[Idea] A noob-training bot that plays randomly, but always punishes hanging pieces?

How hard would it be to make one? I know nothing about botmaking.

I'm envisioning something like https://lichess.org/@/SxCapture . Except that one takes any capture possible, so it's easy to bait it to trade a queen for a pawn. Instead, the bot I'm thinking of would search 2-ply, and find unguarded pieces and favorable trades first, and take the best of those. If none found, it would play a fully random non-capture move. (Yes, it would hang pieces itself).

(Also, htf did a BOT manage to violate terms of service? :D)

I like the idea - I wonder how the ELO would be affected. There are lots of bots for kids to play in Lucas chess (Windows free) and perhaps some of those coincide with the taking of unguarded pieces?

@MarkusRamikin said in #1:

I think maybe the bot played too randomly, as bots on Lichess are required to try to win every game. But I agree, that bot sounds fun!

Actually, this is quite easy to implement. The problem is probably it would not have any kind of utility, apart from being a curiosity. I don't think a random-mover but capture bot will help some to improve.

@SxCapture violated TOS because a Lichess BOT must play rated games only if it try to win (so I assume SxCapture played rated games once). But they are not required to try to win, they just have to play casual games otherwise.

I would like to see a bot/feature where you put in how many seconds it has to make a move. Then, it would make a move based on some accuracy level. If you win, it bumps it up a notch the next game. I think this would be a great training tool.

@CheckmaterELO said in #4:

Actually, this is quite easy to implement. The problem is probably it would not have any kind of utility, apart from being a curiosity. I don't think a random-mover but capture bot will help some to improve.

@SxCapture violated TOS because a Lichess BOT must play rated games only if it try to win (so I assume SxCapture played rated games once). But they are not required to try to win, they just have to play casual games otherwise.

Yeah forgot to mention that :) But what about beginner level bots though? If a bot plays like a 600 does it violate ToS since people can use it to get rating?

@CheckmaterELO said in #4:

The problem is probably it would not have any kind of utility, apart from being a curiosity.

When's the last time you've dealt with a true noob, esp. one of no more than average intelligence? I can think of some people I know personally who could really use this as an exercise - that's why I posted. The problem with e.g. playing Stockfish is that such people have no chance at all vs Stockfish level 3+, but at level 1 or 2 there is almost no punishment of hanging pieces, so they don't learn to watch out for that.

I wonder how to add a "will try to actually win" element, while keeping the basic idea of the bot being easy for noobs as long as they mostly avoid hanging pieces. 'cause I feel like if you have a bot that invariably takes hanging pieces and favorable trades, AND also has some level of tactical and strategic planning, the difficulty is going to go through the roof, from the point of view of someone who's barely learnt how the pieces move.

I guess it's not really necessary, though it'd be interesting to see the bot play rated without getting flagged for TOS.

@cherrytea78 said in #6:

Yeah forgot to mention that :) But what about beginner level bots though? If a bot plays like a 600 does it violate ToS since people can use it to get rating?

Well, I'm a chess programmer and not a Lichess mod, so I think I cannot answer perfectly this question. But a 600 Elo bot should try to win, at 600 Elo level of course. It means that it should win against a 500 Elo or a random-mover, so in my opinion it would not violate ToS. Moreover, you won't get that much rating by winning a 600 Elo bot, maybe 1 rating point and maybe 0 actually (or 0.01, so as Lichess usually displays integer rating you won't see nothing). But obviously, a random-mover bot does not try to win, and should therefore not play rated games.

@MarkusRamikin said in #8:

I wonder how to add a "will try to actually win" element, while keeping the basic idea of the bot being easy for noobs as long as they mostly avoid hanging pieces. 'cause I feel like if you have a bot that invariably takes hanging pieces and favorable trades, AND also has some level of tactical and strategic planning, the difficulty is going to go through the roof, from the point of view of someone who's barely learnt how the pieces move.

I guess it's not really necessary, though it'd be interesting to see the bot play rated without getting flagged for TOS.

I suppose the bot trying to win would be taking hanging pieces most of the time, not trading queens for pawns and mostly taking favorable trades....You could make the bot make blunders occasionally, or play at a lower strength and making more opening mistakes. Although I'm not a programmer so I don't know how these things work