This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2768: Weirwindle's NES Battle Chess "Fastest Mate" in 04:19.54

I can't get this to sync, in FCEUX 2.1.4a Maybe I do something wrong?

I can't get this to sync, in FCEUX 2.1.4a Maybe I do something wrong?

Use New PPU. Anyways, This was well TASed but VERY boring. No vote.

Thanks, Sonikkustar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEo-Wz4Mn1w I liked this, yes vote.

Sounds like you put a lot of effort into making it technically competent, but the glacial pace makes it very boring. It doesn't help that there's no background music. Voting meh. If you're going to TAS a chess game,I think you should choose one that isn't so cosmetically lacking.

This is impressive scripting. It was nice to see a mate which wasn't one of the beginner traps, like the Scholar's Mate. However, everything about the game is slow, even for a chess game. I was amused by how the blue pawn captures the red knight, but that was really about it. I haven't decided on a vote yet, but it's going to be either No or Meh. EDIT: I voted No because of adelikat's improvement. This movie has a nice idea, trying to get the computer to throw out its opening plans, but adelikat showed you can fool the computer anyway even with a semi-standard opening.

Nice job on the optimization and all, but I'm going with no. It's ridiculously slow-paced and has nothing that would make it more entertaining.

1 e4 e5 2 Qh5 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nh6 4 d4 exd4 5 Bxh6 gxh6 6 Qxf7# Half the moves of this TAS. However, I wouldn't be voting yes for a movie of that either. Like people have said, this is a snails pace. More boring than the usual chess TAS. Also this game can get pretty glitched out with the take back feature, that might be more useful for making an interesting TAS. The problem with these primitive AI's on easy difficulty is that they always fall for a quick kill like that; usually an aggressive queen opening.

As much as it pains me I will have to vote No for poor game choice. Someone said "glacial" and that's really accurate.

How about just disabling the animations, and switching to 2D mode?

The run looked well done, but good lord, what's up with those animations. They take forever. I'll have to go with meh, sorry bro.

I have to agree that the run is technically commendable, but that the game choice is poor. In theory it would sound like battle chess would make for a more entertaining run because of all the animations and battles, but in practice the animation (especially moving the pieces) is so slow that it's painful to watch. Unless there's a way to significantly speed up the animations (I suppose there isn't an in-game setting for this) the end result is quite boring. At least to me it would be even more interesting to see a TAS of a plain regular chess game where the computer is allowed to think eg. something like 10 seconds per move. It would also be more admirable in that the computer is actually given a fair chance to defend itself, rather than the TASer relying on not letting the computer think at all...

Completely boring. Would vote no again.

Ill agree with the majority, this was boring like hell, i want my 5mins back! PS. try the msdos version... it should not be that slow and it should allow to change the settings warp was asking about.

As much as the actual chess playing and TASing may have been impressive, I'm going to vote no due to bad game choice. Every piece takes forever to move, which makes the knights (pieces stepping aside) incredibly painful to watch. Wonderful TASing, but bad game.

I am a big fan of chess, and I am very saddened to come to the same conclusion as everyone else. My sincere apologies. I voted meh, but it won't make a difference in the end.

I would never want anyone to not submit a run, so I'm glad you did, but this game just doesn't work. Good job on the technical side of things. No vote for the game, not for you.

I definitely agree with the crowd on this one - the technical quality is fine, but watching someone else play this game is like watching a very slow leak form drops of water, i.e. there's a ton of time between the moments when SOMEthing actually happens. Sorry, but I vote no.

That game reminds me of all the chess games I'd play on my computer when I was a wee kid - except they're faster. Right now, I'm going to have to say no due to bad game choice. The video might be a bit more tolerable if you sped it up maybe by 2x or even 3x the normal speed. Of course you'd have to add an annotation stating that. Just an idea.

What do people here think about my suggestion? To recapitulate: Take a "normal" chess program (rather than combat chess), perhaps for a faster console (eg. the snes or even the N64 or the PS1), set the computer difficulty to something which is bearable but still gives the computer a somewhat fair chance of defending itself (eg. something like 10-15 seconds per move), and then beat the computer in as few moves as possible. (If the chess game supports showing what the computer is "thinking", eg. as a list of moves, definitely turn that feature on. It makes the waiting a bit more interesting.) Of course the limit of how much the computer is allowed the think will necessarily be rather arbitrary. Perhaps if the game has some pre-defined setting (which ends up with the computer thinking about that 10-15 seconds per move), it would be an obvious choice.

Warp: I see where you're coming from. However, I don't think that this would produce any more entertaining chess runs. Honestly, in real life, chess is fairly boring to watch other people play unless you're actually mentally playing along with them, i.e. thinking about what you would do if you were in the game. In other words, the skill of the players involved is what's interesting. On the other hand, a TAS is not about the player's skill, per se; instead it's more about manipulation and optimization, neither of which is the focus of a normal chess game. Not only that, but a chess speedrun wouldn't really have replay value, because once you know the move sequence, there's no real entertainment from watching the moves. In contrast, I can watch the Super Mario Bros 3 TAS multiple times because even though I know the 1-up bouncing is coming up, it's still entertaining to watch it in progress. I don't have to be surprised with SMB to be entertained, but I do have to be surprised in chess to be entertained. That being said, I'm not ruling out completely the possibility of having an entertaining chess TAS. However, it would be very hard to do, and I don't think going for pure speed would produce something watchable.

Not only that, but a chess speedrun wouldn't really have replay value,

Even more to the point, it doesn't have any _play_ value. What is featured in a TAS that can't be featured in a move list? On the internet there's even programs where you can click through a move list and see the board configuration. Those are much better suited to show anything any kind of real game.

Even more to the point, it doesn't have any _play_ value. What is featured in a TAS that can't be featured in a move list?

You are assuming that the computer always plays in a deterministic way, with the same answers to all your moves. While that might be the case with very primitive chess programs (probably many of the antiquated chess programs made for the consoles of the 80's), most of the competent chess programs do not answer all your moves deterministically. (In fact, computer chess programmers deliberately take measures to avoid the program always answering your moves in the same way for a rather obvious reason: It would make playing against the computer rather boring once you have beaten it once, as you could always beat it again with the same moves, which wouldn't make much sense and would greatly diminish the value of the program as a learning tool.)

om, nom, nom... minty!