Challenging the Cats : Chess.com New Bots
Are you a chess enthusiast and want to improve your game?
There are many ways to improve your chess. Two of them are either by practice ( playing regularly ), or learning the fundamentals via other sources. You can play with your family members, your friends, or become a club player, play online, watch YouTube videos, buy online courses, etc. Or, if you are afraid of losing your rating online, you can play bots. Yes, the bots.
On chess.com, there are a wide variety of bots. Ranging from absolute beginner bots, like Martin, who is rated 250 ( if you haven't played him yet, you should ), to the advanced bots, like Francis, who is rated 2300, the bots of the former world champions, or the world's best players, like those of Viswanathan Anand, Vladmir Kramnik, Danya, Fabiano, Aronian, etc. The adaptive bots, like Jimmy, or the bots of the streamers, like GothamChess ( IM Levy Rozman ). Congratulations, if you too hate the Nelson bot, just like me!
Also, Chess.com keeps adding some new bots on special occasions, like the Halloween bots, on the occasion of Halloween, the Christmas bots, on the occasion of Christmas, etc. Did you play the Christmas bots? Yes, Mrs. Claus was tough, I admit that. On the occasion of new year 2023, Chess.com has added the new, cat bots.
Do you have a cat as a pet? If yes, do not forget to play these bots ( even if you don't have one, do try them ), which includes the Scaredy and Angry Cats, Mr. Grumpers, Catspurrov, and Mittens. Here, in this blog, you will be presented the two games that I played against each one of them, as both white and black. I didn't play much seriously against the bots ranging from 800-1200, but I hope you will enjoy the games. Let's get started!
1. THE SCAREDY CAT :
This is a 800 rated bot. Nah, this bot's name doesn't have any relation with the children's comedy television series, " Scaredy Cats ". This cat has a very timid behavior, and always says when you play her, " If I purr and act cute, will you let me win? ", while the description says, " Don't be too mean to this scared kitty. ". Sorry dude, but I am not that kind. Btw, its true that the bot has very enchanting eyes.....do you agree?
Alright, here is the first game that I played against this bot, as White :
I began with e4, in the hunt to finish the game early by using my queen and my bishop. Usually, my go opening is d4. She responded with the Alekhine's defense, and I just continued to attack the knight with pawns, without even thinking much. As mentioned earlier, bots ranging from 800-1200 weren't played with much seriousness. At last, the light squared bishop was lined up with the queen to deliver a mate, supported by the rook. Fun fact : I didn't move my knights until the 20th move. Chess, please forgive me for the way I played!
Here's the game that I played against this bot, as Black :
1.a4?, dude, what are you even doing, or shall I say, trying? I mean, re-inventing chess? Starting with an unexpected and completely idiotic first move, the bot hung its queen on move 12. After capturing the queen, it was all way too easy.
2. THE ANGRY CAT :
This cat is rated 1000. The description of this bot says, " Angry Cat just wanted to relax, but now you want to play a game? Okay, but he won’t like it. ". Sorry to disturb you, but it was necessary. After all, you got a chance to play me two times, so be happy.
Here's the first game that I played against this bot, as White :
I started with d4, he responded with the Horwitz defense. I continued with c4 ( trying to play some normal d4 set-ups ), but man.....what was 2...Qe7? If that is even a real opening, I'll accept that I have no knowledge about chess. It was a horrible ( not completely horrible ) play by black in the first 10 moves, blundering a knight on move 8. I didn't punish the bot the way I should have, because of just being too relaxed ( I guess ), 30. Rae1 had to be the best move. Anyways, a win after all.
Here's the game that I played against this bot as Black :
An easy 20 move win, I did make some starting blunders ( not blunders really, can be called mistakes ), but the bot hung its queen on 9th move of the game. 10....Qd8 was a mate in one, which I realized after playing the game, but I was like " Oh....there's a fork! Here we go, I win your rook! ". A win anyways.
3. Mr. GRUMPERS :
This cat is rated 1200. The description of this bot says, " Mr. Grumpers is tired of foolish humans not letting him play with chess pieces and scratch their chessboards. ". Sorry, but I am one of those foolish humans too, and can't allow you to do that. Have to say, Chess.com did a really good job by giving you the name " Mr. Grumpers ", cause the way you look at us is really grumpy.
Here's the game that I played against this cat, as White :
I went for a Danish gambit, it can be said that this game was so far the game with least mistakes, which included the bishop giveaway for winning the rook ( not really fascinating, keeping in mind that my opponent was rated 1200 ). The game ended with me delivering a ladder mate.
Alright, let's move onto my second game against this bot, which I played as Black :
My opponent went for the Ruy Lopez, an opening which I haven't studied much. I replied with the Berlin, and I would say that it was another decent game. I did realize that my opponent's kingside was a little bit weak, due to the h - hole, but Mr. Grumpers hung a knight on the 25th move.......I don't have much to say about this game.
4. CATSPURROV :
This bot is rated 1400. Its description says, " Catspurrov is just sitting in his office, reading the paper and enjoying a coffee. But he’s always willing to play a game of chess too. ". Right then, finally a serious chess player in this list. Playing both the games against this cat was fun. This cat looks really cool, isn't it ( I mean, sitting comfortably and reading a newspaper, with a cup of coffee beside him )? But, I like tea more than coffee!
Let's move onto the first game, where played as Black :
This game began with the Grunfeld defense, one of my favorite defenses against 1. d4. I did have a 2-3 pawns advantage in most of the game, but it got really intense towards the end. I was trying to play safe in the middlegame, but I don't know why I sacrificed my knight on the 35th move, maybe because I panicked, after noticing that Qh6 was a threat. I don't know, but it worked, higher rated players, do let me know if that was the best move, cuz I cannot see any move other than that( cuz I am dumb ). A good game.
Let's view the game which I played against this cat, as White :
The Vienna gambit. This was an easy game as compared to the previous one, the bot blundered its queen on move 14. To be honest, this was my first time playing the Vienna gambit. I was afraid that I don't stalemate at the end ( cause I am just too good at it ), but everything went like I wanted. A lesson to beginner's, when you are trying to checkmate your opponent in an endgame where he/she has a lone king, you kind of want every move to be a check!
5. MITTENS :
This bot is rated " 1 ". Yes, 1.
Are you one of those people who first though that " it's a glitch, or maybe, my internet sucks ", after reading this bot's rating as " 1 "? Because, I am one of those who thought this. Chess.com, are you trying to make fun of the beginner and intermediate ( which I am, kind of ) chess players? Or was this just because you found it fun to broke the rules of mathematics, and put " 1 ", as a greater number than 1400?
This is a very suspicious bot. Don't go on her sad, merciful looking face, cause she will hunt you down. Trying to do a little research about this bot after playing the two games against it, I found some chess.com users claimed that when they put this cat against the 3200 ( maximum ) rated engine, she beat it. I didn't expect it to be this strong before playing, I expected it to be a 1600-2000 rated bot ( keeping in mind that the previous bot in the list was rated 1400 ).
The description of this cat says, " Mittens likes chess…but how good is she? ". C'mon friend, remove this innocent face of yours!
Alright, let's view the first game that I played against Mittens, as White :
I began with e4, my opponent responded with the Caro-Kann. I occupied the center, tried to protect it, but, I just completely messed up towards the end. A game which went till 46 moves.....a good try, right?
Let's have a look at the second game which I played against this bot, as Black :
I went for the Dragon Sicilian, a variation of the Sicilian which I learnt just a few weeks ago, and intended to strike in the center. The bot sacrificed its queen for both of my rooks, and at the end, it was queen vs two bishops, a rook, and a bunch of pawns, which 9 out of 10 times, cannot be won by a lone queen. I resigned on the 36th move.
Hence, I lost both of the games against this cat. What do you estimate its real rating to be? Do let me know!
CONCLUSION :
At the end, credit to Chess.com for presenting these bots on the occasion of new year, it was lots of fun playing them! I will recommend you to try these bots as well, and if you have already played them ( cause you just cannot resist yourself away from cats ), then have a Happy New year! This will be an end to this blog, I hope enjoyed reading it, and enjoyed the games! That's all for now, see you at the time of my next blog post!
Cheers,
@AstroTheoretical_Physics
