History Of Computer Chess: AlphaZero
In December 2017 the company Deep Mind took the chess world by storm when they announced that their new engine, AlphaZero had decisively won a match against the previous top engine in the world, Stockfish. Join IM Danny Rensch as he analyzes key games from this historic match, which introduced the world to Neural Net based chess engines!
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Dark Square Domination: In game three of its match with Stockfish, AlphaZero sacrificed a pawn for long term compensation. For many moves Black kept a material advantage, but AlphaZero slowly dominated the board and eventually caught Black's queen in the corner, with no safe moves!
The Back Rank Pin: How did AlphaZero embarrass Stockfish's queen for the second time in the match? Check out AlphaZero's powerful sacrifices to force Black's queen into the corner and establish a deadly back rank pin.
The Long Grind: Stockfish is a brilliant defender, but that didn't stop AlphaZero from sacrificing a pawn, without any real attacking chances. AlphaZero didn't mind staying down material for a long time as it slowly built up pressure until finally overwhelming Black's defenses in the endgame.
What Extra Bishop?: In the French Defense Black often accepts a restricted bishop, but usually has enough counterplay to fight back. In this astounding game, AlphaZero restricts Black's bishop so much that it could play down a whole piece for many moves and still win the game!
Dancing Queen: AlphaZero has changed the game of chess by demonstrating that rook-pawn advances are frequently very powerful. In this game AlphaZero started an attack with the h-pawn, sacrificed a knight and then moved its active queen all the way back to the corner. However, when the queen cam out again, White had an amazing, winning attack.
What do you think about AlphaZero's games? Let us know in the comments!
