First games with PicoChess

[Kyle Washington]

I have tried a couple of different engines (Adaptive, Centaur Friendly 1/2), and they all seem the same to me.  I'm very new to this, so that's probably to be expected.  I do like the voice saying "That's a BLUNDER!"  That could get old, I'm sure, but it's nice to see the threat pointed out to me so quickly.  That's where I struggle, and that's why I wanted a DGT board in the first place. 

The program still confuses me sometimes though.  It will say something like "f6" for me to move the black pawn, and I'll move g6 or h6 instead.  I hear the "Ding dong" and try to move it back, but it doesn't always work.  What that means is that I need to practice learning positions better.  I get that.  

But sometimes while I am thinking, it will suggest a move for ME.  At least, I think that's what it is doing.  I tried to do this position by moving my rook from f1 to e1:

But the board didn't sense it.  It announced "Knight to C3".

It took me a second to realize that it was talking about MY piece!  So I moved it, took it back, went through "Set pieces" etc, and finally got moving again.  I guess it suggests a move to you if you wait too long?  I can't quite put my finger on when it does it and when it doesn't.

I printed the Usage docs to try and learn some of the introductory stuff, but I don't know if this is still current?  I was getting beaten pretty soundly, so I tried to resign by putting the kings on the central black squares.  That didn't work, so I let the time run out so the game would record.

Still, I'm able to get beat by a computer by using REAL PIECES.  I really appreciate everyone on here taking the time to share their stories.  

Kyle

[RandyR]

Yes, those docs are outdated, but still valuable explaining the interface. I would suggest reading Dirk’s threads on his v3 release:

Part 1

https://groups.google.com/g/picochess/c/jC-EEwEd15M/m/Coy7TV9ACAAJ

Part 2
https://groups.google.com/g/picochess/c/HM2Dtzt6gic/m/rwjOvv45AAAJ

Part 3

https://groups.google.com/g/picochess/c/czHRxH9HLw4/m/0geUdzC8AAAJ0geUdzC8AAAJ

Part 4

https://groups.google.com/g/picochess/c/SpNFpp2Scw4/m/Xe9Gva98AAAJ

Randy

[Stefan Lozinsky]

Hi kw4au - I am trying to figure out the same thing.  I believe it is PicoWatcher so just trying to understand what it is doing.

Cheers,

Stefan

[Scally]

Hi Kyle,

Dirk hasn’t taken any functionality away, he’s just added some, all of which can be switched off.

Selecting Win / Draw / Lose with the central squares using both Kings still works, you just have to make sure there are no other pieces on rows 4 and 5 at the time.

The PicoTutor is not on a timer, it’s is invoked if you pick up any of your pieces and replace it back on the same square when it’s your move, it will then give a hint as to what a good move might be, you can then play this move if you wish, or play another move. 

You have the Webserver working, I noticed it says Player and (1500), you can change these values if you wish in the picochess.ini file. In mine have Scally and 1650, my nickname and rough ELO grade.

Excerpt of  /opt/picochess/picochess.ini  file:

## If you want to have your own name in the pgn file uncomment the next line and change accordingly

pgn-user = Scally

## If you want your own ELO-ranking in the pgn file uncomment the next line and change accordingly

pgn-elo = 1650

## Picochess will check for a new version at startup.

Cheers,

Al.

[Kyle Washington]

This is great! I figured that the information was hidden in previous emails, so I appreciate the clarification on these.

This is the most helpful group! 

Kyle 

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[Stefan Lozinsky]

Kyle - I was experiencing the same confusion as you with the messages displayed from PicoWatcher.  I think I was screwing up the order of the takeback move and it was maybe confusing the computer?  

[Kyle Washington]

@Scally, I was able to edit the .ini file and put in a nickname and a much more accurate (lower) ELO rating.. that is great!  I also cleared rows 4 and 5 as you suggested to resign, and that worked as well. I will try to play a few games today to get more used to the interface in general.

@Stefan, you may be correct.  I had better luck today because I was trying to take it slower.  I do get in a hurry and I may be going faster than the Pi can handle.  I hope to get a bit better at my chess soon, so I won't have to do any takebacks! It is nice to do it though, and see what a better move looks like.  I'm learning on so many levels this week.

Kyle

[Stefan Lozinsky]

@Kyle - Yes I agree, I think I was taking back and moving pieces too quickly and was confusing myself and the computer at the same time about what was going on.  Will play again tonight and take it slower.  

[Stefan Lozinsky]

@Kyle - I played a game today with a speaker connected to the Pi and it made a huge difference (at least for me) to hear what the PicoTutor was thinking.  Highly recommended. 

[Paolo Dei Giudici]

Hello

I finally have picochess up and running on my Dgt USB board, I'm very happy, thanks Scully! 

I wonder, is there a convenient way to study chess, from a book or a video, with picochess? Can I follow the variations on the board, going back and forth (and have, at the end, a pgn file that I can possibly annotate)? Maybe with the option to use or not the engine to evaluate... 

Of course, this involve the possibility to set up a position whatever and start the analysis from there. 

Again, thanks to all for the fantastic work! 

Paolo

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[Brian Erdelyi]

@Paolo This is a topic I’m very interested in.  How do professional players use chess GUIs, databases and engines to study chess,

There are a few videos I’ve found that demonstrate how to ue databases.  Lately I’ve also being watching videos on chess openings and creating “repertoires” that can be used for practice.  I’ll have to google and find some of the favourite resources I found.  But let me think abit more about this and I’d love to have a deeper discussion on the topic.

Brian

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[Paolo Dei Giudici]

Thank you Brian! 

For 'real' play in tournaments, it's better to study on a 'real' chessboard than only over a screen. It's easier to keep in mind the variation.

I'm using Linux, so I can't use Chessbase to do it (scid is not compatible with Dgt).

I wonder if there is a way with picochess ;-) 

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[Paolo Dei Giudici]

Hello Brian! 

Did you go ahead in building a 'study mode' in picochess? Do you need a clever alpha tester? :-) 

Paolo

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