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The Delta Air Lines Seatback Chess Bot Will Destroy You

The chess program available on Delta Air Lines’ seatback screens is an ELO monster that can beat almost all opponents on easy mode. This guy used a series of increasingly powerful bots to see just how good the Delta chess bot is. Can it beat a grandmaster-level bot? (via clive thompson)

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Jack Orenstein

This is not surprising at all. Computers are so fast, and the techniques for playing chess are so developed, that this is pretty much unavoidable. The trick in creating chess-playing software is making it play in a human way, aiming at a given skill level. What some programs do is to play extremely well, and then when it gets too far ahead, makes some really stupid moves. This is very unsatisfying.

Jason KottkeMOD

Seems like the Delta chess program might be based on Kasparov Chessmate.

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