This is inspired by an attempt to get a rating from a chess program. That program defaults to a ten-minute time limit.
I feel that playing against a computer with a time limit is ludicrous, but that is beside that point.
The point is that I have been trying to play fast, against computers. Computers don’t resign, so, I need to get mate–even in situations where I have multiple Queens, and overwhelming positional superiority (situations where any human would likely resign).
But I’ve only ever really played timed chess as a way to give my poorly-skilled-self a hope-of-a-chance against a superior opponent.
I am not doing well. I have lost to several mates. I find myself in fantastic positions, up in material, positionally rockin’ (read: winning) but less than two minutes on the clock, and no idea how to proceed.
You don’t have to mate - your opponent (even if it’s the computer) loses if they run out of time.
Any decent program should allow you to play with a wide variety of time control settings, and to set the difficulty to something approximating your own level of play (i.e. you win/lose 50% of the time), if that’s what you’re interested in.
(EDIT to add good programs also can/will offer resignation, as well.)
You could play with an increment, or set it up so you have a longer time control. Aside from that, in terms of specifically playing against a computer, keep in mind that computers try and play the best move, even when this concedes more material. For example, if you have an overwhelming attack, and you just keep on building up, the computer can find the killer tactic (which you might not find), or the potential mate, and throw away material to prevent the killer. This is just to say, sometimes you can get the computer to do the work for you, and if you are having trouble finishing, this might be something to try.
If you want more specific advice on converting an advantage, more information about what level you are, the sort of advantage you have (are you up a rook in an endgame, or a couple of pawns in a middle game) or, say, posting a game where you failed to convert might help.
“A computer” covers a vast range of hardware/software options! - but sure, while I’m personally not much into either computer chess or fast timed/blitz chess, I’ve won games against software (set to an appropriate difficulty level) on time.
Wow. I have set the level down to Monkey (literally) and the moves, while not very good, still come way to fast for me to ever win by time. I can mate, but I’ve never won by time.
Do you think there is a time limit that would give me a good estimate of my rating? For example, there are some levels where I can mate in less than five minutes, but at higher levels I tend to lose to obvious mating attacks because I’m focused on trying to mate quickly.
You need to learn/practice mating patterns. If your material and position are both winning, you should have no problem finding a way to mate in 2-5 minutes.
I suspect you’re not as winning as you assess yourself to be. Can you show us one of these games?
Set it to Fischer time. Give yourself a 2-second addition/delay. Then you can’t time out. If you can’t do that, then you need to give each side an hour or more.
Yes, although it probably won’t be very soon (and will likely be embarrassing). You are correct about working on mating patterns, which I have been doing by analyzing games after the fact and asking the computer to find mate from various points in the game.
I have been trying to get some kind of insight into my level and I wanted to try to get a rating that makes some sense. The game I generally play actually has characters with ratings (Chessmaster). I can win games against characters with certain ratings, but only by ignoring the clock.
If you haven’t memorized a few openings, it’s time to start. They greatly simplify the opening strategy and potential outcomes of the mid-game so you don’t have to think about every possible move your opponent could make.
Then ignore the clock. Seriously. Clock management is important but it’s a secondary skill to basic chess strategy. First, you’re always at a disadvantage on the computer in a blitz setting because, unlike in real life, you can’t move as quickly. In real life I can use just a single second per move, by lashing out right as my opponent strikes the clock, moving and then slapping the timer back to his side. Can’t do that against the computer. There’s an inherent delay in just simply not knowing when the move is going to happen, manipulation of the mouse, etc. It’s just slower.
Besides which, ten minutes is just a weird time for chess anyway. Blitz is 5 minutes. Most games run anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours per side. I’ve never played a real life 10 minute game. So if you’re looking to determine your rating, stop playing at a speed where you’re continuously flagging because you’ll never figure it out.
An excellent suggestion, and I have done that. In fact, using the Fischer timer as Chessic Sense mentions, I can often build a bit of a buffer by playing 10 to 12 opening moves very very quickly. Then I try to build material advantages (positional advantages seem to involve more time) and trade down. I think of there as being a two-minute warning: by the time there is two minutes left on my clock I should be working on a mating idea.
Part of the problem here (aside from IQ and my own chessic senselessness) is that most if not all of my OTB games end with a resignation. The computer does not resign.
Likewise, I tend to favor positional maneuvers over other styles and that does not seem to work well with time constraints.
Meaning, set the time for something like 30 minutes, or meaning, consider my “rating” to be something around the rating of the best character I can beat without paying any attention to the clock?
You need to try to understand what’s going on, so you can deal with unexpected moves, new ideas and wild play by your opponent.
Once you understand openings, you can deal quickly with every possible move your opponent makes.
If you’re unclear on how to turn a massive material and positional advantage into mate, you’re at the wrong point in your learning curve to be memorising dozens of complex lines in the QG without understanding what’s going on in any of them.
Well, to be clear, the problem has been with timed games (between five and ten minutes). No doubt I have given up advantages and lost or drawn what should have been an easy win, but generally speaking, a massive advantage for me ends with a mate.
I think I understand what you’re saying about understanding what’s going on in an opening rather than just memorizing the moves, but isn’t there a benefit in a timed game to just playing the first moves very quickly and watching for out of book moves?