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Something weird is happening with LLMs and chess

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 1515 implied HN points • 14 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI LLMs Chess Gaming Research
  1. Large language models (LLMs) can somewhat play chess, but they struggle after the opening moves. They were not specifically designed for chess, yet they can manage to play using their text training.
  2. The performance of different language models varies significantly when playing chess. Some models like 'gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct' excel at it, while others perform very poorly.
  3. It seems that focusing on instruction tuning can make LLMs worse at chess, suggesting that training style impacts their ability to play games effectively.

OK, I can partly explain the LLM chess weirdness now

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 796 implied HN points • 21 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI LLMs Machine Learning Data science Chess
  1. LLMs like `gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct` can play chess well, but most other models struggle. Using specific prompts can improve their performance.
  2. Providing legal moves to LLMs can actually confuse them. Instead, repeating the game before making a move helps them make better decisions.
  3. Fine-tuning and giving examples both improve chess performance for LLMs, but combining them may not always yield the best results.

Why You Should Be A Control Freak

Zwischenzug • 432 implied HN points • 03 Feb 24
🚌 Education Chess Learning Strategy
  1. Control in chess means knowing what your opponent can do and being ready for it.
  2. Maintaining control is crucial, especially in winning positions.
  3. The engine's evaluation may not reflect the full complexity of a position, so human perspective is key in strategic decisions.
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Chess is 99% taking pieces

Zwischenzug • 628 implied HN points • 22 Jul 23
🎾 Sports Chess Strategy Learning Competition Instruction
  1. In chess, 99% of the game is about taking your opponent's pieces and not hanging your own.
  2. For many players, improvement comes from mastering basic concepts like piece safety rather than advanced strategies.
  3. Efficiency matters, so seek out resources that help you practice and improve on keeping your pieces safe in chess.

Is Chess a Game of Luck?

Zwischenzug • 471 implied HN points • 14 May 23
🎾 Sports Chess Luck Results Training
  1. Chess is a game of skill, not luck. Players have full control over their moves.
  2. There is still some luck involved in chess, such as external distractions or unexplained variations in performance.
  3. To improve in chess, focus on the process, consider long-term results, and seek outside perspectives for feedback.

Ratings Are Broken

Zwischenzug • 412 implied HN points • 29 Jul 23
🎾 Sports Chess Statistics
  1. Lower rated players are winning more often than expected.
  2. New underrated players entering the rating pool are causing downward pressure on ratings.
  3. Proposed solutions include a one-time rating boost for players under 2000 and changes in rating calculations.

Beating Hikaru

Zwischenzug • 373 implied HN points • 25 Feb 23
🎾 Sports Chess Competition Cheating Tournament Strategy
  1. The importance of strategic moves in chess and unexpected turnarounds in a game.
  2. The experience of being selected for fair play screening in chess tournaments and the stress it can bring to players.
  3. The challenges and implications of cheating suspicion in online chess tournaments, and the need for transparent and fair anti-cheating measures.

Database Review

Zwischenzug • 353 implied HN points • 19 Jun 23
🎾 Sports Chess Poker Strategy Analysis Games
  1. In poker, understanding strategy requires looking at the big picture over many hands.
  2. Chess is a game of specifics and calculation, unlike poker which has too many possibilities to calculate precisely.
  3. In both chess and poker, it's essential to have a global view of your strategy to identify and correct systematic mistakes.

Spaced Repetition

Zwischenzug • 334 implied HN points • 27 May 23
🚌 Education Chess Tools Application Effectiveness
  1. Spaced repetition helps you remember by reviewing just before forgetting.
  2. Tools like Chessable and Anki can automate and personalize spaced repetition for chess.
  3. Use spaced repetition for openings, tactics, and reviewing mistakes in chess, but remember it's just one tool among many for learning.

Openings vs. Ratings

Zwischenzug • 314 implied HN points • 29 Apr 23
🎾 Sports Chess Ratings Strategies Competition
  1. At lower levels, expect to face 1. e4 often and focus more on Black opening preparation.
  2. In mid ratings, the London system is common, so be prepared for it.
  3. As you climb the rating ladder, face a variety of moves, so focus on preparing for the most common ones at your level.

An opening data strategy

Datent • 117 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Data Strategy Chess Business strategy
  1. Strategies are guiding principles and need a clear purpose for decision-making.
  2. Focus on maximizing the benefits of data through data product management, managing data culture, and running a data transformation program.
  3. Feedback and continuous improvement are essential in developing effective data strategies.

Creating Individualised Chess Engines

Chess Engine Lab • 39 implied HN points • 26 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis Programming Chess Machine Learning
  1. An engine called Maia focused on predicting human moves accurately instead of just being the strongest in chess, resulting in a more meaningful impact, especially for club-level players.
  2. By individualizing chess engines to predict moves of specific players, accuracy can be increased by 4-5% and players can be identified with 98% accuracy from a pool of 400, based on their game patterns.
  3. Identifying players through their mistakes is a crucial aspect - as mistakes are unique to individual players, understanding and fixing them can greatly aid in chess improvement.

Using LC0's WDL to Analyze Games

Chess Engine Lab • 19 implied HN points • 23 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Chess Analysis Artificial Intelligence Data Visualization Gaming
  1. Analyzing chess games using LC0's WDL can provide a more insightful overview of the game compared to centipawn graphs.
  2. Increasing the number of nodes per move in analysis results in spikier graphs, showing more extreme evaluations; finding a balance between accuracy and relevance to human play is important.
  3. Using WDL contempt values in LC0 analysis can adjust the winning probabilities based on player ratings, offering a new perspective on game outcomes.

Stalemate, Zugzwang and a long Middle Game

Comment is Freed • 103 implied HN points • 19 Sep 23
🌍 World Politics War Ukraine Russia Chess Metaphors
  1. Stalemate can highlight the need for diplomatic resolutions in war situations.
  2. The term 'stalemate' in chess refers to a specific situation where one player cannot make any legal moves, unique to the game.
  3. The concept of 'Zugzwang' in chess signifies being compelled to make a move that leads to a worse position, showcasing strategic vulnerability.

[Review] Move First, Think Later: Sense and Nonsense in Improving Your Chess

Arjun Panickssery • 39 implied HN points • 18 Sep 23
🚌 Education Chess Learning Reading Problem Solving
  1. The book challenges traditional chess teaching methods by emphasizing pattern recognition over structured thinking.
  2. Verbal descriptions may not be effective in teaching chess moves, as examples show that pattern familiarity is crucial.
  3. The effectiveness of absorbing chess patterns quickly is compared to language learning, emphasizing the importance of practical application.

Elo ELI5'd

inexactscience • 39 implied HN points • 15 Jul 23
🎾 Sports Chess Competition Rankings Statistics Mathematics
  1. Elo ratings are used to compare the strength of players, particularly in chess. They help predict the outcome of games based on the players' ratings.
  2. The formula for updating Elo ratings takes into account the expected score of a player and the actual outcome of a game. If the outcome is surprising, the rating changes more significantly.
  3. Elo ratings can also be applied beyond chess to other areas, like ranking items or comparing performance in various fields, showing their versatility as a simple yet effective system.

[Solution]Problem 60:N Queens [FAANG+ everyone else]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 14 Oct 22
🕹 Technology Backtracking Recursion Chess
  1. The problem of placing n queens on an n x n chessboard without them attacking each other is known as the n-queens puzzle.
  2. Backtracking and recursion are commonly used strategies for solving the n-queens puzzle.
  3. Solutions to the n-queens puzzle involve distinct board configurations with 'Q' representing a queen and '.' representing an empty space.

Corridor numbers, Fibonacci numbers, and Pascal’s triangle

A Piece of the Pi: mathematics explained • 12 implied HN points • 25 Feb 24
🔬 Science Mathematics Geometry Chess Induction
  1. Corridor numbers count ways to take diagonal steps down a corridor with fixed width. The numbers in each box form Fibonacci numbers when summed vertically.
  2. Fibonacci sequence is generated by summing the previous two terms. In the context of corridor numbers, Fibonacci numbers represent different routes to specific boxes.
  3. Pascal's triangle has rows starting and ending with 1, where each entry is the sum of two nearest entries from the row above. Circular Pascal arrays relate to corridor numbers and can produce Fibonacci numbers when subtracting specific entries.

How Games Will Save the World (Again)

Donkeyspace • 1 HN point • 22 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Games Art AI Chess
  1. Games have a unique ability to help us navigate crises by offering new ways of thinking beyond formal models.
  2. Art, including games, plays a significant role in shaping human values, perspectives, and cognition.
  3. Through games, we engage in problem-solving, skill-building, and self-modification, which can be beautiful, pleasurable, and essential for understanding complex concepts.

Calculating the Sharpness of Different Players

Chess Engine Lab • 0 implied HN points • 19 Apr 24
🎾 Sports Chess Players Tournaments Games Styles
  1. The sharpness score can be used to assess chess players' gameplay, comparing their style and strategic decisions.
  2. To calculate a player's sharpness, looking at the change in sharpness after each move can help isolate individual performance.
  3. Analyzing sharpness in matches between players can provide insights into their contrasting styles and performance evolution over time.