AlphaZero article

anchor4208

Chess.com is prominently featuring an article on AlphaZero by our own Mel O'Cinneide. It's a really good piece, and getting a very positive response. Have a read yourselves https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-does-alphazero-play-chess

sodacat11

I despair sometimes at the influence computers have on chess and particularly the way people try to "humanize" them calling them "the greatest player" etc etc.
A computer is a machine,it does not "play" chess, it merely demonstrates the best moves in the same way as it might tell you that if a snooker cue ball is struck at 15k per hour towards an object ball lying on 2mm of baize with a room temperature of 25 degrees and a dust likelihood of .066% arrives at a 43 degree angle of impact the ball will go into the centre pocket and the cue ball will come to rest six inches from the baulk cushion.
Sport entails psychology,emotions and the conquering not only of an opponent but of one's inner self. A competitor who cannot feel ill or nervous or make mistakes might just as well be using performance enhancing drugs. A human is not allowed to use a hashtable, or processor or engine or whatever when it plays chess so why should a computer be allowed to break the rules the way it does?? Carlson is currently the strongest player in the world NOT Alpha zero. Long live Ludditetry!!