Analysis mode in new Pico V4 - Opinions-thoughts-ideas?

[Johan Sjöblom]

Hi all.

There are a few modes where the engine is not playing in Picochess. For instance there are these three modes where you make moves for both sides:

- Qc5 - Move Hint

- Qd5 - Eval Score

- Qf5 - Analysis

The Analysis mode differs from the two previous that you are allowed to set a new position, switch sides, and there is no saving of a PGN file.

My proposal is that I would make a small change in Pico V4 that in Analysis mode Picotutor would automatically be switched off without changing the watcher or coach on settings. If you switch to another mode the tutor will be running again if you had the watcher or coach on in your setting. The proposal is just to keep it turned off in the Analysis  mode.

One reason is that in Analysis mode the board can change so quickly that the tutor cannot follow as its algorithm is based on comparing the latest position with the current position so it needs at least 2 moves to work properly.

The main reason is that we would like to get all CPU power to the chosen engine to make the analysis and get as much depth as possible.

It would be easy to switch between different modes without changing the tutor settings. If you go back to normal mode tutor would be on if you had defined tutor to be on.

And, if you want a lighter analysis by the tutor with documentation of the tutor analysis in the resulting PGN file you can use Move Hint or Eval Score modes and step through a game. Going back to those modes would start the tutor again if you have defined them to be on.

Opinions, thoughs, ideas...? What do you think?