rybka (computer) vs. Hikaru Nakamura. On: ChessGames.com. ICC blitz 3 0 (2008).

Web links

• Anticomputer Chess.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fritz Defends to Draw Game 8 and the Match! Final Score: 4-4. On: ChessBase.com. Chess News.
2. ^ All the News That's Fit to Mock. 3) Anti-computer chess. ( Memento of August 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) On: ChessBase.com. Daily Chess Columns (English).
3. ↑ Chess Life : Special Summer Issue 1997.
4. ↑ How Much Longer Can Man Match the Computer? - The Fall of Man. ( Memento from February 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) On: ChessCafe.com. (PDF; 178 kB; English).
5. ^ Computer CC Challenge Match. ( Memento of February 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) On: CorrespondenceChess.com. Ralph Marconi's Chess Page (English).
6. ↑ Rybka (computer) vs. Hikaru Nakamura. On: ChessGames.com.