In AlphaZero vs Stockfish, 2018 <SChesshevsky> complained about SF's passive play while I defended it. Now it was my turn to be befuddled. LC0 fails to move its d-pawn until the game is completely lost. As a result it plays without its QB and QR. But looking at the game with the video and my desktop SF makes clear what a spectacular job SF does of hindering Black's development while promoting its own. The game really does wind up looking like Morphy vs. Amateur, though.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 ed 7.0-0 dc (these are all preset moves; neither LC0 nor SF would play 7....dxc3 if it was up to them). 8.Qb3 Qf6 9.Bg5 (the "book" move here is 9.e5, but it isn't as if there's loads of precedent) Qg6 10.Nxc3 Bxc3 (this has been done, Janowski vs Lasker, 1901) 11.Qxc3 Nge7 (Lasker played 11...d6, which looks reasonable but can be strongly met with 12.e5) 12.Bxe7! Kxe7 (12....Nxe7 13.Ne5 and f7 caves in) 13.e5!

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Hindering Black's development. If now 13....d6 14.Rfe1 White is winning. SF proceeds to show the advantages of space and development.

13....Re8 14.Rae1 Kf8 15.Bd3 Qh6 16.Re4! (threatening Rh4)

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According to SF this was LC0's last chance to stay in the game with ....f5. Its main line, presented without comment, continues 17.ef Rxe4 18.Bxe4 Qxf6 19.Qc4 h6 20.h3 d5 21.Qxd5 Qe6 with a slight advantage for White.

16....g6 (another non-developing move) 17.Rfe1 Qg7 (trying to force ...d6) 18.Qc1 (if now 18...d6 19.ed Rxe4 20.Bxe4 is about + 6, so another non-developing move follows) 18....Kg8 19.h4! h6 (19....b6 trying to develop the bishop on the long diagonal and get the rook into the game is worth considering) 20.R1e3!

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If I was playing Black I'd really be unhappy at this point. My desktop SF sees White as about +1.2 on a shallow search.

21.h5 g5 22.Nxg5! Apparently only here does LC0 realize how bad its position is.

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...hg

If 22....Qxg5, the main line runs 23.Qc3 Re6 24.Rg3 Qe7 25.Reg4 Qf8 26.Bc4 +-; in other lines White can play Bb1 and Qd3. It's as if SF has all the time in the world.

23.h6! Qf8 (after ...Qxh6 24.Rh3, Black is left to contemplate the importance of moving its d-pawn). 24.Rg3! Nxe5 (LC0 does something! If instead 24....f5 25.ef Rxe4 26.Qxg5!! and, two pieces up, Black nevertheless has no defense against Qg7+) 25.Qxg5 f5 26.Rh4 Ng4

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Note that LC0 is threatening ....Re1+ here -- its only threat in the entire game, I think. If instead 26....Re7 White can just go ahead and play Qg7+ anyway.

27.Rhxg4! fg 28.Re3!! (A rook down, SF nevertheless offers to trade rooks, because LC0 will be defenseless on the diagonals leading to the king. Of course, practically speaking SF isn't a rook down; it's a bishop up, because Black's QB and QR aren't participating in the game.)

28....Rxe3 29.Qxe3 d6 (a bit late) 30.Qd4+ Kg8 31.h7+ Kf7 32.h8/Q Qxh8 33.Qxh8

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"Due to Chessbase?s repeated license violations, leading developers of Stockfish have terminated their GPL license with ChessBase permanently.

However, ChessBase is ignoring the fact that they no longer have the right to distribute Stockfish, modified or unmodified, as part of their products.

Thus, to enforce the consequences of the license termination, we have filed a lawsuit. "

The third judge, Lord Justice Birss, took a different view. While he agreed that "machines are not persons", he concluded that the law did not demand a person be named as the inventor at all.>

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technolo...

This moron ended up with "Chess for Android" (Aart Bik).

Why am I writing this? Because it was the only app that did not COMPLETELY freak me out at first sight. Tried them all (only google app stuff).

The standard GUI looks horrible (white is really white). But I found a pleasant setting (for the eyes):

<ChessBase GmbH and the Stockfish team reach an agreement and end their legal dispute>

https://stockfishchess.org/blog/202...

<The Ruy Lopez opening is generally considered to be better for White, as it allows White to control the center of the board and develop their pieces quickly. The Ruy Lopez is named after the Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura, who wrote one of the first books on chess in the 16th century. In the Ruy Lopez opening, White starts by moving their king's pawn two squares forward, followed by the knight to f3, the bishop to c4, and the queen to d3. This formation allows White to control the center of the board and put pressure on Black's position.

Black has a few different options for how to respond to the Ruy Lopez opening. One common response is the Berlin Defense, in which Black moves their knight to c6 and their bishop to e7. This defense allows Black to protect their pawn on e5 and to create counterplay on the queenside. Another option for Black is the Marshall Defense, in which Black moves their knight to c6 and their bishop to d7. This defense allows Black to control the d5 square and to create counterplay on the kingside.

Overall, the Ruy Lopez opening is considered to be better for White, as it allows White to control the center of the board and to put pressure on Black's position. However, Black has a few different options for how to respond, and the game can still be very complex and challenging for both sides.>

Sounds authoritative, but as soon as it descends to specifics it starts spouting absolute nonsense (the bishop goes to c4??).

I also prompted it to compare "The Song of Achilles" and the Iliad. It knew that <TSOA> was a 2011 novel by Madeline Miller. But apart from that...among other things, it said that "The Song of Achilles" was narrated by Achilles (nope, Patroclus) and that gods and goddesses were largely absent (nope, Achilles' mother Thetis is all over the place).

It has a scary ability to sound like it knows what it is talking about while speaking absolute rot.

<In chess, if there are no other pieces on the board, how can a king and rook checkmate a king?>

<In chess, it is not possible for a king and a rook to checkmate a lone king. This is because, even when there are no other pieces on the board, a lone king is not in checkmate unless it is in check and unable to escape. In the situation you describe, the lone king would have the option of moving to any of the eight squares adjacent to its current position, which would allow it to escape from check and prevent the checkmate.

In order for a king and a rook to checkmate a lone king, they would need to have additional pieces on the board to block the king's escape. For example, if the king and rook were backed up by a bishop, they would be able to put the lone king in check and prevent it from escaping. The king and rook would then be able to move in a coordinated fashion to put the lone king in check from multiple directions, eventually trapping it in a corner of the board and forcing it into checkmate.

<I apologize if my previous response was not clear or accurate. In chess, it is possible for a king and rook to checkmate a lone king, but only under certain conditions. In order for a king and rook to checkmate a lone king, they must be positioned in such a way that the king is unable to move to any of the eight squares adjacent to its current position. This would mean that the king is in check and unable to escape, and the king and rook could then move in a coordinated fashion to put the king in check from multiple directions, eventually trapping it in a corner of the board and forcing it into checkmate.

However, it is important to note that this scenario is unlikely to occur in a real game of chess, as it would require the players to deliberately position their pieces in a way that would allow the checkmate to occur. In a typical game of chess, the players would be focused on developing their pieces and attacking their opponent's position, rather than setting up a situation in which a king and rook could checkmate a lone king. As a result, it is unlikely that this scenario would ever occur in a real game of chess.

It should, if the makers of Stockfish use for its executable files, the file naming convention I've most often seen. It can get confusing when a version number doesn't have delimiters, such as "123". Is that version 123, 1.23, 12.3, or 1.2.3?

I use <SCID> and <ChessBase Light (2009)>, both of which allow the user to specific the engine they want to use.

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E.g. in <CBLight> go to the <Tools> menu and pick <Options>. There's a tab in the pop-up dialog for <Engines>, which has a <Browse> button.

You can use that to select your engine (assuming you remember where you put it in your local filesystem).

You might have to configure the UCI interface after that (more advanced), but the defaults should get you up and running.

* * * * *

In <SCID>, select the <Tools> button in the main menu ribbon, then pick the <Analysis Engine #1> or <...#2>.

Beware of this annoying quirk though, if the engine window is already up it toggles it off - you have to reselect it to get the configuration diaglog box.

* * * * *

This stuff is hard to follow in text (though I think I did OK above).

If you get confused then I suggest scrouging youtube for the GUI you actually use. There's millions of clips - the trouble is finding the one that works for you.