Reactions about AlphaZero from top GMs...

[corres]

This was a demonstration for proving how powerful and efficient is the system of AlphaZero. Naturally this demonstration has a value of advertisement. Without this Google did not do that.
A note:
With the help of a AlphaZero like system Stockfish team would be able to enhance the Elo of Stockfish to such a high value than AlphaZero produced during demonstration.

[corres]

[quote="MikeB"]

alphazero demonstrated chess is not as dead (drawish) as one might think

[/quote]

This was the very subjective opinion of an attacker chess player (Vachier-Lagrave). I think it was a text for strengthen of self-confidence.

[BrendanJNorman]

Engine playing strength isn't as important as it seems for the super GMs.

I've known this for years.

I know a super strong player who still uses ProDeo 1.2 and another world class trainer who analyzes with Rybka 3.

I myself have cooked up ridiculously creative/dangerous novelties and ideas with the help of Rodent personalities, ProDeo personalities, Thinker sample games and other such "weaker" engines.

When you're against an opponent otb, the only important thing is presenting him tough to solve problems, not having the most precise analysis - even at GM level.

Like the quote from Veselin Topalov after killing Kramnik with a cute new idea:

"It's good for one game"

Engines rated at 3200+ prune a lot of the juice ideas away, because they assume the opponent is also a all-seeing genius.

Not very useful for practical players - maybe so for correspondence guys.

[corres]

[quote="BrendanJNorman"]

Engines rated at 3200+ prune a lot of the juice ideas away, because they assume the opponent is also a all-seeing genius.
Not very useful for practical players - maybe so for correspondence guys.

[/quote]

Because all correspondent player use chess engine.
That is the two chess engines play with each other and Stockfish, Houdini, Komodo rule the chess scene and no Rodent, for e.g.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

From those, only Aronyan, Karyakin and Nakamura seem to be in the know.
The rest are just, how to say it,...laymanly funny.

[Eelco de Groot]

I have not watched the video, but I found all their printed comments worthwhile. If they contradict each other it is just because potential impact is not known. This is mainly because basically we know the method, but we only have ten games which the Google team cherry picked. At least in the Deep Blue match, there were chess sport conditions, video, an arbiter, announcements in advance, spectators etc. This was basically a basement match. So the grandmasters are naturally polite, but skeptical, except for the youger ones like Karjakin. That is how it should be. All the GMs are to be commended for their spirit and grace here.

It would be nice to have a reaction from Magnus. But it would be a little bit like Tord I think. Very level headed

[IQ]

From those, only Aronyan, Karyakin and Nakamura seem to be in the know.
The rest are just, how to say it,...laymanly funny.

As just about everything you say here about alphazero is blatantly false, I must say that i find your statements "sub-laymanly" and not even one iota funny.

[shrapnel]

As just about everything you say here about alphazero is blatantly false

+1.
Sad, but true.
Usually I like reading Mr Tsvetkov's Posts.
But his stubborn refusal to read the writing on the wall regarding the revolutionary AlphaZero is disappointing, to say the least.

[duncan]

Really ?
In the first place, I don't see any Advertisements by them selling AlphaZero, so where is the question of them making money ?
Secondly, if they really wanted to make money, they would have to adapt AlphaZero so that it would at least run on High-End computers with powerful Graphic Cards like the nVidia Titan.
In that case, they fully deserve all the Profit they make, as AlphaZero simply DESTROYS all modern chess programs, whether the old men here who spent their whole lives using/developing those chess programs like it or not.
Darwinian Laws are at work here. Adapt, or become a part of History.

I assume he meant a fantastic advertisement for google. the 20 million dollars they spent on this gets paid back 10 times, if all governments think google is god incarnate and says hand over your data, so we can get cancer curing drugs, double your growth rate etc.

who would dare to refuse and remain stuck in the dark ages.

google would be in a good position if all the governments line up and compete to beg google to take their data.

google may or may not live up to the hype. In the meantime they have made themselves lots more money even if they can achieve a 10th of their promise.

I am not trying to be anti-google. they have made stunning achievements. if a month ago they said that with our latest top of the range hardware we can believe we can overtake stockfish in 4 hours starting from scratch with no human input who would have believed them even knowing about alpha go. ?

to anybody who knows even the least about the difference between go and chess it sounds like fantasy world.

[gbtami]

Interesting reactions about AlphaZero from top GMs at the London Chess Classic, and a lengthy comment from Tord Romstad:

https://www.chess.com/news/view/alphaze ... ish-author

link to the video clips from above article:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/207621332

Strange Tord nitpicking on time control issue. That's a bit silly for a 28-0 score. Other thing of Tord and of some GMs are interesting.

I don't think Tord was nitpicking. He just pointed out some facts. But the best was the summary: "Stockfish vs AlphaZero is very much a comparison of apples to orangutans"