Chess Engines Diary

  Today we are posting the final two games of the match, both of which ended in a draw. As you can observe, the power of chess engines is immense, and despite having a knight advantage, the grandmaster narrowly won the match. LeelaKnightOdds configuration  The LeelaKnightOdds bot will be using the latest version of the specialized odds network trained both for knight and for rook odds which is used since the knight odds blitz match with GM Awonder Liang in December 2024. It will search 20000 nodes per move, and use the opening book curated by GM Larry Kaufman based on the preferences of the odds net and the performance against human players.  (source: https://lczero.org/blog/2025/01/leela-vs-gm-joel-benjamin/)

  Game six of the match ended in a draw. This time the Leela chess engine played without a knight on b1. GM Joel Benjamin made a few mistakes in the transition to the endgame and the engine took advantage of that.

Even though the chess engine played without the knight g1, it defeated the grandmaster! Be sure to watch this game!

Another draw , but remember that Lc0 plays without a Knight on b1.  And again the engine tied with the grandmaster despite having a knight less. Look at the time to think, how much more time Joel Benjamin used to play.

First draw, but remember that Lc0 plays without a Knight on g1.  This time, the knight more for the grandmaster was not enough and the chess engine defended itself for a draw. Be sure to watch this game.

The first game was won by a human, but remember that Lc0 plays without a Knight on b1. Just like in the first game of the match, it turned out here that a knight's advantage at the start was enough for the chess grandmaster to win.

The first game was won by a human, but remember that LC0 plays without a Knight on g1. A piece more is still enough of an advantage for Grandmaster Joel Benjamin. We'll see how it goes in the next games.

It's not often you see a grandmaster willing to take on a chess engine, which makes this match especially intriguing. 61-year-old GM Joel Benjamin , with a rating of 2473, has stepped up to the challenge. They will play eight games with a time control of 60 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. Match Leela Knight Odds vs GM Joel Benjamin (25-27.01.2025) - broadcast on the Lichess website .