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It was a war of titans you likely never heard about. One year ago, two of the worlds strongest and most radically different chess engines fought a pitched, 100-game battle to decide the future of computer chess.

Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI

Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI

On one side was Stockfish 8. This world-champion program approaches chess like dynamite handles a boulderwith sheer force, churning through 60 million potential moves per second. Of these millions of moves, Stockfish picks what it sees as the very best onewith best defined by a complex, hand-tuned algorithm co-designed by computer scientists and chess grandmasters. That algorithm values a delicate balance of factors like pawn positions and the safety of its king.

On the other side was a new program called AlphaZero (the "zero" meaning no human knowledge in the loop), a chess engine in some ways very much weaker than Stockfishpowering through just 1/100th as many moves per second as its opponent. But AlphaZero is an entirely different machine. Instead of deducing the best moves with an algorithm designed by outside experts, it learns strategy by itself through an artificial-intelligence technique called machine learning. Its programmers merely tuned it with the basic rules of chess and allowed it to play several million games against itself. As it learned, AlphaZero gradually pieced together its own strategy.

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AlphaZero: Shedding new light on the grand games of chess, shogi and Go

The head-to-head battle was astonishing. In 100 games, AlphaZero never lost. The AI engine won the match (winning 28 games and drawing the rest) with dazzling sacrifices, risky moves, and a beautiful style that was completely new to the world of computer chess.

British chess grandmaster Matthew Sadler and mathematician and chessmaster Natasha Regan are still piecing together how AlphaZeros strategy works in their new book, Game Changer. Were breaking open two moves in just one of the games to show the aggressive style, what it does, and what humans can learn from our new chess champion.

Lakota Gambill

Theres a lot going on here, but focus on the pawns. Mainly, that AlphaZero has already lost one on the g file, and is sacrificing yet another with this jumpy rook move. (Stockfishs next move is a queen leap to h2, gobbling up Whites lone soldier on the h file.) Run this position though many advanced chess engines, and most will tell you that with the sacrificed pieces, AlphaZero is now losing. So why is it doing this?

Sacrifices are very common in chess, but theyre almost always offered up for an immediate tactical edge or some other obvious recompense. But again and again, this magician-like chess engine makes early sacrifices like these as part of an extremely long-term strategy whose benefit wont become clear for dozens of moves into the future.

Eventually AlphaZero is going to fill the gaps left by the missing pawns with rooks, like a double-barrel shotgun. Those pawns, AlphaZero apparently believes, are worth less than the opportunity to assault the king from even more directions.

Lakota Gambill

By move 42, AlphaZero has sacrificed even more pawns, and is marching another poor, disposable sucker toward oblivion. But this move seals AlphaZeros victory. That final pawn is about to crack open Stockfishs kings corner like a knife twisting open an oyster.

Another key element to AlphaZeros style is its absolute obsession toward attacks against the opponents kingrather than focusing on more delicate tactical plays. By move 42, both of Alpha- Zeros bishops control long open diagonals directed right at the king. Its queen is one leap away from the fray. And both rooks are likewise staring down Stockfishs defense with unholy fury.

In their book, Sadler and Regan write that its important for chess masters to embrace early strategic pawn sacrifices despite the risk: Dont rush! AlphaZero doesnt attempt to deliver checkmate immediately but ensures that all its pieces are joining into the attack.

Science & Technology Reporter

William Herkewitz is a science and technology journalist based in Berlin, Germany. He writes about theoretical physics, AI, astronomy, board games, brewing and everything in between.

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AlphaZero Vs. Stockfish 8 | AI Is Conquering Computer Chess