Play online chess with the computer Shredder (Schroeder). Features of thinking of an experienced chess player according to M.M.

On this page you can play chess with one of the most complex computers in the world - Shredder.

Free online chess with a computer: why is it so popular?

In any art it is impossible to rise without a strong opponent. Chess is no exception. Previously, they looked for opponents in chess clubs, according to recommendations, even according to announcements on poles. And the arrival of a grandmaster for a simultaneous game session was a rare event that all the chess players of the region or even the city were waiting for. Now everything has been simplified thanks to the ability to play chess online with a computer.

A computer program can be no less powerful and tricky opponent than an experienced chess player. That is why competitions of the strongest grandmasters of the world against the computer are held regularly. Online chess has long been a popular intellectual entertainment.

How a chess computer works

The computer one is built on a tree-like principle: after the player's move, it first evaluates all the positions that will arise after it, then analyzes the possible positions as a result of the next move, and so on. The analysis lasts until the program determines the final outcome of the fight - checkmate or stalemate. Further, the program cuts off “weak branches” from the entire tree - positions, the successful evaluation of which is minimal and selects the strongest position, on the basis of which it makes its move. The ability to see a dozen steps ahead is a quality that every strong chess player possesses, so we can say that online chess is no different from a person in this respect.

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On our portal you can play chess online without registration with a Schroeder computer - one of the most popular chess programs used to teach the game. There are three difficulty levels to choose from, ranging from easy to hard. Thus, our online chess will be useful for both beginners who are just learning the fascinating world of chess, and experienced players who want to “pump” their skills to the speed of the game.

To play chess with a computer, it is not even necessary to register on the site. The game mechanism is simplified to a minimum: just press the “New Game” button with the choice of the side and start the game! Our community was created specifically for beginner chess players to develop their skills by playing chess online without registration for free. We have a VKontakte group where participants look for partners for the party and exchange experiences. In addition to playing with a computer online on our website, you can find

Alexander Kotov (“Chess in the USSR”, No. 5,6 1980)

Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov (1913-1981)

- To tell about the philosophy of chess of our days, to determine, for example, how we look now at the question of the advantage of the first move by White, to outline the main milestones of research work - this is what one of us should do, - my coach and friend told me more than once - the late grandmaster Vladimir Simagin.

And I decided to try at least to some extent to analyze these problems. I will not hide, I was overcome by shyness: will I be able, will I cope with such a difficult topic?

How do modern masters and grandmasters play the initial part of the game? What are the principles underlying the debut? What rules are followed? If we answer these questions correctly, we will take a serious step in understanding chess.

First of all, about the advantage of speaking. Those chess experts who claim that White has no advantage in the initial position are sinning. Even in fleeting sports games, the side that starts the battle most often has a slight but noticeable advantage.

Typical examples are serving in tennis, winning a face-off in hockey. It is more pleasant to play chess with white. The only question is what kind of counter-strategic plan Black should choose in order to eliminate the advantage of the movement and fight for the initiative.
It is also easy to understand that the methods of playing white and black at the beginning of the game are different. Therefore, we will talk separately about the aspirations of chess players playing with white and black.

White. Three main directions can be distinguished when playing the opening.

1. The method of calmly retaining the advantage of the performance.
2. surprise attack method.
3. Compressed spring method.

1. Retention of the advantage of the performance (white)

In cases where it is not necessary to strive for victory, White avoids furious assaults, limiting himself to clear and understandable play. The same method is also resorted to when the opponent is a clear supporter of the confusing game and it is simply beneficial to "cool" him.

Signs of a calm game are clear: exchanges in the center, slow maneuvers. The goal of the game is simple - to keep those, however insignificant, benefits that are given to White by the very nature of chess. “I don’t pretend to be more,” the player seems to say, “but I won’t give up what I have.”

Examples of such a game are many constructions of the Carlsbad version of the Queen's Gambit, the Slav Defense, etc. Calmness in the center, comparative peace on the flanks, strength of pawn chains, a limited number of open files and diagonals, the absence of a direct clash of forces.

This method of playing was especially popular in the last century.

2. Surprise attack method (white)

A sharp contrast to the calm playing of the opening is the method of surprise raids. This method of playing was widely used in the old days, and it lives on today.
For example, the assault on g2-g4-g5 in the variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g4!?

Haven't we seen similar assaults in M. Botvinnik's games played with other opening systems as well? Bishop sacrifices (Bxb5) in the Sicilian Defence, knight sacrifices in the same Sicilian - Nd5 or Nf5 are similar attempts to break through the defensive foundations of the enemy already on the first moves.

3. Compressed spring method (white)

Sometimes masters and grandmasters decide to avoid the studied continuations and choose a way of playing that resembles the compression of a strong spring. In the center, only one pawn move is made, the bishops are fianchetted. The opponent is given the opportunity to occupy the center, but there is no room for serenity - Black must be careful. Any weakening of the position, an ill-conceived pawn attack and ... the spring straightens. White's pieces inflict one blow after another on the opponent.

Look closely at the games of recent years. You will see how slow White's actions are sometimes in King's Indian schemes. But this slowness is deceptive - as soon as the opponent makes an unsuccessful move, white pieces quickly fall on the kingside. Often such an attack leads to a decisive success already in the opening or in the early stages of the middle game.

Black. The presence of a performance by the opponent forces one to use other methods of playing openings. Modern practice knows several fundamentally different ways of playing with Black in the opening:

1. Equation game.
2. Carrying out an independent plan.
3. Compressed spring method.

1. Equal game (black)

If White plays to calmly keep the advantage of the move, then Black can just as calmly, with positional maneuvers, fight for the equalization of chances. This old way is still used today. After all, the one who plays Black does not always need to strive for victory, often a draw suits him perfectly. That's when Capablanca's unloading system in the Queen's Gambit or Lasker's Defense in the same opening comes into play. The Queen's Indian Defense often serves the same purpose.

Similar debuts are also used in cases of "psychological" necessity. If your opponent is a supporter of combinatorial complications, easily makes dubious assaults and sacrifices, then it is best to give him the opportunity to attack a solid formation, against which his attacking impulse can break.

It is these grounds that make the calm playing of the opening a reliable method, it was justified in the old days, and it is also popular in modern tournaments.

2. Carrying out an independent plan (black)

Applied at the end of the last century by M. Chigorin, then developed by hypermodernists, this method is perhaps the most common today. Black seems to pay no attention to the advantage of the opponent's performance.

Their task is to carry out their plan of active actions, to force the enemy to take measures to repel emerging threats. The popularity of this method of play is also explained by psychological considerations: the one who plays with black, as it were, "gets out of submission", acts independently, he can pay less attention to the opponent's maneuvers - this is what modern chess players value.

There are two types of independent plan: in the first case, Black's efforts are associated with an attack on the pawn center, in the second, with a counteroffensive on the flanks. The first method is typical for such openings as the Grunfeld Defence, the Alekhine Defence, the Nimzowitsch Defence, and a number of others. Independent plans for playing on the flanks are most clearly manifested in the Sicilian Defence, in all possible ramifications of the Indian Defences, especially in the Volga Gambit.

3. Compressed spring method (black)

Such a way of playing often brings success to White, but Black also willingly uses this somewhat mysterious way of accumulating the potential energy of the pieces. However, one should never forget the dangers associated with this way of development. After all, going into the "passive" in the hope of inflicting a counterattack, playing with Black can easily find itself in a cramped position from which there will be no way out.

I want to note that this method is most often chosen by chess players of the older generation. They are experienced and cautious, so they do not cross the fatal line that separates voluntary and forced passivity. In addition, the use of such a method of playing is sometimes caused by ignorance of the "last word of theory", the desire to get away from the studied paths. From beginnings of this type, we will indicate various options for the defense of Ufimtsev, the King's Indian defense.

So, we have identified fundamentally different ways of playing in the opening, which are characteristic of modern chess. Now let's talk about the same problems, but from a slightly different point of view.

How openings are studied

We are doing a lot of research work on the study of openings - the ideas inherent in this or that development system are revealed, every year more and more subtleties inherent in this or that opening are revealed, new moves are discovered in known variations. Not only grandmasters and masters are involved in this work, but also ordinary chess lovers with the help of chess printing.

1. Search for new moves in theoretical variations

Such work has been and will continue to be done. The process of finding a move better than that indicated in reference books is an everyday phenomenon. Chess players of all ranks refine known variations both in the process of preparing for a tournament game, and during the game, and, finally, in analyzes.

In this case, it often happens that the seemingly strongest move found is soon refuted, and the new move is already considered flawless in this position. This process is endless, it is a characteristic phenomenon for the general progressive development of theory.

2. Deepening forced options

The theory knows many long options in which events proceed in a forced manner: numerous tests have shown that deviations from the "main path" are unprofitable for either side. Experienced chess players usually move these forced variations at machine-gun speed. Here everything seems to be completely clear.

Quite a few such forced routes have accumulated in modern theory. Some variants of the Chigorin system of the Spanish game, an open system with the move 5. ... Nxe4

The “Sicilian” variation with the capture of the b2-pawn is no less studied, theorists have worked hard in analyzing Panov’s attack in defense, etc. The research thought has gone much deeper into the wilds of variants of closed openings, such as the Slav Defense, the Tarrasch Defense, the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and others. .

With each tournament, these options become more and more complicated. This method of study is not new - it was adopted by the luminaries of the last century. Only the analyzes published in chess magazines dealt with other beginnings at that time - fashionable in those days, the King's Gambit, the Evans Gambit.

3. Studying "tabias"

Just as in modern theory there are forced variations that sometimes go into the depths of the middlegame, there are also many positions known, the road to which, although not going through forced variations, is nevertheless considered unchanged. An example of such tabiyah is the position from the Nimzowitsch Defense after 1.d4 Nf6 2.с4 e6 3.Nс3 Bb4 4.еЗ d5 5.Nf3 с5 6.Bd3 Ne6 7.O-O O-O.

Another tabiya occurs in the King's Indian Defense: 1.d4 Nf6 2.с4 g6 3.Nс3 Bg7 4.е4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5.

There are a lot of modern tabiyas, but it is naive to think that everything in them is unshakable. Checking continues and sometimes in a tournament game. Opponents, making the first moves with lightning speed, then suddenly think for a long time. This happens when they encounter the unexpected in tabiya too.

4. Plans related to the endgame or middlegame

If the first three ways of studying the opening were used in the last century, then this way is an invention of our time. Modern chess players have a penetrating gaze into the middlegame and even into the endgame. By planning the opening arrangement of pieces and pawns, they predetermine the direction of their actions in the next stages of the game.

On the way to the endgame

Of course, counting on an endgame already in the opening is a rare phenomenon; as you know, even grandmaster S. Tartakower said “…that between the opening and the endgame the gods created the middlegame”.

Undoubtedly, the planning of endgame operations already in the opening is basically a method of the future, when the technique of the game rises to even greater heights. But even now it is possible to show several examples from tournament practice, in which, already in the first moves, a struggle is being waged, counting on the endgame.

In the party Karpov — Brown(San Antonio, 1972) White after 1.c4 c5 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 g6? unexpectedly played 4.Bf6 exf. How to explain this disadvantageous exchange of a strong bishop for a knight in most cases? The calculation is simple: White gets full possession of the d5-square and the opportunity to use pawn superiority on the queenside in the endgame.

With subtle play, Karpov managed to use these positional advantages. The game was: 5.Nс3 Bg7 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 f5 8.еЗ O-O 9.Ngxe2 a6 10.Rac1 b5 11.d3 Bb7 12.O-O d6 13.Qd2 Qa5 14.Rfd1 Rab8 15.Nd5 Qxd2 16. Rxd2, and White won the endgame.

Indicative party Petrosyan — Botvinnik(world championship match, 1963): 1.с4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.NсЗ d5 4.Nf3 Cg7 5.e3 O-O 6.Be2 dc 7.Bxc4 c5 8.d5е6 9.de Qxd1 10.Kxd1 Bxe6 11. Bxe6 fe.
Petrosian later said that when he prepared the variation before the game, he considered the resulting position "almost won."

Of course, one cannot give a 100% guarantee, but the chances of winning are huge. And Petrosian accurately exploited the fact that Black's pawn chain was broken into three "islands".

If attempts to use pawn superiority on the flank were encountered a long time ago (in particular, Em. Lasker exchanged on c6 more than once in the Spanish game in order to realize an extra pawn on the queenside), then playing for “islands” is a clear product of the increased technique of our time.

The road to the middlegame

Planning mid-game operations in the opening has become an effective weapon for many modern chess players. Many times, for example, Botvinnik used in the game with white and black a pawn formation in the center, reminiscent of a military formation in the battles of past centuries. In his game with Lisitsyn (White) - Leningrad, 1932 - the following position arose:

Botvinnik converted his advantage with clear-cut actions, tested even during home preparations.

This strategy was repeated in the meeting Botvinnik - Lilienthal(Moscow, 1936).

Rotate the board and the position of the pawns will almost match. Botvinnik achieved a graceful victory here as well.

Since then, this key position, which most often occurs in the English opening, has been scrupulously studied by Soviet masters and grandmasters, who have found (using the advice of M. Botvinnik himself) the best way to deal with the "pawn rock" in the center.

The consignment Kotov - Furman(XVI USSR Championship, 1948) developed as follows:
1.c4 Ta6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 d5 4.cxd Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb4 6.Nf3 N8c6 7.O-O e5 8.d3 Be7 9.Nd2 Nd4 10.Nc4 f6 11.f4! exf 12.gxf O-O 13.а3 Nbсб 14.еЗ Ndf5 15.Bd5, and White captured the center.

A. Karpov gave a lot of examples of fine coordination between the opening and the middle of the game. Thus, in the Spanish game, he repeatedly demonstrated the strategic plan to strangle Black on both flanks and in the center.

Endgame

The final part of the games is the most stable stage. The methods of playing in the endgame (the main one being the realization of the advantage gained) change little. And now the endgame is played mainly according to the same plans as in the last century. Moreover, in the future the game in the endgame will apparently be similar to the modern one.

But what does change over the years? First of all, the technical equipment of chess players, their knowledge of ways to achieve victory in a number of studied endgames and realize an advantage in a number of typical endings.

A. "Computer" endgames

These include those types of endgames in which the method of winning or achieving a draw is analyzed "to the end" and can, if desired, even be incorporated into computers as a program. By the way, when determining the final result in some positions, computers have already been used.
Here are the endgames:

1. Two knights against a pawn;
2. Bishop and rook pawn against a pawn;
3. Pawn endings, decided by the definition of "correspondence squares";
4. Queen and pawn against queen;
5. Rook and pawn against rook;
6. Bishop and pawn against bishop;
7. Knight and pawn against knight;
8. Rook and bishop versus rook.

Of course, the number of "computer" endgames will gradually increase.

B. Endgame and middlegame problem solving

Looking for a way to win at one moment or another of the middlegame, weighing all the chances, an experienced chess player sometimes determines that the shortest way to victory is exchanges and going to the endgame. A similar way of solving problems can often be seen now in tournament practice.
Let us dwell on a curious example of such striving for an endgame, demonstrated in the game Karpov - Lutikov(VII Spartakiad of the peoples of the USSR).

1.e4 d5 2.ed Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Be3 Ne6 7.Qd2 Bg4 8.Ng5 e5 9.d5 Nb4 10.f3 Bf5 11.Nge4 Qd7 12.O-O-O

Black lagged behind in development, but, most importantly, positioned his forces unsuccessfully. Now a simple 13.а3 threatens, so Black is forced to agree to the opening of files in the center, which, as a rule, is beneficial to the side that has an advantage in development.

12. … c6 13.dc Qxd2 14.Rxd2 Bxe4 15.Nxe4 Nxc6

Even worse is 15...Nxe4 16. fe Nxsb 17. Bc41 There is another way of refuting the capture on e4 - White "in between" plays cb, after which Black's entire "building" falls apart in a few moves

16. N:f6 gf 17.Bd3!

Brilliant solution. The white squares in the enemy camp are weakened, and it is on them that the bishop is established. Black's immovable pawn mass in the center is helpless, it not only cannot move, but constantly requires protection. Karpov outlines a clear plan for the implementation of a positional advantage - a transition to an endgame in which Black's weaknesses will be revealed even more

17. … O-O-O 18.Rhd1 Nc7 19.c3 h5 20.Bf5!

Threatening to break into the seventh rank with the rook. Therefore, Black has to accept a further worsening of the position of the pieces.

20. … Rxd2 21.Rxd2 Nb8 22.b4 Bh6 23.Bxh6 Bxh6 24.а4 Rh8 25.b4 b6 26.b5 Rg8 27.Kс2 ab 28.ab Re8 29.с4 Black resigned.

MM. Botvinnik compared the thinking of a beginner and an experienced chess player:

"People use unconscious an algorithm that allows you to rework the rules for moving pieces for one move into rules for moving pieces from one field of the board to any other.

This is what distinguishes a qualified chess player from a beginner; a beginner, in order to move a piece from one field of the board to another, has to do serious logical work, and a skilled one acts automatically.

When a novice chess player, having just learned the rules of the game, sits at the board, it is rather difficult for him to draw up a mathematical representation of the position, because the problem of moving pieces requires logical work. In other words, in order to solve the problem of possible movements of figures, he has to compose and analyze the corresponding mathematical mapping, which allows him to make a decision about the possible movement of figures. Thus, a novice chess player is forced to divide his “chess” abilities between two tasks, between two mathematical representations:

1) the problem of the possible movement of figures and
2) the actual chess problem of the most advantageous movement of pieces.

A qualified (experienced) chess player acts differently. He solves the problem of the possible movement of figures "without thinking", that is, without compiling a mathematical display. All his "chess" abilities are occupied by the mathematical display of the position, and this, of course, leads to the expansion of the horizon.

How does an experienced chess player solve the problem of moving pieces? As the reader has no doubt already guessed, this question is far from being an idle one - it is directly related to the “training” of a machine in chess. If the machine solves the problem of moving figures according to the same method that the master operates, then the "abilities" of the machine will be spent on choosing an expedient move. If, however, a significant part of the "abilities" of the machine will be associated with the rules of the game, then things will be worse and the horizon will not be far off. The following example can be given to illustrate the point.

Imagine that a participant in a world championship match who has a pending position goes for a walk. He continues to blindly analyze this position, composing and analyzing a mathematical representation; at the same time, he does not distinguish the faces of oncoming passers-by and, of course, does not recognize acquaintances, but he does not collide with anyone! Moreover, he will even cross the street and in accordance with all the rules, although he continues his analysis ... What's the matter?

The point is that a grandmaster solves the problem of moving his own piece without loading his logical device, but as if by switching it to an "automatic device". This is how an experienced chess player solves the problem of the possible movement of pieces "automatically".

Perhaps this auxiliary problem is solved according to the principle of a reference book, in which an answer is prepared for each question (from a certain range of questions). If you need to solve a problem that is repeated many times, a standard problem, it makes sense to solve it not logically, but according to the reference method. It must be assumed that this is how a person learns; so, apparently, the machine should also “learn” the rules of the game.

Botvinnik M.M., Algorithm for playing chess, M., "Nauka", 1968, p. 54-55.