Of chess, it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.
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[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.01.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stockfish 8"]
[Black "AlphaZero"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "3600"]
[ECO "C58"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "3378"]
{ In my opinion, this game is the most important game in the history of chess.
It is without a doubt one of the very few best games of chess ever played.
An artificially intelligent combination of computer hardware and software
called AlphaZero rocked the chess and computer world when it convincingly
beat Stockfish 8 in a 1000 game match January 2018. AlphaZero won 155 games
and lost only 6 games.|(AlphaZero was created by a company named Deep Mind
based in London, England. Deep Mind is owned by Google which is part of the
Alphabet Corporation. The name AlphaZero may have been derived from the
overarching corporation.)|Stockfish 8 is rated around 3400, well above the
ratings around 2800 of the world's best human players. Even more astonishing
is the report that the AI attained superhuman/supercomputer strength after
playing itself for less than 24 hours, and was given no domain knowledge
except the rules of chess.|Contrary to early speculation, AlphaZero did
not have the advantage of a supercomputer against much weaker Stockfish
hardware. AlphaZero played on first generation AI hardware, and Stockfish was
configured as it was during the 2016 Top Chess Engine Championship with 44
threads on 44 cores and a large 32GB hash.|This is one of the games it
played to defeat Stockfish. } 1. e4 { Stockfish opens with its king pawn
whereas AlphaZero prefers queen pawn. This game demonstrates why. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 { Stockfish does not fear the tactical Fried Liver
Attack. } 4... d5 5. exd5 { AlphaZero avoids the risky Fried Liver Attack and
sacrifices a pawn to open its own lines of attack. } 5... Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 { AlphaZero has steered the the opening into the well known main line of
the Two Knights Opening. White's minor pieces are uncoordinated and subject
to attack. } 8. Bd3 Nd5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. O-O Nf4 11. Re1 Nxd3 12. cxd3 O-O { Black gives up another pawn. Note how AlphaZero buried white's dark-squared
bishop. This is typical of AlphaZero's playing style. Reduce the scope of
your opponent's pieces while increasing the scope of your pieces. Black's
pawns are in the way so just get rid of them. White's pawns are racked and
stacked blocking white's pieces. } 13. Nxe5 c5 14. Nc3 Bb7 15. b3 Re8 16. Nc4 Nxc4 17. Rxe8+ { This is a novelty as Stockfish plays to win with two pawns
up. } ( { The immediate recapture is only good for a draw: } 17. dxc4 Rxe1+ 18. Qxe1 Bxh2+ 19. Kxh2 Qh4+ 20. Kg1 Bxg2 { Leads to a draw after: } 21. Kxg2 Qg4+ 22. Kf1 Qh3+ 23. Kg1 Qg4+ 24. Kh2 Qh4+ 25. Kg2 Qg4+ { Etc. } ) 17... Qxe8 18. bxc4 ( { If instead Stockfish played the more natural (human) move: } 18. dxc4 Qe5 19. g3 Re8 20. Ba3 h5 21. Nd5 { Offers to give back a pawn to take pressure
off of white's king. } 21... Qd4 22. Rb1 h4 23. Bb2 Qd3 24. Qf1 { Offering to trade
queens to take pressure off white's king. } 24... Qxd2 25. Qd1 Qg5 26. Qf3 Qd2 27. Qc3 Qg5 28. Qf3 Qd2 { Draw. } ) 18... Qe6 19. Bb2 Rb8 20. Nb5 { The game enters a
critcal phase where miscalculations are punished. Stockfish's deep
calculation sees no danger on the kingside. Few humans would make this
assessment. So, Stockfish moves to grab a third pawn on a7. } 20... Qg6 21. Qf1 Bf4 22. Nxa7 { As planned, white captures yet another pawn and gives his knight a
permanent outpost on b5; an outpost where the knight cannot be driven off
with a timely a6. However, greed is a terrible thing. } 22... h6 { AlphaZero does not
care to capture the pawn on d2, and instead gives its king luft in
preparation for the final assault. A very deep move showing AlphaZero's deep
understanding of the position's potential. Stockfish does not share this deep
positional understanding, nor does it see the threat. } 23. Bc3 { Stockfish
almost shows contempt for black's kingside initiative. Stockfish is playing
for pawns while AlphaZero is playing for checkmate.|How does AlphaZero
play for the win? } 23... Qh5 24. h3 ( { Of course not: } 24. g3 Qf3 25. a4 Qh1# ) 24... Ra8 { The winning move. Any chess grandmaster would likely play 25. Nb5 here
without further thought. } 25. Qd1 { Stockfish at last sees the threat, and
decides to give up his knight to avoid AlphaZero's coming attack. What did
Stockfish see that prompted this move? } ( { Saving the knight allows for a
strong kingside attack: } 25. Nb5 Bf3 { A surprising move from the human
perspective that prevents Qd1 trading off queens. My average powered PC
running Stockfish 10 took an hour to find this killer move. } 26. gxf3 ( { Probably the best defense is: } 26. g3 Ra6 27. Kh2 Qh4 28. Qg1 Rg6 29. Ba5 Rg5 30. Bd8 f6 31. Re1 Qxh3+ 32. Kxh3 Rh5# ) ( 26. Re1 Ra6 27. g3 Rg6 28. Kh2 Qh4 29. Re8+ Kh7 30. Qe1 Rg5 { Planning Qxh3, Kxh3, and Rh5 mate. } 31. Re5 f5 32. Nd6 Qxh3+ 33. Kxh3 Rh5# ) 26... Ra6 27. Kh1 Rg6 { AlphaZero now threatens to
take either the pawn on f3 or h3 resulting in checkmate. Both cannot be
defended without the loss of queen for rook. } 28. Qg2 Rxg2 29. Kxg2 Qg6+ 30. Kh1 Qxd3 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } 31. Kg2 Bxd2 32. Rd1 Qg6+ 33. Kf1 Bxc3 34. Nxc3 Qc2 35. Rd8+ Kh7 36. Nd1 Qxc4+ 37. Kg1 Qxa2 38. Ne3 Qe6 39. Kg2 c4 40. Rd5 Qc6 41. Rd1 c3 42. Rc1 Qg6+ 43. Kf1 Qd3+ 44. Kg2 f5 45. Kg3 Qd4 46. Kg2 Qd2 47. Rc2 Qd3 48. Rc1 f4 49. Nf1 c2 50. Nh2 Qd1 51. Rxd1 cxd1=Q { Black wins with a large material advantage. } ) 25... Qxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Rxa7 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } 27. Ra1 Bc6 28. a4 Rxa4 29. Rxa4 Bxa4 30. Kf1 Bb3 31. Ke2 Bd6 32. Ke3 Be7 33. Be5 f6 34. Bc7 Kf7 35. Bb6 Ke6 36. Ke2 Kd7 37. Ke1 Kc6 38. Ba5 h5 39. Kf1 Kd7 40. Bb6 Bc2 41. Ke2 Kc6 42. Ba5 Bd6 43. d4 cxd4 44. d3 Ba4 45. h4 Kb7 46. Kf1 Bd7 47. Ke2 Ka6 48. Bd8 Bf5 { Stockfish resigns.|There might continue... } 49. Kd2 Bb4+ 50. Kc2 Be1 51. f3 Bxh4 52. Kd2 Kb7 53. Be7 Kc6 54. Bf8 Bg5+ 55. Ke2 Kd7 56. Bc5 Be3 57. Bf8 g5 58. c5 h4 59. c6+ Kxc6 60. Be7 Kb5 61. Bxf6 Kb4 62. Bd8 Kc3 63. Ba5+ Kc2 64. Ke1 Bxd3 65. Bb6 Bc4 66. Bc5 Bd2+ 67. Kf2 d3 68. Be3 Bxe3+ 69. Kxe3 d2 70. Ke4 d1=Q 71. Kf5 Qd4 72. Kxg5 Bd3 73. f4 Qg7+ 74. Kxh4 Qxg2 75. f5 Be2 76. f6 Qg4# 0-1