Answers.Body: <p>I am sorry, but you can not create any novel chess opening traps because all were already discovered in a certain range of moves.
  Also, I want to mention @RemcoGerlich's comment that even if there was an undiscovered opening trap then a computer couldn't recognize that it is a trap.</p>
  <p>Instead, you could try to use an engine to look up moves that lose but are difficult to comprehend by humans.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-02-03T21:23:39.277Z
Answers.Text: I'm wondering: The "Maia" chess engine is trained to behave "like a human" at a certain grading range, and playing against a low-rated version, I've definitely had it walk into opening "traps" against me (Trying to hold on to the captured pawn in a QGA-type opening where doing so is dubious). So maybe with such an engine you could mine for "trappy" openings?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Lagerbaer
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-02-03T21:35:06.240Z
Answers.Text: @Lagerbaer Nice comment. Obviously chess engines can walk into opening traps if they are on a low level, but they can not differentiate whether this is also difficult for human are if the engine just blundered. However, I understand what you mean. For example, an engine could look at situations in which there are only very little possibilities to maintain a good position.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hacker
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-02-05T15:35:58.090Z
Answers.Text: Hi Hacker, what you say is certainly true for an engine like Stockfish or Leela. But this Maia engine was specifically trained to not play "the best move" but to play the move that "a human would play", and there's different versions of it for different rating ranges. That gives much more useful information about whether a certain move is "hard to find" for a human.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Lagerbaer
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-02-03T10:20:17.250Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-02-03T22:23:47.090Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2021-02-03T22:23:47.090Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hacker
Body: <p>Opening traps can sometimes lead to quick wins, but fail against opponents who are prepared or have time to calculate.  Thus...</p>
  <p><strong>Question</strong>: Is there software which generates novel chess opening traps?</p>
  <p>I didn't easily find anything via Googling <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=chess+opening+trap+generator" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>chess opening trap generator</code></a>.  Perhaps there's some inherent limitation which makes it not worthwhile or even impossible to do so.</p>
  
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Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-01T08:56:07.393Z
Comments.Text: I think the main problem is that "trap" is a very human concept. There must be a move that seems "obvious" except for a refutation that's "harder to see". But those are not engine concepts, every move is equally easy to see for an engine. So I wouldn't know how to build such a tool.
Comments.UserDisplayName: RemcoGerlich
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Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-01T09:07:13.283Z
Comments.Text: @RemcoGerlich [Maia Chess](https://lichess.org/blog/X9PUixUAANCqFRSh/introducing-maia-a-human-like-neural-network-chess-engine) might make this possible.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Federico Poloni
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Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-03T13:55:18.290Z
Comments.Text: It seems TrappyBeowulf was built with that idea, but I've just found the code is quite old and the compilation doesn't properly work: https://github.com/vollmerm/TrappyBeowulf
Comments.UserDisplayName: emdio
Tags: <software><opening-traps>
Title: Is there software which generates novel chess opening traps?
ThreadText: # Is there software which generates novel chess opening traps?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-01)
  
  Opening traps can sometimes lead to quick wins, but fail against opponents who are prepared or have time to calculate. Thus...
  
  **Question**: Is there software which generates novel chess opening traps?
  
  I didn't easily find anything via Googling [`chess opening trap generator`](https://www.google.com/search?q=chess+opening+trap+generator). Perhaps there's some inherent limitation which makes it not worthwhile or even impossible to do so.
  
  **Tags:** software, opening-traps
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I think the main problem is that "trap" is a very human concept. There must be a move that seems "obvious" except for a refutation that's "harder to see". But those are not engine concepts, every move is equally easy to see for an engine. So I wouldn't know how to build such a tool.  
  > **username_2**: @username_1 [Maia Chess](https://lichess.org/blog/X9PUixUAANCqFRSh/introducing-maia-a-human-like-neural-network-chess-engine) might make this possible.  
  > **username_3**: It seems TrappyBeowulf was built with that idea, but I've just found the code is quite old and the compilation doesn't properly work: https://github.com/vollmerm/TrappyBeowulf  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2021-02-03. Score: 1
  
  I am sorry, but you can not create any novel chess opening traps because all were already discovered in a certain range of moves.
  Also, I want to mention @username_1's comment that even if there was an undiscovered opening trap then a computer couldn't recognize that it is a trap.
  
  Instead, you could try to use an engine to look up moves that lose but are difficult to comprehend by humans.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: I'm wondering: The "Maia" chess engine is trained to behave "like a human" at a certain grading range, and playing against a low-rated version, I've definitely had it walk into opening "traps" against me (Trying to hold on to the captured pawn in a QGA-type opening where doing so is dubious). So maybe with such an engine you could mine for "trappy" openings?  
  > **username_4**: @username_5 Nice comment. Obviously chess engines can walk into opening traps if they are on a low level, but they can not differentiate whether this is also difficult for human are if the engine just blundered. However, I understand what you mean. For example, an engine could look at situations in which there are only very little possibilities to maintain a good position.  
  > **username_5**: Hi username_4, what you say is certainly true for an engine like Stockfish or Leela. But this Maia engine was specifically trained to not play "the best move" but to play the move that "a human would play", and there's different versions of it for different rating ranges. That gives much more useful information about whether a certain move is "hard to find" for a human.  
  
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