https://www.chess.com/news/view/david-silver-alphazero-reinforcement-learning

Making an appearance in Lex Fridman's Artificial Intelligence Podcast, DeepMind's David Silver gave lots of insights into the history of AlphaGo and AlphaZero and deep reinforcement learning in general. Today, the finals of the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCC) start between Stockfish and Lc0 (Leela Chess Zero). It's a clash between a conventional chess engine that implements an advanced alpha–beta search (Stockfish) and a neural-network based engine (Lc0). One could say...

Nakamura, MVL, Caruana Confirmed For Abu Dhabi Super Blitz Challenge On April 15

The Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club and Chess.com announce the first Abu Dhabi Super Blitz Challenge, on Wednesday, April 15. With a total prize fund of $10,000, early entries include GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and GM Alexander Grischuk. The tournament will have a time control of 3+1 and will be open to all titled players. The first stage is a 11-round Swiss. The top eight finishers will advance to an eight-player knockout playoff that will determine...

Top Five Moves: Candidates Edition

How did the contenders for the right to a world championship match become the stars they are today? Join the Ginger GM, Simon Williams, on a tour of the best moves of each of these eight amazing players. Try The Challenges! Not what you're looking for? Go back to the video guide. Ian Nepomniachtchi's Top Five Moves: GM Ian Nepomniachtchi took the 2020 Candidates tournament by storm and led with three wins and no losses after six rounds. He's currently the number-four player in the world and...

Ding Liren's Top Five Moves

Ding Liren once went 100 games between losses, has beaten Magnus Carlsen in a playoff match and is currently the third highest-rated player in the world. How did he accomplish such feats? Find out with an analysis of Ding's five greatest moves.

Greatest Bishop Endgame Ever!?

Recently, like many chess fans, I observed a mind-blowing endgame between Stockfish and Komodo from the Computer Chess Championship! I spent a day (not kidding) analyzing the position, only to realize I know nothing about chess! Enjoy! Oh wait, and here's the video if you're into that:

Man vs. Machine: Smerdon vs. Komodo

Resuming our Man vs. Machine series, this week Chess.com is hosting a match between Australian grandmaster David Smerdon and Komodo. The chess engine will be playing with knight odds. The match, held in conjunction with a special anniversary issue of the "ICGA Journal" (International Computer Games Association), will consist of six games with a time control of 15 minutes and a 10-second increment per move. Smerdon plays black in every game; Komodo will be missing a knight in the starting positions,...

Coronavirus vs. Chess

The novel coronavirus has paralyzed the world, and unfortunately, there is no clear sign of it slowing down. It will take years if not decades to learn the final toll it took on humankind. Needless to say, chess was severely impacted, just like everything else. Let's take a look at how COVID-19 affected three broad groups of chess players. Chess Professionals Naturally, this group of players suffered the most. No, I am not talking about the chess elite, since I really doubt that Magnus Carlsen...

Still Stuck In Germany, Anand Joins COVID-19 Initiatives

Still not able to fly back home and unite with his family, GM Viswanathan Anand has posted a video message related to the COVID-19 crisis as other Indian players are also speaking out. Anand has now been in Germany for just under a month, unable to travel back to his wife and son in Chennai, India. After providing commentary for Chess.com on the FIDE Candidates tournament from Europe, the five-time world champion now spends his time like so many of us in these strange times,  mostly inside...

Incredible Bishop Endgame Played In Computer Chess Championship

The ongoing Chess.com Computer Championship saw a fascinating endgame between Stockfish and Komodo played on April 3. GM Dejan Bojkov and IM Daniel Rensch take a closer look at the main theme: zugzwang. In the absence of major chess events, the interest in computer tournaments is growing again. Currently, chess fans can follow both the TCEC and our very own championship, which is currently seeing its 13th edition. The tournament has reached the semifinals stage, played among the engines Leela...