Summary: The history of chess has involved changing various rules of the game to make it more interesting and popular. Recently Alphazero, a modern neural network chess engine, has been able to change how humans approach chess. This engine learns superhuman strategies from scratch and can compose new games and can create new opening theory that appeals to chess grandmasters. This research study, “Reimagining Chess with AlphaZero” by Nenad Tomasev, Ulrich Paquet, Demis Hassabis, and Vladimir Kramnik (https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3460349), used alphazero to provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of atomic changes to the rules of chess. These rules include disabling castling and allowing the pawns to move in sideways or backwards, all of which are not allowed in a classical game of chess. The statistical and aesthetic properties of these new variants can provide insight into possible rules for the game, making it more appealing to players.  

Reaction: This article was eye-opening since, previously, I had thought that alphazero was only used to analyze the classical game of chess, not look into other variants. At first, I was slightly confused as to why alphazero was being used to find new possible rules for the game. As an avid chess player myself, I believe that alphazero’s development of new ideas in classical chess makes it unnecessary to bring up  ideas for new variants of the game. However, after some deeper thinking, I have realized the true greatness of alphazero, and that its ideas from the other variants can be used to change the approach to classical chess (for example, through the non-castling variant). My research questions involved how chess engines change the approach to chess and chess training. By comparing variants to classical chess, grandmasters can try to build bridges based off of alphazero’s ideas and try to apply them to classical chess.

Citation:

TOMAŠEV, NENAD, et al. “Reimagining Chess with AlphaZero: AI Is Driving the next Evolution of Chess, Giving Players a Glimpse into the Game’s Future.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 65, no. 2, Feb. 2022, pp. 60–66. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.eznvcc.vccs.edu/10.1145/3460349.

Are chess engines revolutionizing chess for the better or worse? How have engines such as Deep Blue, Stockfish, and Alphazero changed the way humans approach chess? Is the easier access to postgame analysis giving humans a deeper understand of the games, or is it simply making them lazier. Has the accessibility to chess engines increased cheating in in-person and online tournaments?

Entry 1

Potatoes deserve more respect! Nobody ever says “X is just better with potatoes” or “my X was topped with wonderful potatoes.” These emotions are only reserved for more fanciful fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries, blueberries, and cherries. Despite all of this, potatoes serve as a vital energy source for humans. They are what allow us to run 5+ miles or concentrate in school for 7 hours. Potatoes are the hard working people who are disregarded in society. Potatoes are the construction workers and janitors, those who serve to make this world a better place but are overlooked in the process.

Entry 2

A potato is more than an oddly shaped vegetable. It is a bridge between the East and West, a bridge between societies. Originating in the Americas, this obscure starchy tuber became a source of energy for the Spanish Conquistadors who introduced the potato to Europe. Besides its historical value, potatoes connect people at the dinner table. When was the last time you spent Thanksgiving with family without eating a potato? Its versatility is unparalleled.

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