Category: Engine Chess

July 24, 2022 Matthew Sadler 4 comments

This article supplements a series of videos about Stockfish’s opening repertoire which appeared on the “Silicon Road to Chess Improvement” YouTube site (https://www.youtube.com/c/SiliconRoadChess). This article provides an overview of Stockfish’s main openings; for all the detail and many surprises(!) take a look at the video series!

July 10, 2022 Matthew Sadler 2 comments

It struck me that it would be intriguing to look at the opening choices of the latest engines and to compare them to conventional wisdom about the opening. When I talk about “conventional wisdom” I’m not talking about the current thinking of elite players about the opening but more about the orthodoxy which was prevalent until about 10 or 15 years ago and which I think is still how the average non-professional chess player thinks about openings.

November 10, 2021 Matthew Sadler 3 comments

We witness a fantastic tactical episode from Stockfish against Leela. Black’s king is caught in the centre and its kingside pieces are undeveloped but it isn’t clear how to transform these dynamic advantages into something concrete. Stockfish shows the way!
Lots of useful tactical motifs to drill into your head here – they will certainly come in handy in your games!

November 9, 2021 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

A central break on move 14 unleashes the attacking potential in White’s position creating an attack which combines mating threats and queen traps to leave Black bound hand and foot!
It’s a really unusual attack with some instructive themes from a typical Queen’s Indian structure – well worth remembering!