Chess Engine

Hello,

I was looking at one of the videos on line and the person that was doing the tutorial mentioned Chess Engines. 

He mention that some Search Engines will tell you if you have made a wrong move and tell you the move you should have taking

Does anybody know of such a free search engine and how does it tell you that you have made not a good move and then tell you the correct move that you should have taken.

Hope somebody will be able to help me on this has I am new to chess and I believe a search engine like this could improve my game.

I would also like to ask members do they find that people giving these video tutorials  go at a very quick speed for a person new to chess. I feel the chess pieces are just going at a great speed and find it hard to take in the moves

google arena GUI, chesslogik, stockfish and houdini.

Just to note, engines should only be used in completed games and not ongoing games.

That said, do a google search for "Chess Engine" and/or check out the download pages here. You will need a program to use with the engines (called a GUI). There are number of free ones (e.g. SCID, Arena) along with a number of free engines (Crafty, Houdini, Rybka 2.2n, and many more). There are also pay versions of GUIs and engines but the free ones can do what you want.

I just googled "Best free chess engines", and the link below showed up with many downloadable chess programs for free:

http://freechess.50webs.com/index.html

Thanks for this link. I have come across it myself just over two hours ago like yourself on a search on google but could not see that any of them will tell you if you move is a good move or not. The person in the video tutorials on this site said that some of these chess engines will tell you if your move is a good move or not and will suggest why it is not a good move. This is the type of chess engine I am looking for??

There are two different sorts of programs, a chess engine  and a GUI interface. The engine does the hard work of calculating what moves are good in a particular position. The interface does the work of presenting this to you in a (hopefully) meaningful way. You will need one of each.

Having two separate programs that work together can be confusing for a newcomer and in some cases you can find them bundled together. For the experienced user, it is much more convenient -- when you want to switch out your chess engine, it's really easy and nice to be able to use the same interface program.

Most engines will just give you a numerical representation of the move, based on the outlook of white. A negative score (e.g. -1.3) means that black is winning (or has the advantage) by approximately 1.3 pawns.  A postive score means white is ahead.

Some engines give their numerical evaluations differently but the most common I have run accross is the above. When the engine gives that evaulation it will give the best continuation from that point. That is the "why". I don't know for sure if any engines will give a english reasoning, though I think I have read that Fritz has that capability (don't know for sure). I don't know how useful that ends up really being, since I have never used it.

Yes I know that search engines will be used after you have played a game and you can then go through the moves you have played and as I said look ing for a chess engine that can tell you if you played a good move or not and then suggest a move that would be better to make. It is a learning tool which I think that would improve my game.  I am not aware how these search engines work myself and what you would need to do what I have explained. Has you mentioned the download location on this site there are  search engine there but  would do what I am speaking about. I am very new to chess so most of the comments regarding chess engines are at present above me.

That sounds what I am looking for where you have the same interface as you also said it will tell you your good and bad moves. Do you know a link to this chess engine. Also you explained it in a way I understood--Thanks for that Loomis How does it tell you that you have made a good or bad move

Well, the engine will give an evaluation of the previous move. For example, if you are White and Black's move gave an evaluation of 1.3 then that means you are ahead. Now, you click through to your next move and the evaulation says 1.0 or -1.0 (basically a blunder) or even 1.2. You are still ahead.

If you leave the game on the previous move (Black's move) the engine should show what it thought the best move would have been for White. You can also set it up to show multiple lines and it will show the best sets of moves from that position. If your move was not in that list then those would be considered the better moves.

It will take a lot of studying to find out why those are the better moves. There are places where even a less valuable move may be better based on your style of play, or for positional reasons.

I mostly use the engines to point out where my major blunders and inaccuracies are, not to try and improve every move to get closer to an engine move. Of course, I'm not very good either

Yes but this does not help people new to chess and I think the videos are there to help people and my view on it is they should think of a person starting off not a person that is up to there standard. That is not helping anybody

 So what I think I am getting from your comments is there or no search engines that will speak to you to tell you what it thinks is a good move or bad move.

 Not sure I know what these 1.3 mean but as you say yourself it make take a long time to understand these evaluation  numbers.

It would be great if there was a easier way for a person starting off--Thanks

GUI bundled with several engines:

http://www.playwitharena.com/?Download:Arena_3.0

I disagree. I think the videos should be for people who are serious about chess, not for those just starting off. I think you need to put some effort into studying the game first. Beginner videos are for beginners, and are dull for those of us who have  put a little effort into understanding the game already

You should be aware that a chess engine does tell you whether or not a move is good, given the position. If you're playing white, and the move previously, the engine evaluated your position as even(0.0), then you make a move and it evaluates your position as +1.2, then it is saying "good move"

Actually, can that happen?

If it evaluates the position better after your move, it must mean you played a good move it didn't consider. It doesn't catch good moves, it catches bad ones. If you see what I mean.

Why can they have videos for a beginners and more advanced players. I do not take your view that beginners are not serious about chess. You yourself were a beginner once and did you say to yourself that you were not serious about chess. 

I think most people will learn by looking at something been done then reading a book about it and then learning from what they see in the real life then a book. Do not get me wrong books are also of great help but seen thinks been done I think is the better way to learn

You sound to me a person that looks down on people that are starting the game Maybe you are one of the video teachers that cannot come down to a beginner level

No, I don't. A computer translation of "good move" would be the same as a computer translation for "bad move". It is just evaluating the position. So it does "catch" good moves, as well as bad moves. "Good", "bad", "better", "worse", whatever words we wish to use to describe a computer's evaluation of the position.

No, I don't "look down" on beginners. I mean, good luck! But, what I am saying is, if you want to keep the chess community interested in your video, don't make it for beginners. Beginners, should put some effort into the game, instead of complaining that they don't understand what's going on.

What I said was why not make chess videos suitable for beginners and more advance players. Who said beginners do not put an effort in to there game. I think this is an insult to beginners of the game. You must learn before you can walk. When a person starts to learn anything they must ask questions so they can learn. I think you forgot  the time you started playing chess. I sure you got advice from people about the game. So please stop insulting beginners when we ask question. We ask questions because we want to learn. By asking questions it shows we want to learn and we that ask questions and look for information from people (not like yourself) will one day be pass you standard.

Hi Pepsifreyja,

I'm a beginner too, and I know what you're going through.  I hope this helps.  I bought the DVD "Fritz Grandmaster 11", for the modest price of Ten U.S. dollars.  I don't know whether it is available in Ireland?  If it is, I would recommend it, because it has the kind of engine you are asking about.  After you install the program on your computer, all you have to do is click on "Play Fritz", and you start a game.  If you make a terribly bad move, the cigar-smoking coach appears in a window and tells you so, in as many words.  You can then ignore his advice or take back your bad move, depending on how you feel about it.  One word of caution - I would turn off the sound on your computer while you play, because your opponent talks to you (often quite derisively) all through the game, and I find it horribly distracting.  A second word of caution - Fritz does not come with an instruction manual, but you can get good information on how to use it by googling Steve Lopez Fritz Instruction Manual.  If you cannot obtain Fritz, try looking for Chessmaster at about the same price, as it has similar features, and comes with its own manual on the disk.