Silicon Road: Blitzing out Crazy Leela ideas on Lichess! Bashing the Benko with the g4 bazooka!

In July 2023, the Leela team introduced a feature called WDL (Win/Draw/Loss) Contempt. Behind this austere technical name, there's something amazingly cool! You tell Leela “Look I’m playing White against an opponent rated 400 ELO lower than me. Can you suggest some ideas in the opening to maximise my winning chances against such an opponent?” During analysis, Leela will look to sharpen the play to a degree appropriate to the ELO difference! This new series of videos has tested out completely fresh Leela ideas against unsuspecting Lichess blitz opponents! This video tries out an outrageous new idea against the Benko! No more whipping out the first 15 moves on auto-pilot for the black player!
As always, there's a hugely detailed pgn with analysis of my Lichess games by Leela, Stockfish, Dragon and Torch which is available from a chapter of the following Lichess Study: lichess.org/st...
Check out the Leela blog for more technical explanations: lczero.org/blo...
My blog entry "Getting Leela to analyse and play in the style you want! Part 1 - Setting up WDL Contempt" matthewsadler.... explains how to set this feature up in the superb Nibbler GUI.
For more information about how to set up Leela and the Nibbler GUI, take a look at the free supplementary material provided with my book "The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement" (www.newinchess...)
Finally check out the cool new Novelty Grinder tool (github.com/ski... and matthewsadler....) which seeks out Leela opening suggestions in an automated fashion!
I’m grandmaster Matthew Sadler, a 2-times British Champion, and ranked in the world’s top 50 for many years. I’m also a prolific author. My latest book "Re-Engineering the Chess Classics" appeared in May 2023. It uses the techniques described in "The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement" to analyse afresh thirty-five of the most fascinating and complex chess games ever played by World Champions and other top grandmasters.
"Re-Engineering the Chess Classics" is available from here:
www.newinchess... (Paperback English edition)
www.amazon.co.... (Paperback English edition)
"The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement" - which came out in October 2021 is, just like this channel, all about learning from and training with engines. My previous book, the award-winning Game Changer - written together with Natasha Regan - brought the amazing chess games of DeepMind’s AlphaZero to the world.
The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement is available from here:
www.newinchess... (Paperback English edition)
www.amazon.com... (Paperback and Kindle)
forwardchess.c... (Digital)
"Game Changer" came out on 20th January 2019 and won the prestigious ECF Book of the Year and FIDE Book of the Year prizes for 2019! The Game Changer chess book is available in print and digital versions from these links:
newinchess.com/... (Paperback English edition)
forwardchess.c... (Digital)
www.chessable.... (Digital)
www.amazon.com... (Paperback and Kindle)
www.amazon.de/... (Hardback German edition)
#siliconroad
#matthewsadler
#tcec

[@SiliconRoadChess]

This new series of videos has tested out completely fresh Leela ideas against unsuspecting Lichess blitz opponents! This video tries out an outrageous new idea against the Benko! No more whipping out the first 15 moves on auto-pilot for the black player! As always, there's a hugely detailed pgn with analysis of my Lichess games by Leela, Stockfish, Dragon and Torch which is available from the usual place: cloudserver.chessbase.com/MTIyMTYx/replay.html

[@thorsthunder2670]

Nice stuff, I feel sorry for your opponents having to play against crazy leela.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

No mercy! 😉😊

[@I_am_Itay]

Very nice idea! Another interesting attempt for black- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. g4 Nxg4 6. e4 d6 7. b6 Qxb6 8. Bh3 f5 9. exf5 Qb4+ 10. Nc3 Bxf5 11. a3 Qc4 12. f4 Nh6 13. Bf1 Qd4 14. Bd2 Nd7 15. Nf3 Qf6 16. Qa4 Rb8 17. O-O-O g6 18. Ng5 Ng4 19. Ne6 Nf2 20. Bxa6 Rb6 21. Bc4 Bh6 22. Rhf1 Nxd1 23. Nxd1 Rf8

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Oh yes that's also a very nice line!

[@zchhansen]

Totally separate line; I know that a lot of people avoid playing the direct Tarrasch as black because of the dreaded 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.dxc5 d4 7.Na4 Bxc5, and a pretty unfun game for black. Contempt Leela turns this line on its head with 8...Bf5! I've gotten some pretty fun stomps in this line, as it can be really hard for white to find time to castle, and black usually quickly castles long and puts both rooks on d8 and e8. Has been a lot of fun, and I'd say semi-engine approved. White needs to walk a narrow path to keep any more advantage than the typical Bxc5 line, but black gets more fun no matter what.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Oh nice! Brilliant! Yes Leela with contempt is so good at finding these difficult to handle lines for the opponent! Really good you're using it for your own openings! 😊

[@Temiraker]

Fascinating line against the benko. I'm really enjoying the content, and I'm looking forward to see more of your new blitz repertoire.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Ah great thanks! Glad you're enjoying it! It's been a lot of fun putting all this together and playing all these crazy ideas! 😊

[@user-xb5mi6gf7l]

Hello Matthew. Yesterday I was talking with Kim (Koivisto/Torch dev), and showed him an insane Equisetum -Leela game, that happened in CCC (rating-brawl-2023, game 1465). Tbh in the middlegame it looks like an absolute chaos as if both sides are playing with some serious amounts of contempt. The deciding ab followed by Ba4 is a really cool idea as well. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as we did. Kim made a comment about it as well, but I think it was auto -deleted due to having a direct link to it Best regards, Alexander :)

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Ah thanks! I'll take a look at it! 😊

[@JuanCalfucuraT]

This is almost the same idea of black playing the navara gambit against the Reti opening, such a nasty and dangerous idea!

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yes indeed - very similar!

[@magic_hotel]

Aah, the usefulness of my once comprehensive NCO is taking a real battering these days. What I badly need is a companion volume that picks up on the gaps in NCO, incorporates 'Leela's revelations', and distills the best of Bosch's 'Secrets of Opening Surprises'. Is there a very ambitious author out there?

[@SiliconRoadChess]

You'd certainly need one with a lot of time! 😊😊

[@jeroenschuil1084]

Ha, all the inspiration I need to prepare for the summer tournaments!

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Great! And quite a bit more to come! 😊 Basically my entire blitz repertoire 😂

[@flora5090]

Super interesting idea with g4, I quite enjoy it. Would love to see some "crazy Leela" ideas in the King's Gambit

[@SiliconRoadChess]

There were a few Leela King's Gambit games in the Leela with Contempt gauntlet played at the TCEC: tcec-chess.com/#div=contemptla&game=1&season=26 was the first game of the event and tcec-chess.com/#div=contemptla&game=43&season=26 and tcec-chess.com/#div=contemptla&game=44&season=26 were a couple of King's Gambit games!

[@flora5090]

@@SiliconRoadChess ah, thank you so much!

[@adithyakaravadi8170]

Absolutely love it! Please continue the leela ideas series, would love to see some ideas in London. Thanks!

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Oh the London System - hadn't thought of that! I;ll add it to the list!

[@adithyakaravadi8170]

@@SiliconRoadChess Thank you 🤩

[@interstellarbeatteller9306]

Magnus will be playing this soon! I'm convinced engines play with creativity & have concepts of play. Leela didn't push that pawn because of calculation, it's maybe more like controlling where the fight takes place? Hanging your king & having 3 isolated pawns is like more like my 1000-rated maniac style than a calculating machine! Great video, thank you💯

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Ah thanks! I am looking out for the first person to play 5.g4 now! 😂😂😂

[@interstellarbeatteller9306]

"Leela, you got me on my knees, Leela,.."

[@SiliconRoadChess]

😂😂

[@user-xb5mi6gf7l]

Really cool games!

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Thanks! 😊😊😊

[@Jaylooker]

Engines usually suggest ambitious kingside pawn pushes for space against Benoni and Benoni-like pawn structures

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yep, althoguh this is on a somewhat crazier level!

[@Jaylooker]

@@SiliconRoadChess And it works

[@allanbeardsworth2295]

Another brilliant video. Thank you as always, Matthew.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Thanks Allan! 😊😊😊

[@Farraway]

Love the energy your brining to these videos lately. Somehow it really helps me engage with the content. Well played 👍

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Ah super thanks! The subject matter really helps I have to say: really fascinating ideas!

[@user-gg6df4xr3i]

Matthew,i have your books at my side (game changer in particular) and all the videos with you and natasha from over the last 4-5 years for a nice english repertoire i'm making...Nice upload,was wondering if one would drop today,set up with leea yestrday and banksiaGUI and followed your supplement instructions for the set up on the nodes.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Ah fantastic! Yes there are some good Game Changer videos on the English! 😊

[@user-gg6df4xr3i]

@@SiliconRoadChess Yeah brilliant videos matthew

[@SiliconRoadChess]

@@user-gg6df4xr3i Thanks!! 😄😄

[@mrpizza6503]

would u recommend to actually play it in clasical games or no?

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yep definitely. This one is pretty sound and very nasty to face!

[@rakshitsingh5281]

Hey mathew , im developer trying to understand more about opening prep and leela and the contempt settings, are there any resources you can recommend. I dont understand how using stockfish's third-fourth engine line is different from using leela's contempt settings

[@SiliconRoadChess]

The Leela blog is the best place for technical information about this: lczero.org/blog/ The difference is that Leela's chosen lines are optimising for e.g. wins with associated plans / ideas. Stockfish's 4th best line is just a less good move without any compensating optimisation for winning chances.

[@rakshitsingh5281]

@@SiliconRoadChess thanks will read more, also love the work you have been doing :)

[@SteveGchess]

Where is the pgn file for this?

[@SiliconRoadChess]

lichess.org/study/GJ5NRo9a/coM8VQCy is the new Lichess location!