Who says you can't beat a computer at chess?

Remember this old electronic chess board? I used to beat it occasionally on some of the mid to upper levels back when I played more often. I also played Chessmaster 2000 back in the 80's and early 90's. The animated chess sets were cool, but I usually lost. Even then, I was far from a pro. I'd never be a match for top notch chess players. However, I could give average or slightly above average players a run for their money!

Having not played chess in a very long time, I recently purchased Chessmaster 10th Edition for $10 at Officemax. I won my first game against a player with a standard rating of roughly 600. So, I decided to choose a computer player that would be more of a challenge. Eddie (standard rating: 949) was that player. After losing to Eddie 23 consecutive times, I was determined to beat him!! I had come extremely close twice and dominated over 50% of the time. However, I'd either make a "doh!" move toward the end of the game or he'd happen to be a step ahead of me and I didn't catch it. I'm not very quick. Some people can easily see 5 or 6 moves ahead. That's not me. After the first 3 or 4 opening moves, it can take me 5+ minutes per move. I think I've taken close to 20 minutes on a couple of occasions! Thus, a human opponent would need a lot of patience. Of course, we'd also have small talk, drink some beverages, etc. Can't do that with a computer player . . . yet. Small talk might come eventually. I'm not sure about the drinking part.

So, anyway, I played my 24th game against Eddie tonight . . . and I whipped his arse!! Check this out:


As you can tell from the Game Status window on the right, I played white. It took me ~46.5 minutes, but I nabbed him good! I couldn't believe that he gave up his queen so early in the game! I thought for sure it was a setup, but I swiped it with a pawn!! And there was no major fallout! I was shocked! Later, Eddie made a few other costly mistakes and it ultimately cost "him" (the computer) the game.