Friday, November 25, 2011

Genesis

OK ... getting started!? Thanks, Nancy!

I'm engaged in several writing projects ... more like "training exercises" actually. One is an 'openings chooser' game roughly based on Paul Chaplin's "Opening Cookies" concept. It is turning out more like an opening manual but, in any case, it has many more moons to go before it can be rolled out for testing! Another is devising a simple method for computer chess engine assisted grading of 'defined performances' - trainees play x-moves at y-speed from a set position - quickly enough to provide the trainer with 'resonably objective' results that can be fairly compared for, say, camp or workshop competitions. I feel this will be very useful, especially since the testing positions could take any description from opening variations to attack~defense scenarios to NQEs. What has to be worked out is ... how to translate a chess engine's output to weight a player's 'degree of failure' per his'r playing strength, possibly even with the opponent's in mind. This has proven to be a tough nut and it's the reason I've put the project on the back burner.