Silicon Road: More Crazy Leela hunting in the 6.Bg5 Sicilian Najdorf! Leela WDL Contempt Part 9

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 ninth video continues our examination of Leela's suggestions! Note that the analyses of these games in these videos reflect the thoughts I had during the game! I thought this made sense as we are using Leela to prepare against a human opponent so it seems right to describe how it feels! For the objective truth, take a look at the analysis of my games against Leela by Stockfish and Dragon which is available from the usual place: cloudserver.che...
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...)
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

[@fwr9574]

As you've mentioned several times during this series Matthew, Leela's tendency to chill out and do something very quiet during the middlegame is so beautiful. A lot of its moves in this game barely made any impression, but they somehow add up to something completely overwhelming.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yeah, I always realise a few moves too late that the little tactics I was relying on no longer work because Leela has woven together some consolidating moves that neutralise my threats! It's really tough playing against Leela!

[@SiliconRoadChess]

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?” My blog entry matthewsadler.me.uk/engine-chess/setting-up-wdl-contempt-for-leela-in-nibbler/on explains how to set this feature up.

[@daniscool5092]

I'd love to see a video about Lela wdl vs the dragon Sicilian! It's an opening I see all the time. Would also love to see Lela playing the Yugoslav attack, it's one of my favorite Fisher recommended openings would be positively extatic to see wdl Lela's take on it!

[@danielarthurs1698]

Sicilian dragon would be a great example video! Would definitely watch that 😮

[@SiliconRoadChess]

I'll add it to my list! Lots to look at! ☺

[@SiliconRoadChess]

👍

[@loosehorsemedia]

Nice battling on the side of the humans, Matthew! Especially in the open sicilians it feels like Leela could pick from a v wide range of complicated-but-objectively no-better-than-the-mainlines sidelines and then use its superhuman strength to squeeze the poor human. So much to learn from. Thanks again for this amazing series! Not that I'm impatient for more crazy opening ideas ... but while we await more vids on this channel, are there any conversations in the dark recesses of the internet (discords, reddits etc) where people are throwing out (presumably far less fleshed out) opening ideas that WDL Leela has came up with?

[@SiliconRoadChess]

I've heard little snatches of people trying out stuff, but noone seems to have posted anything serioys for the moment. Do take a look at the TCEC tournament though - there is a serious test of Crazy Leela going on with monster hardware!

[@patrickdaly1088]

Between this, and the Makagonov variation game you showed us, it never ceases to amaze me just how well Leela dominates the positions. I've known for years, since I bought Game Changer, that Neural Nets love to really restrict their opponents, but Bf5 was truly shocking. It just didn't click until that moment that suddenly, none of black's pieces make any sense. All of your moves made total sense up till that point, I'm following along with the plans, looks like you've got some counterplay still, and then... "Wait, what happened?"

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yes I've really had a lot to endure from that point of view! 😂 😂 It's been a mixture of admiration and horror watching it from my end!

[@patrickdaly1088]

@@SiliconRoadChess I really feel for you, thanks for enduring Leela's abuse for our sake! These games are worth it, at least to someone who doesn't have to suffer at her hands XD

[@michaelf8221]

This was a very solid opening choice for team human. Ultimately looked like you defanged the whole opening idea by Leela... until engines show that they're engines and you collapsed amidst the insanely tricky tactics.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yes indeed the opening wasn't too bad but the middlegame was way trickier than I had thought (I understood I was a bit worse, but it all seemed manageable!)

[@smashu2]

Try to make Leela play Von Henning-Schara Gambit next. And play the white side...

[@SiliconRoadChess]

I'll add it to my list!

[@loosehorsemedia]

a whole sub-series of Crazy Leela playing some suspicious-but-sharp gambit lines as black against Matthew would be amazing ... but I feel like Matthew has plenty lined up for us as it is ...

[@user-gg6df4xr3i]

leela is my fav,might not be the best but...defo my fav.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yeah we all love Leela! ☺

[@BramCohen]

After watching your videos I've been playing lots of good solid computer approved best moves which improve the position but with the occasional tactical blunder thrown in because my tiny little human brain struggles to calculate tactics

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yeah that's always tough... especially when you have to keep on doing it for prolonged periods!

[@luciangv3252]

How to deal when ur opponent have the center pawn? Leela máster class, control one side with the bishop and return to the center.. wow

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Yeah pretty cool! 😎

[@Dhoomcr67]

Instead of nbd7 if black play be7 i think hilariously we transpose to a line in giri course: 6.h3,e5,nb3,be7,be3,h6,qf3,b5,0-0-0 (also 6.be3,e5,nb3,be7,h3,h6). So by accident we are in somewhat of known position and i think this is a somewhat of failed way to crack the najdorf from lela because if the opponent will blitz out theory isn’t the best way for 2700 to beat 2300 player.

[@SiliconRoadChess]

Well first of all Black has to work out the transposition, and if you're not prepared for this unusual line, you're unlikely to be able to blitz it out. I think 7.Qf3 is a pretty decent way of playing against the Najdorf under these conditions!