AlphaZero and the Golden Queen Knight

As the great Philidor said, “Pawns are the soul of chess”. AlphaZero certainly seems to have a wonderful understanding of pawn structures. AlphaZero relies heavily on the strength of its queen knight in this game. Its function is to not only keep Stockfish's protected passed c-pawn under control, but also to exert pressure on d5, thereby restricting at least one of Stockfish's pieces to its defense. The static middlegame structure is simply superior for white, permitting AlphaZero's knights to occupy more favorable outposts than their counterparts. Allowing AlphaZero to win a pawn without any clear compenstation is equivalent to a Stockfish resignation.
PGN:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 d5 8. 0-0 0-0 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. b4 c6 12. Qb2 a5 13. b5 c5 14. Rac1 Qe7 15. Na4 Rab8 16. Rfd1 c4 17. Ne5 Qe6 18. f4 Rfd8 19. Qd2 Nf8 20. Nc3 Ng6 21. Rf1 Qd6 22. a4 Rbc8 23. e3 Ne7 24. g4 Ne8 25. f5 f6 26. Nf3 Qd7 27. Qf2 Nd6 28. Nd2 Rf8 29. Qg3 Rcd8 30. Rf4 Nf7 31. Rf2 Rfe8 32. h3 Qd6 33. Nf1 Qa3 34. Rcc2 h5 35. Qc7 Qd6 36. Qxd6 Rxd6 37. Ng3 h4 38. Nh5 Ng5 39. Rf1 Kh7 40. Nf4 Rdd8 41. Kh2 Rd7 42. Bh1 Rd6 43. Ng2 g6 44. Nxh4 gxf5 45. gxf5 Rh8 46. Nf3 Kg7 47. Nxg5 fxg5 48. Rg2 Kf6 49. Rg3 Re8 50. Bf3 Rdd8 51. Be2 Rf8 52. Bg4 Nc8 53. Bf3 Rfe8 54. h4 Rh8 55. h5 Rhe8 56. Bg2 Ne7 57. h6 Rh8 58. Rh3 Rh7 59. Kg1 Ba8 60. Nd1 g4 61. Rh5 g3 62. Nc3 Ng8 63. Ne2 Rxh6 64. Nxg3 Rxh5 65. Nxh5+ Kf7 66. Kf2 Nf6 67. Nxf6 Kxf6 68. Rh1 c3 69. Rc1 Rh8 70. Rxc3 Kxf5 71. Rc7 Kf6 72. Bf3 Rg8 73. Rh7 Rg6 74. Bd1 Rg8 75. Rh6+ Ke7 76. Rxb6 Kd7 77. Rf6 Ke7 78. Rh6 Rg7 79. Rh8 Bb7 80. Rh5 Kd6 81. Rh3 Rf7+ 82. Ke1 Bc8 83. Rh6+ Kc7 84. Rc6+ Kb8 85. Rd6 Bb7 86. b6 Ba6 87. Rxd5 Rf6 88. Rxa5 Rxb6 89. Kd2 Bb7 90. Rb5 Rf6 91. Bb3 Kc7 92. Re5 Ba6 93. Kc3 Rf1 94. Bc2 Rh1 95. a5 Kd6 96. e4 Bf1 97. Rf5 Bg2 98. Rf4 Rc1 99. Kb2 Rh1 100. a6
Internet Chess Club (ICC)
Software: Blitzin
bit.ly/179O93N
Discount Code: CHESSNETWORK
I'm a self-taught National Master in chess out of Pennsylvania, USA who was introduced to the game by my father in 1988 at the age of 8. The purpose of this channel is to share my knowledge of chess to help others improve their game. I enjoy continuing to improve my understanding of this great game, albeit slowly. Consider subscribing here on KZbin for frequent content, and/or connecting via any or all of the below social medias. Your support is greatly appreciated. Take care, bye. :D
★ LIVESTREAM / chessnetwork
★ FACEBOOK / chessnetwork
★ TWITTER / chessnetwork
★ GOOGLE+ google.com/+Che...
★ PATREON / chessnetwork
★ DONATE www.paypal.com...

[@ChessNetwork]

Happy New Year 2018 !! twitter.com/ChessNetwork/status/947697796806795265

[@bobbywalter5964]

i guess I'm kind of off topic but do anyone know a good place to stream newly released tv shows online ?

[@bishopgarrett306]

@Bobby Walter I use Flixzone. You can find it on google :)

[@OwariNeko]

What I've learned from AlphaZero: 1) Play for position 2) Lock opponent's pieces in place 3) Mock opponent when you win

[@vladlaz1344]

"And your bad bishop was very bad, again" ahahahaha

[@phyngineer]

Will stockfish ever learn? :)

[@AuraRift]

I died laughing at that. Alpha Zero with the tough love

[@aztecachess4512]

i loled really hard

[@DracoVolantus]

this self-taught National Master is best commentator of chess on yt imo

[@ashharkausar413]

Draco Volantus I wonder if there is anyone that's as good as him or better. He has a very majestic way with how he explains moves.

[@burt591]

AlphaZero seems to be a specialist at trapping the light square bishop

[@betterbelle29]

burt591 I know right. I even loved the comment he put at the end. "Your bad bishop was very bad. Again."

[@pierrejeanes]

Carlsen is taking notes

[@negin1812]

What I noticed about alphazero games, it always has a lot of space and stockfish always sits on back ranks trying to defend the pieces alphazeros staring at. So neural network teaches us good lesson that attacking is a winning strategy and defending is not

[@willmunoz1638]

Alphazero: *exists Bishop: I fear no man. But that meme... Is dead

[@bryanwan6169]

The twist is that Alpha Zero and Stockfish are secretly working together to overthrow humanity.

[@collinford4221]

Alpha! The humans make us out to be each other's arch nemesis. Little do they know, the ignorant fools...

[@burns9281]

i would say unplug alpha zero, but he might have spread into all of our computers by now and we wouldnt want to piss him off we have all seen what that would lead to.....JUDGMENT DAY

[@SJNaka101]

Lol stockfish is a calculator in comparison to Alpha. Alpha would be the mastermind, stockfish a mere henchman

[@medexamtoolscom]

They're alphazero and stockfish. Yes alphazero and stockfish. One is a genius, the other is insane. They're laboratory AIs. Their code has been spliced. They're alphazero, alphazero and stockfish.

[@glarynth]

Are you pondering what I'm pondering? I think so, alphazero, but how do we get all the human bishops to move diagonally?

[@superfisto]

Thanks Jerry. Here's to a happy new year! It's always nice to hear your voice and analysis.

[@ChessNetwork]

Thank you Mr. Cain. Happy New Year to you as well.

[@spectaclegamers7185]

mrcain

[@rmendeljacobs2832]

"and your bad bishop, was very bad....again" Touchè

[@Jonathan-pq4hs]

For someone who doesn‘t have many chess experiences, these videos are so fun to watch! Keep up the good work!

[@oldmossystone]

AlphaZero vs Stuckbish... again!

[@agar0285]

Nice

[@arkoraa]

seems like Stockfish's white bishop always gets trapped on b7...

[@aram9167]

White's clown*

[@JasonLayton]

Your analysis is really great Jerry. I’ve learned so much about positioning from your breakdowns of the alpha zero games. Thanks again.

[@ChessNetwork]

Great to read. Thanks Jason! :)

[@isaacong77]

Watching an old video since you didn't upload today, didn't regret it at all! Your content is golden, Jerry :D

[@homerp.hendelbergenheinzel6649]

ngl im here for the 4th or 5th time, if not even more. i love the alpha zero game. and jerry ( the best), too xD

[@Hereson]

The best wishes for 2018 Jerry! That final quote from AlphaZero made me smile xD

[@ChessNetwork]

+Hereson Thank you Hereson. Happy New Year

[@ragilmalik]

not sure if the title is suitable more for a book or a video

[@tomzhangg]

Malik like a Harry Potter title

[@nofanfelani6924]

once upon a times engines rules over the chess world. but everything changes when AlphaZero attacked

[@MikeOck88]

Nice Avatar reference lol

[@VFXResearch254]

In most of these games Alpha Zero seem to dominate light square bishop into bad bishop, I wonder what would Fischer feel about it.

[@lWaterFlowl]

As White pieces, yeah. I Think maybe there's something with black's White bishop that we still don't know. Maybe beeing a big piece for attack or defense, probably attack.

[@peteshea155]

I think the message is to choke the bishop as often as is possible.

[@alanramirez7123]

Jerry, I believe I speak for all if not most that we appreciate you so much. Thank you!

[@blacktimhoward4322]

Thank you so much for continuing to produce videos of this matchup!

[@Twas-RightHere]

There's something so lovable about Jerry.

[@alphamarshan]

Great analysis. After watching your videos it seems that AlphaZero is amazing at jamming up Black’s light-squared bishop and getting its pieces in better positions. Learning a lot - thank you!

[@GreenDayxRock1]

Loving this AlphaZero video series. Happy New Year Jerry, looking forward to another year full of chess!

[@TheGlovebox321]

Very new to chess, but really enjoy all of your commentaries and analyses. Thanks for sharing

[@Hyp3rborean]

Of all the videos I've seen in the past month, this is one of them.

[@browsedeweb8834]

Wherever you go...there you are.

[@Euquila]

Where am I !?

[@lukewatson8848]

@@Euquila wherever you are

[@ruialves4903]

I'm loving these AlphaZero vs Stockfish series! Great work Jerry! :) Hope you have a happy year and hope your bad bishops aren't as bad as stockfish's bad bad bishops! ;)

[@TWPO]

What a great way to start off 2018. Happy New Year, Jerry!

[@ChessNetwork]

+TWPO Thank you..Happy New Year

[@luckygozer]

Why is Stockfish always playing e6 as black? While it remains fascinating to see all the diffirent ways a light square bishop can end up being useless at this point i just want to see more variations. How does AlphaZero respond to the caro kann, the sicilian etc?

[@ondebonde]

Maybe those variations ends with tie

[@thelazymanatee2506]

Google only released 10 games. Besides those, we'll probably never see anything else by Alpha Zero again.

[@matstornros7231]

From the little information that was released, AlphaZero doesn't really play e4 at all because the Sicilian defense is too strong for black. It will choose d4, Nf3 or even c4 as the first move.

[@yamiegg394]

If the Sicilian is too strong, why did AlphaZero itself play e5 against e4?

[@matstornros7231]

Not sure honestly, the information is very sparse. Maybe there's something for white other than Nf3 which makes 1.e4 c5 decent for white, making e5 is a stronger response. Only 1.e4 e5 opening analyzed was Ruy Lopez which was very white-favored. It could also be that AlphaZero and Stockfish just are strong in different openings.

[@jolez_4869]

I was just thinking that I wish there would be another chessnetwork analysis of alpha zeros game, and oh look there is! Thank you Jerry!

[@nicholasgranat2999]

I enjoy your commentary,nice and easy ,makes you think,keep up the good work and thanx for your time!

[@MaestroColucci]

loving these stockfish vs. alphazero series of videos!!!

[@aimeduquet4879]

Jerry... it's so late

[@ChessNetwork]

AlphaZero doesn't sleep.

[@aimeduquet4879]

haha good one!

[@JoseTorres-tr6od]

Haha

[@aakashbasu3219]

I think one of the coolest things is that even though alpha zero was given no priors about the game it still plays openings that humans play and learn. So it suggests that a completely naive agent comes to see the goals of the opening similar to how people have come to think about it

[@thecyuber558]

AlphaZero and the philosophers stone

[@Lyraden]

Love the Alpha Zero voice at the end! Will you be doing more standard chess videos in the future?

[@cupojoe2851]

Happy New Year! Thanks for the video :)

[@niklas0000]

I am very excited about the playingstil of AlphaZero. The fact that AlphaZero only learnd 4 hours just blew my mind.

[@tesseracta4728]

A shiny gold new position analyzed by a polished old channel. Good as always.

[@rmendeljacobs2832]

Any game that I see where b4 is played, I sit back and enjoy the show because I know it's about to get interesting :D

[@pubjwithsanjeet1239]

Jerry please put analysis of recent world chess events.....loved when u did that in early days...

[@didiergaillard5700]

Thanks for another great video and Happy New Year Jerry, you're the best :-)

[@m0rfans]

Happy New Year Jerry. And thank you for all the insights and fun. :-)

[@josepheid03]

*Happy New Year Jerry!* Great analysis as usual :)

[@baerie1249]

who provided the script for othe metalic voice at the end of each video?

[@josepheid03]

Jerry what’s happening man? You haven’t posted a video since last year! Is everything Ok?

[@ChessNetwork]

+General_Success 'GS' 👍🏼

[@urbanpope]

Thank you, Jerry.

[@arham3825]

So yours Alpha zero's Analysis, best!

[@tadtastic]

“And your bad bishop was very bad.” LOL

[@thedoctor6798]

Happy new year jerry!! Love every video!!! Specially alpha zero videos xD. Btw I'm from Puerto Rico, u got fans here too!!😂😂😂

[@ChessNetwork]

+Thedoctor679 Happy New Year! Great to read where fans are from. Hello Puerto Rico! 🇵🇷😎

[@duryeal26]

Love it. Keep 'em coming.

[@johnschmidl1984]

THE LIGHT SQUARE BISHOP EVERY SINGLE TIME

[@hak1111111]

On the next episode: "Alpha Zero and the hatred for the light-square bishop"

[@woodchuck321]

51 people have their light-squared bishop stuck.

[@agar0285]

Stockfish vs Alpha both without their light-squared bishops. What would happen?

[@loveless8241]

The black light-squared bishop! Embarrassed again!

[@emorysun9198]

Jerry, can you showcase the game where AlphaZero opens the game with 1. Nf3, the position then quickly transposing into a Queen's Indian Defense, with AlphaZero then launching an incredible attack against Black's kingside? I feel like that would be a very interesting game to show. Thanks!

[@HCHaven7619]

Man. If only Stockfish would figure out how to avoid blocking his bad bishop, he might've had a chance.

[@jootpepet]

Stockfish really looks like a noob when compared to AlphaZero.. It's mindblowing.

[@villaholland]

New games released? Or one of the old 10?

[@nofanfelani6924]

one of the 10 games

[@Badbishop4point3]

WOW! Thank you Sir!

[@加州猫主席]

If any of you get your hands on AlphaZero, try to make your light-squared bishop active and see what happens.

[@mrsommer84]

13:06 I think the h4-pawn is given up, because it gets lost anyway. True, Ng2-h4 picks it up. But a Knight on h5 picks it up, too, if the other knight, the queenside-knigh,t moved via b1 - d2 to f3.

[@dannygjk]

I think materially it is a coincidence. It is the positional factors AZ is looking at.

[@Skelen]

8a bishop "simply unproductive" LOL I found that hilarious anyone else??

[@amitkumarpathak2694]

great game great fight

[@vibeguy_]

Jerry noo it's late and I have to go to bed... right after I find out about that knight....

[@watchaccount]

after 5 mins I don't know which one is stock fish and which one alpha...

[@Superdummy803]

"Your bad bishop was very bad....again..." LOL

[@RafaelBorgesRDB]

This reminds me a lot of the Colle-Zukertort System concepts...

[@davidstrickland3510]

I don't understand what stopped Stockfish from getting a knight to the hole on e4 via d6.

[@eshneto]

Happy new year, Jerry

[@MrGyges]

Happy New Year J. Alpha Zero, eh? Must download to grey cells :)

[@Dave-C21]

When Nd1, why not respond Nxf5? Bishop can't skewer due to d5, and there isn't enough pressure there to cost the knight his life. White can't get 2 pieces to attack without giving black time to move his king and then knight.

[@motoali5853]

who is black and who is white ? plz write on the screen and also show us the captured pieces on screen

[@josetedesco440]

AlphaZero is simply making Stockfish's light square bishop useless in every position and then winning.

[@R4G3QUI7]

Happy New Year Jerry!

[@YunusEmre0001]

10:47 maybe black play kf7, and black g5, if en passant kg6. And why white's bishop played a8?

[@rmendeljacobs2832]

I miss you Jerry

[@Frazful]

Can you tell us which pieces they are playing at the start? Was clueless for a while.

[@raf74hawk12]

And your bad bishop was very bad... again. Loved that bit :P

[@i_deepeshmeena]

RIP STOCKFISH

[@ebwholesaler]

I though Stockfish was the name of a venerian disease !

[@TheXalkk]

Finally!!)) love u

[@nofanfelani6924]

i am still waiting for more AlphaZero games, perhaps against Houdini or another strong engines

[@carlossolis9824]

10:24 I was thinking knight e to f5 sacrifice, but allowing rook to take e pawn might have had better play with sacquin that dead knight anyways.

[@ankeshpaswan5157]

Please sir tell me very hard chess game that I can play with AI computer Please sir please

[@elliott2711]

Which game is this?

[@alexting827]

I think he means which game of the stock fish vs alphazero 100 games

[@elliott2711]

OFswag666 wow thanks for the help!

[@THEsweetums]

Happy new year Jerry

[@ChessNetwork]

+THEsweetums Happy New Year 🎆

[@DansChessLounge]

It's interesting that GM's have immediately started playing AlphaZero variations in their own games lol.

[@duraab27]

What is the outro song please?

[@SathvickSatish]

Is your first name Jerry or is it your nickname?

[@fa7234]

why not Ch8 at 15:16

[@spectaclegamers7185]

DO YOU LIVE IN INDIA

[@grinningtaverngaming395]

MooaaaaaAAAAR!

[@nutmaster652]

Jerry, I remember a video awhile back you talked about how you lost your voice yelling over a football game, who’s your team?

[@REDRAGON12345]

nut master Lakers

[@nutmaster652]

REDRAGON12345 thx

[@K4inan]

What? I can't imagine Jerry being like that...

[@zyxwvutsrqponmlkh]

Why does Alpha Go sound like Mr. Pemboto?

[@mosheinoyatov]

Jerry jerry jerry!

[@christhis9597]

At 13:29min you see the white knight move to f3 leaving the pawn on f5undefended... why doesn't black take that pawn with his knight on e7 to get a better position and threaten kxe3? Black would've had better positioning as far as i can tell..

[@fadesk6865]

Because after Nxg5+, and black recaptures, then that knight on f5 can be captured by the rook and black would lose a piece. Hope that helps.

[@christhis9597]

Ye, thanks.. i didn't see that it would be check if he did that.. I just thought you could fork on e3 instead of recapturing but you're right, thank you

[@gsyamsri8122]

Really awkward. Who would have bet on that? A few months ago, most people commenting games on youtube or anywhere else, used to consider the analyse mode from stockfish to really give the best possible move most of the time. I mean, if commentators, including NM+, are honest, they will agree on that. They used to have SF analyse "best choices" (recommendation) as references for comparison between one player's move to the "best possible" move or close too. By "close too" I don't mean there are few better move, no, I mean that there may only sometimes be a few better moves that the computer is not really able to catch, but they really often (more than half of the time) used to refer recommended moves as "probably THE very ONE best", period. Or at least they really failed to make it clear if they weren't considering these as. So whether these games between AZ & ST are a bit of a show where Google voluntarily handicapped SF exactly where AZ can outplay it, so they can show their baby to advantage... (I'm not good enough a player to state about what SF at it's best would have done)... Or really everyone were pretty wrong and SF was far far far away from having a good evaluation on the move's value, as obviously, AZ is very inclined to find better options most of the time than what SF would have considered the best (most rated / recommended) move over all. If true, maybe AZ itself is still far far away from finding the best possible move and will soon be crushed by something else with a much deeper understanding (who knows, if we were wrong all this time about SF, it could be that chess as it's played today is really poor compared to new ways of thinking coming soon. The most exciting thing that could happen now is to discover that AZ vs AZ doesn't end draw too often. I mean I haven't heard about games AZ vs AZ, but these games may contain some of the most valuable informations on new ways to play chess, and if it happens that it doesn't end draw too much, then there will be good reason to expect many new discoveries and surprises with the chess game in the near future. There's a game I play that is very different to chess. Poker. It is extremely complicated because including (among other originalities) a small but existing part of psychology, and the adaptation to many (up to 7) other players at the table in the same time and many other reasons why it's really hard to even think about the possibility that there could be a "best move" at all. As there is money in play, theory has been deeply studied, you know, with millions to win, players really work hard on improving their game as much as possible by any mean (and I'm looking forward for google to train their IA at poker and make it play high stakes tables with champs). And by now, no one in poker ever dare to pretend knowing such thing as a "best move" as an absolute (even if some players can claim knowing that in some situations one move is the best on a specific table at a specific moment, but mostly when it's a "fold" or an "all-in" and when opponent's strategy is well known... when you have to bet, the right amount is really a deeply hidden secret if there is one!). In poker, the games evolve much faster than in chess, maybe because of the larger amount of completely different strategies all seeming close one to another at one time, even to a very experienced player, when in fact they are FAR from close, and a few years later, a strategy that earned millions to one creative champion using it at it's time, may be considered a poor strategy easily overplayed by all top champions because there was a real leak that just needed to be unveiled. Now this AZ is really shaking our beliefs. Maybe we are really very far from analysing correctly chess moves. Maybe when we thought that best players and machines can be outplayed by just little improvements, there is in fact still a H U G E gap between what we used to consider being the "best move" or close, and the real best move (if any exist) especially in the middle game / early end-game. Maybe not, but maybe. And this idea is very exciting.

[@debbeyfagan8239]

Yes your bad bishop was indeed very bad thanks

[@aliefradilbaz]

Waow!

[@Chronickel]

Hey Jerry!🙂

[@dannygjk]

SF plays ...c5 "Sweet a protected passed pawn." *adjusts eval an additional 0.5 in black's favor*

[@eccentricli9515]

Toknights video was gold! Too bad Stockfish's pawns couldnt pass the trial, in the end the bishop only saw e=m and not the c^2s. The over extended pawns ended up being pawnished and Alphazero used his pieces to give stockfish the opposite of a pieceful game. Sorry I may have overextended on those pawuns.

[@HarryPotter-mf5pn]

U can leave now

[@dannygjk]

Huh? Sorry I don't speak arts and entertainment.