Quote:
Originally Posted by gary
Originally Posted by Philip E. Ross, IEEE Spectrum
Deep Blue was a monster of a machine built solely to play chess, and its 1997 victory over Kasparov was not overwhelming. Today, though, even a smartphone can outplay Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion, and do so again and again:
But that smartphone is just a piker compared to the top conventionally programmed chess program, Stockfish. And Stockfish, in turn, is a piker next to AlphaZero, which crushed it after a mere 24 hours of self-training.
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And here is AlphaZero crushing Stockfish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcdpgn9OINs
Follow links on the site to see other AlphaZero games.
Obviously there is much more to developing this AI than just winning a game, noble as that is. However it is also affecting chess. For one thing all important games are now analyised in real time by a chess engine which evaluates who is in the better position (and, I presume, suggests the next move). Clearly the players should be unaware of all this but of course the motivation to get a little bit of assistance is pretty great. There have already been (farcical) accusations along these lines but real cases will surely occur. I also wonder about classical chess where the day's play finishes after 40 moves. What is to stop players (and seconds) from spending he night analyzing the position on a computer? Players have always had help overnight but having AlphaZero takes this to a new level.
It also changes, for the better or worse depending on your perspective, the audience's experience. On one hand the duffer players now know who is in the best position but on the other they no longer have to think hard about who they believe is in the better position.
Finally, it is affecting how the game is played. For one thing, it must improve opening theory. However it may not improve games. The presenter on the site I referenced above feels that players are playing very strong, machine-like moves for about 12-15 moves and then, once they have passed the moves they have memorised, the standard drops. It may not be because the players are any weaker than in the past so much as they more or less have to turn on their brain part way through the match, rather than being deeply involved from the start. Sort of like picking up a job that someone else has started.
Anyway, the genie is out of the bottle and we'll just have to see what eventuates.