How can there be “weak” chess bots?

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In today’s day and age, computers are obviously way better at chess than humans, and even the best players in the world have a hard time holding a candle to engines like Stockfish, etc. However, what I don’t understand is how is it possible to have them in different levels of strength. For example, on Chess.com, there are dozens of bots that you can play against depending on your own level. But for the weakest ones, how does this work? One would think that an engine either knows how to play chess efficiently, or it doesn’t. How can you “dumb down” a computer to the level of an intermediate player or even a beginner? Thanks!

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The bots on chess.com are programmed to have little quirks and behaviours that limit their effectiveness. For instance, Martin never puts a piece where a pawn can capture it and ignores any mate in 2 or better

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