GameKnot related: Deleted Exercises
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markies
28-Aug-10, 14:46

Deleted Exercises
I have noticed that several tactical exercises have been deleted, for example #34555, the one I have posted about a few days ago.
So, GameKnot (silently) admits that these exercises are not good enough ?

And what about the lost points ?

Are we still in a testing phase and do we just have to deal with it ?

Questions...
kingdawar
28-Aug-10, 15:24

Points... who cares about the points. Although I would like all stats to be reset after the kinks have been ironed out, but I can imagine the top guys being angry. Also this "total training time" seems to suggest we have been taking "free lessons" or something - instead an average per exercise would be nicer.
Soundness! Is what we are after, isn't it. I also noticed the "unique" word has been erased. Good. Now we know what to expect/do with these positions. Find the computer move. Like in tactics #10018  
kingdawar
29-Aug-10, 03:31

tactics #1461

Opinions? 5. ... Qe2 seems like a mate in 7 at most to me as well. In any case... why request this last move from users. OK now we all know, this is not like any other sort of Chess Training Tool. But requesting a shortest path to mate while a Queen up... !?

Also... these positions in which the computer seeks refuge in giving a Queen for free don't appeal to me much. I would rather have it play a more stubborn move in such positions - this would reveal the reason of the opposition's misery, instead of immediately giving away its cards. 
kingdawar
29-Aug-10, 03:44

...these positions in which the computer seeks refuge in giving a Queen for free... that wasn't even necessarily under attack.
kingdawar
29-Aug-10, 03:56

tactics #27896

Both moves lead to draw...
kingdawar
29-Aug-10, 05:42

Deleted by kingdawar on 08-Sep-10, 17:51.
kingdawar
29-Aug-10, 05:57

Deleted by kingdawar on 08-Sep-10, 17:51.
archduke_piccolo
29-Aug-10, 13:49

Position #1461
I selected the move it liked, 5...d5, with the idea 6...c4, and I can see the 'point' of this second element to the problem - a quick forced mate. But had the exercise continued to its end I would not have chosen to recapture on f5, but simply to continue with the ...c4 plan. The mate would be just as Quick.

But heinzkat is right: 5...Qe2 must also be mate in 7. You can demanstrate this by shoving pieces around, but pure reasoning ought to be convincing. The Queen move sets up the same mating motif: pawn promotion for mate against the King cut off on the back rank. The d-pawn will not have to run the gauntlet of an enemy pawn that the c=pawn does, and hence no tempi is lost, as Black will have to play 6...d4 in order to realise the advance of either pawn. So ...Qe2 deserves equal credit.

markies
30-Aug-10, 13:09

Tip & suggestion for Tactical Exercises
Try to solve the exercises you have failed on again after two or three weeks.
It`s also possible to give a rating now.
The meaning of doing exercises is to learn and to get better, I think.

I have also got a suggestion for GameKnot : What about not losing points if you find a mate in 8 instead of 7 moves ?
I mean, you have done a good job, but not good enough, so no points deserved. There is only one Heinzkat. Give the man a drink !
kingdawar
30-Aug-10, 13:13

That Heinzkat kid moans too much
baronderkilt
30-Aug-10, 15:00

Deleted by baronderkilt on 30-Aug-10, 15:01.
hortstu
31-Aug-10, 15:52

suggestion
I'd be curious about what the highest rating amongst my solved puzzles is and what the lowest rating is of the ones I've failed to solve. Is this info available somewhere?
kingdawar
31-Aug-10, 20:33

hortstu
You can now sort the lists
kingdawar
07-Sep-10, 09:28

Major confusion on move 5

tactics #41288
kingdawar
08-Sep-10, 16:59

It seems about 15% of my exercises have been terminated, good!
kingdawar
08-Sep-10, 17:01

...because the GOOD exercises stay. Which makes that, overall, the quality is better  
levellerlevvie
08-Sep-10, 23:47

I wonder ... How can you tell ...
... that 15% of your exercises are terminated? (And with terminated you mean deleted?) I can't see anything that refers to deleted exercises in my tactics lists ...
kingdawar
08-Sep-10, 23:51

I had well over 2300 tries, now only 2000...
markies
09-Sep-10, 00:16

Heinzkat is right, almost every day I see that a few exercises are deleted of the list and yesterday and 5th September even a lot.
The training time and the rating do not change, only the number of total attempts is going down and the percentage of solved problems is going up.
levellerlevvie
09-Sep-10, 09:00

I never memorized the amount of tries ...
... so I wouldn't be able to tell if a few are missing in my list or not. Also I will probably have been fishing for tactics in a pool where there is less doubt about the solution and I wouldn't be surprised if none or only a few got deleted from my list.

For you heinzkat things are different and a difference from 2300 to 2000 is hard to miss I guess. I'm kinda surprised by the amount to be honest. Up-til now I always thought that the deleted exercises would only be a handful of special cases ... I guess I was wrong.

Gameknot.com
09-Sep-10, 10:09

We are adding new exercises every day, and removing some of the exercises based on various criteria (removed exercises are not necessarily "bad", they might be too trivial, or cases where you need to spot a checkmate in 9 vs. capturing a queen, etc.).
kingdawar
09-Sep-10, 16:41

I am hoping this set of criteria would never lead to deleting correct but "unsolvable" exercises?