Beautiful Mates: Applying Principles of Beauty to Computer Chess Heuristics

Rating:
Summary: Good, but could be better.
Review: An interesting read, but don't agree that Beauty is the factor that makes a chess player better. The eight concepts quoted from Margulies do not always help the computer play chess in a more human way. I think the human chess player has more principles used. For example, setting traps, pins and using combos. The human is more creative and doesn't use Beauty as described in the book to determine his/her actions. It is a far cry from playing like Fischer. This just shows how much more we have yet to explore in human learning and cognition.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but could be better.
Review: Good book, interesting topic. A little weird, but some original ideas, including a good section on alternative search.

Rating:
Summary: I like it!
Review: Good book, interesting topic. A little weird, but some original ideas, including a good section on alternative search.

Rating:
Summary: Original and Interesting - when is there a follow up??
Review: This is an orginal book, following an interesting proposal to get Computer chess games to 'think' more like human players. It is clear the author values this approach more than current 'brute force' search, and I must admit, I am swayed by his arguments (e.g. that the Deep Blue v Kasparov match did nothing to advance computer chess) - although I could have done with more results to convince me. I think the reader from Concord, MA missed the point of the book - the author never says he is proposing a 'better' (i.e. higher ELO) chess program - just one that thinks and plays more like a human (from an AI research perspective). To conclude, if you are looking for a book about conventional (outdated?) computer chess programming then this is of little interest. However, if you are after a novel book on the quest to 'capture' what goes on in the human mind when analysing problems, and how to represent that in, for example, chess problems, then this book is a good starting point.