Hi all.  Let's continue our look at the
amazing set of games which were sent to
me by Deepmind recently an amazing set
of 20 games this is game 9 e4 from
stockfish 8 alpha zero played e5 Nf3 knight c6 Bishop c4 and
Bishop c5 so Giuoco piano a sort of
"school kids opening" - it teaches about
soft spots like f7 and f2 both eyeing
that sensitive early soft spot so is
there anything new that's gonna be added
to the theory here. Well first white
plays d3 - so more common is just
casting but d3 has been played quite a
bit as well now is a bit of a surprise
in this particular move order the knight
usually commits to f6 that's the usual
move so that is Alphazero going to innovate
this early in such a classical
well-trodden opening this is the
fascination of neural networks if they
can actually discover new things we
haven't really thought of now here in
fact there's a kind of very very early
idea which may be of interest to the
over the board world a6 in this
position is very very rare not
committing the knight black is just
giving that Bishop a pigeonhole for sure
sometimes that's useful especially if
white plays c3 and d4 however isn't
there an issue of the classic f7 and
stockfish pounces with Knight g5 this
wouldn't have been possible if black
played the normal move which is just to
play Knight f6 here. This is the normal
well trodden move Nf6 and say c3
or castling we're in major territory
even super grandmasters have played this
position for example Magnus Carlsen playing
white against Ding Liren at St. Louis last
year 2017 the you know top players in
the world have played from this position
but no alpha zero it finds its own route
here with a6
yes so it's revoking Ng5 isn't this
pretty awkward because black here if
Knight g5 is played here black can
castle to defend f7 and then repulse the
knight back later black it's going to be
fine
so what is going on here with a sex
after Knight g5 this is actually testing
Knight g5 not routinely casting just
going for that soft spot okay well we
have an awkward looking Knight h6 to
defend f7 for the moment white castles
d6 and now in fact is is this Knight
wasting time or something or when it
moves back there's gonna be an automatic
attack on that eight six nine and isn't
that a cool structural damage so is it a
waste of time we have a for Bishop g4
and the night goes back now if the Queen
moved here it gets a bit dangerous so
for example here like d4 hits
c2 and that's a bit awkward if Knight a
Frey then bang bishop takes a free and
then Knight take C - thanks very much so
in fact the Knights went back to F free
and now black but with that there's
actually a French surely I met unless
black wants to move the knight now so
this is really testing the concepts back
away from the glare of that bishop but
then maybe White's absolutely fighting
your blacks just wasting time has to
move them I again but this isn't the
idea black just castles here alpha zero
just castles here not minding the
structural damage now this visually
offering the double pawns here it's
often being said you know doubled pawns
have an upside they have they often
accelerate the bishops and the rooks
especially the rooks they love the open
file so it's giving a potential G file
if this bishop takes here okay you know
a bit messy that on the palm front but
that big upside is worth considering now
for
moments stocked fish is not tempted by
that h3 Bush at age five we have C frame
a no King h8 just really just embracing
the idea of push up takes to be able to
you know play rook g8 later and stop
fish does dare to take this G tanks we
have Knights BD - yeah if the Queen like
tries to hit 86 then Bishop takes F free
it's gonna be really unpleasant here for
white that's gonna have a massive
advantage so the knight protects F free
and the bishop just drops back okay so
has black just got some free be counter
play just just of this kind of sacrifice
of a bit of structure Bishop d5 now
there is potential pressure are building
up on e5 maybe white can take at some
point and then play d4 things like that
trying to shut down this bishop for
example on this diagonal but this Bishop
is kept alive hair actually alpha zero
actually just plays 97 offering b7 yeah
just just offering b7 casually that's
taken rook b8 and a six drops now okay
there's the possibility of taking on on
b2 is that the idea or something else in
fact it's something else f5 just using
the active rook here so look at alpha
zeroes rooks they're both being kind of
activated at the moment but it has been
at some material and structural costs
both the kind of sacrifices in a way
making this a very very dynamic
interesting position so yes I think we
are out of opening cook there in this
position we have king h1 being played on
e takes you might think hold on a sec
isn't there a g4 doesn't quite work
Knight h4 for example and then rook g8
check using that open road to the king
and this is devastating up to Queen d7
for example here Queen takes rook G -
and then this is now fresh thing Knight
takes F freight and that's pretty
decisive that'll be absolutely murderous
so yes it's a bit too dangerous to try G
for in this position after he takes if
we just look at this again also if we
look at night tanks this position Queen
G free check exploiting the pin taking
my H frame using the G file it's all
crushing stuff so yeah very very
exciting King h1 was played we have
Knight g6e tanks links f4 it turns out
by the way in this position it's even
rook tanks as possible let's have a
quick look at this the dynamics of this
position just for fun G for rook takes B
- this is crazy stuff but in fact this
position isn't so easy because there's a
nasty pin on f3 and this Bishop isn't
coming to the rescue
after d5 so for example Knight c4 is
pretty desperate but one else because
there's rook takes d2 now on the cards
for Bishop takes a frames so say nice
you for taking this position rook d2 and
black ends up better even here in this
line basically black ends up with a nice
position
okay so we have Knight f4 veau being
played so rook takes f5 is already it
seems possible d4 and our rook takes f5
here Queen c2 let's look at the greedy
g4 here just just roll off black can
play rook takes b2 here same sort of
thing that we've kind of seen there rook
takes d2 and that pin is pretty
devastating the light on f4 is a knife
on f4 as some grandmasters say Queen h4
and blacks yeah got a massive advantage
just mating
okay so we have Queen c2
rook have a tent that moving the rook
away
rook 81 Queen f6 and now this threatens
the bells hat front and makes it also
introduces night taste a tree or nine
takes G - so which is better in fact it
might be nine times G - the best one
rookie free defending F free let's just
have a quick check which is the actual
key fret say Bishop c4 said rookie free
it seems the best one is Knight takes do
- even though G eights covered here by
this example move we can see here
bankruptcy a check and f3 is dropping
and why it's getting mated so yes
powerful idea Knight tanks g2 is the big
one here so rookie free Perry's the F
free night we have Queen g7 so France
thing checkmate
well Brooke g1 Knight d5 now stop fish
doesn't move that rock plays Bishop b5
instead possibly if rookie to eat aches
C takes Knight before and actually that
folks the queen and the bishop here and
so that's tactically a little detail
about the position that the bishop on a6
is also a mini target in its own right
yeah yeah that's getting at an edge
there clearly so Bishop b5 just offering
the exchange here now so that's very
clever it seems if we look here Bishop
d6 was played Knight takes e4 e it's
it's gonna actually almost transpose to
the game anyway this position because
Bishop g6 was played first and now
Knight Tacey free air okay so Bishop f7
and the bishop was interested in
actually coming to this diagonal to put
pressure on this diagonal rock half on
Bishop d5 this Bishop still locked out
though to be fair so this is this is
like biting on a granite palm trainers
an 87 is not totally honest or easy for
black Bishop c4 this Bishop drops back
to 88 so you know the bishops together
in the corner here does remind of an
only again but make some major
differences here this Bishop blunt it in
this particular position by that porn
triangle so is this a strong position
enough blacks technically the exchange
up but let's do a porn counts one two
three four five one two three four five
six seven two points for it so normally
we'd often think that's that's that's
fair enough
a a five we have E for might H two butts
after Queen g5 yeah what is a little bit
on the passive side and this Queen move
actually hits not just III but a five so
yeah it is actually just gonna be one
pawn for an exchange now off to be four
so Queen takes an affray starfish gives
up III instead to keep these pawns
together which keeps the rook also out
of the game so positionally motivated as
well for the rock activity to be limited
so two pieces seem limited at the moment
the beef are limited and this Bishop
still a bit limited Knight g4 Queen g5
Queen e1 h5 the knife drops back h4
Bishop e6 Bishop c6 Bishop c4 d 5b v
Bishop props puts a b7 Bishop b3 Rock BC
ain't and now a six plat doesn't totally
mine this because it gives the b6 square
for the bishops come out later and in
fact that's use the vision thing so it's
the scenario here it's just one pawn for
the exchange now one two three four five
one two three four five six one point
exchange but there's a lot of work to do
we have the form form being installed
Queen takes a stakes does that make a
difference to once it's a blacks
workload here to convert this
g-free is dropping though but the brook
is active and we have now that g-free
dropping but yeah cifra is a target the
pawn chain to undermine hair
these two guys if see free can be taken
out default be weaker and in fact cifra
is now targeted and this looks as though
yeah it doesn't look totally great here
after see Frank is dropped but there's
still a lot of work to do let's have a
look now the technique so rock g4 here
the free track clever move 20 the fact
that King way from G freight but
actually to take out the descent upon
not the H pawn so taking out center pawn
and this is potentially liberating now
this Bishop so here and then we have
check check let's sink the technique and
they'll taking this pawn so this Bishop
is now much more active and these pawns
are dropping off so the exchange up and
yeah stop fish is not doing too well now
let's just run through these moves
briefly so there's a passed C pawn here
to work with as well of course now the
pawns are fixed there after that and
actually the game ended here in this
position let's give an example
continuation if Knight c5 rookie 5 yeah
rook d5 but white is getting into
trouble here for example the g4 is a big
target now and then it starts crumbling
very clearly okay so the big points
about this game and to use an iron games
to experiment with visits very early a6
saying it's white come on you know go
for my f7 this is basic stuff from
school chess this f7 you shouldn't be
doing this surely because night at six
because it's the relevant because you
want to be able to answer like g5 with
castling Shirley that's like a basic
premise of the Joker piano being tested
here that we can't allow Mike g5 well
alpha zero with this example is pushing
our understanding of the Joker piano
this is an innovation in such a classic
iconic opening this early innovation
with a six provoking Knight g5 I'm sure
a lot of people will be tempted Knight
g5 because the idea of putting light on
h6 when you retreat that night you're
fretting Bishop takes h6 once blacks
Castle there's no Knight g8 anymore if
that's the play Knight G AIDS when the
knight retreats it seems to tote waste
the time now has to redevelop so this
whole thing about offering the double
performs the dynamic play but also it
was nice to sac that the be several a6
pawns in this game it gave more power to
this f5 so a super aggressive opening is
witnessed in this game example and
something which is a little bit shocking
in such standard territory fascinating
stuff I hope you'll agree okay if you
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