Human games of over 100 moves are rare and the record length is 269-moves played at Belgrade half a century ago. Several lasted 251 or 255 moves, where there seems to be a termination rule. Of the 220 games games 123 were marathons of 100 moves or more 123 games, 33 of these, every one drawn, exceeded 200 moves. What stands out there is something rather different. The overriding impression from Game Changer is that the AZ v Stockfish matches were full of creative ideas, so I went to the website which has a dedicated AlphaZero page with 220 games against Stockfish. The only detail given is that Natasha Regan played a Reti Opening.

Such games probably happened, for AZ’s creator Demis Hassabis is an expert player while its team also includes Dharshan Kumaran who during his career in the 1990s was a grandmaster and world under-16 champion.Īt the back of Game Changer there are two photographs of the authors playing AZ in May last year, but there are no accompanying game moves or even any description of what happened. However, there have been no AZ games published against any humans, and indeed none published against any opponent other than Stockfish. Its principal reply to 1 d4 is the Ragozin Queen’s Gambit, all implying a rather narrow repertoire as Black which, since top grandmasters specialise in prepared lines, is something which at least in theory a future human opponent might exploit. Like Vlad Kramnik, it uses the Berlin Wall 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6. It values piece mobility highly, and is ready to sacrifice material for a complex initiative.ĪlphaZero’s opening repertoire is notable in that it avoids 1 e4 except in themed games, because it believes that 1 e4 e5 is equal. In the Queen’s Gambit Exchange it avoids the traditional queen’s side minority attack and will allow Bg4xf3 doubling White’s f pawns to create attacking chances.

Among the many themes which Sadler identifies, AZ likes Harry the h pawn to spearhead its long-term attacks with an advance to h6 which entombs a rook or bishop at h8.

Game changer alphazero