Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>I want to know how I can play more like Alpha Zero. I think if we can
    see the main ideas that Alpha Zero uses (like fianchettoing his
    bishop) and put them into our own games, we could understand chess
    better and play better overall.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I don't think AlphaZero is any useful for teaching us chess. While I understand your enthusiasm, you learn more from your local master than a supercomputer.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Here are some questions to spark your imagination! Would you describe
    Alpha Zero plays positionally of aggressively or anything in between?
    Does Alpha Zero prefer bishops or knights more? Does Alpha Zero use
    his f-pawn to attack the center or does it reject this idea? Does
    Alpha Zero Move his Queen to c2 often? I've seen it played in some of
    its games and I don't know the purpose why?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>There is absolutely no way to infer from just 10 public games, but generally all modern engines prefer bishop a little better.</p>
  
  <p><strong>What we actually learn:</strong></p>
  
  <p>We haven't improved our chess playing strength from AlphaZero. What we learn is - machine learning works well with chess engine programming. Leela is a good example.</p>
  
  <p>I've voted to close the question for too broad. If you can pinpoint your question to something more answerable, I'll modify my answer.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-06-13T19:02:09.240Z
Answers.Text: Is AlphaZero not useful for teaching us chess? Maybe it isn't (this would not surprise me), but can one already suppose that is isn't? I would like to see what some chess masters do with AlphaZero and the other new AIs before drawing conclusions.
Answers.UserDisplayName: thb
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-06-14T00:26:59.190Z
Answers.Text: @thb AlphaZero has given us clues for machine learning in programming. It's useful but not for teaching chess theories.
Answers.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-06-12T11:01:54.473Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-06-14T00:27:31.373Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-06-14T00:27:31.373Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Body: <p>If you want to read about its opening strategy, it is down below the link. If you want to read about its middlegame strategy or basic play style, it is at the top </p>
  
  <p>I want to know how I can play more like Alpha Zero. I think if we can see the main ideas that Alpha Zero uses (like fianchettoing his bishop) and put them into our own games, we could understand chess better and play better overall. Listed below are some few styles I learned from Alpha Zero, and below that are questions to spark your imagination about the different styles to look for in Alpha Zero's plays.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>It tries to immobilize pieces.
  Particularly the light square bishop is most of its games but it can be implemented on other pieces too. </p></li>
  <li><p>It prefers position over the material. 
  (Unlike other chess engines, Alpha Zero is fine sacrificing a material to get an advantage, such as sacrificing a pawn to immobilize a light-squared bishop.</p></li>
  <li><p>It prefers fianchettoing his light-squared bishop and castling kingside. 
  This could be because most of the games were against The Queen's Indian Defence with Stockfish, but I still think it prefers this idea.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Here are some questions to spark your imagination!
  Would you describe Alpha Zero plays positionally of aggressively or anything in between? 
  Does Alpha Zero prefer bishops or knights more?
  Does Alpha Zero use his f-pawn to attack the center or does it reject this idea?
  Does Alpha Zero Move his Queen to c2 often? I've seen it played in some of its games and I don't know the purpose why?</p>
  
  <p>I also suggest you look at this link:
  <a href="https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/alpha-zero-vs-alpha-zero-10-lesser-known-alpha-zero-lines" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/alpha-zero-vs-alpha-zero-10-lesser-known-alpha-zero-lines</a></p>
  
  <p>This link shows the openings that Alpha Zero plays if it has the black and white pieces. You can see that it doesn't barge into the center. One theory, for this reason, is that it plays flexible moves like c4 that attacks the center and waits for his opponents to barge into the center so it could pressure the center. Since white already attacks the center, the black pieces which are now in the center will have a lot of tension and fall. Also, it is a more flexible move and the formation in which to attack the center could be changed by what your opponent plays. (we still don't know what is the best way to attack the center once we found our opponents reply, we need help on that. ) In this time, it seems like white is trying to get kingside safety. There are still much more openings to explore (d4 and e4) and see the main ideas for the white and black side. </p>
  
  <p>Anyway, my point is that we got a lot to learn from this information and it is going to take a long while for me to sort this out. For the chess community, let's collaborate and learn from this beast that is also known as Alpha Zero.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-06-12T07:01:27.310Z
Comments.Text: It's perfectly OK to answer your own question, but the question should be a question and the answer should be an answer.  Perhaps you can edit this?
Comments.UserDisplayName: D M
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-06-12T13:46:13.513Z
Comments.Text: There are only 10 known Alpha Zero games, far too few to answer something like this.
Comments.UserDisplayName: RemcoGerlich
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-06-29T17:20:57.460Z
Comments.Text: Magnus Carlsen changed his playing style learning from Alphazero. I do not agree with the answer below that we cannot learn anything from Alphazero.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Paul
Tags: <opening><engines><strategy><alphazero>
Title: What is Alpha Zero's Play Style? (Including its Openings and its Middlegame)
ThreadText: # What is Alpha Zero's Play Style? (Including its Openings and its Middlegame)
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-12)
  
  If you want to read about its opening strategy, it is down below the link. If you want to read about its middlegame strategy or basic play style, it is at the top
  
  I want to know how I can play more like Alpha Zero. I think if we can see the main ideas that Alpha Zero uses (like fianchettoing his bishop) and put them into our own games, we could understand chess better and play better overall. Listed below are some few styles I learned from Alpha Zero, and below that are questions to spark your imagination about the different styles to look for in Alpha Zero's plays.
  
  1. It tries to immobilize pieces.
     Particularly the light square bishop is most of its games but it can be implemented on other pieces too.
  2. It prefers position over the material.
     (Unlike other chess engines, Alpha Zero is fine sacrificing a material to get an advantage, such as sacrificing a pawn to immobilize a light-squared bishop.
  3. It prefers fianchettoing his light-squared bishop and castling kingside.
     This could be because most of the games were against The Queen's Indian Defence with Stockfish, but I still think it prefers this idea.
  
  Here are some questions to spark your imagination!
  Would you describe Alpha Zero plays positionally of aggressively or anything in between?
  Does Alpha Zero prefer bishops or knights more?
  Does Alpha Zero use his f-pawn to attack the center or does it reject this idea?
  Does Alpha Zero Move his Queen to c2 often? I've seen it played in some of its games and I don't know the purpose why?
  
  I also suggest you look at this link:
  <https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/alpha-zero-vs-alpha-zero-10-lesser-known-alpha-zero-lines>
  
  This link shows the openings that Alpha Zero plays if it has the black and white pieces. You can see that it doesn't barge into the center. One theory, for this reason, is that it plays flexible moves like c4 that attacks the center and waits for his opponents to barge into the center so it could pressure the center. Since white already attacks the center, the black pieces which are now in the center will have a lot of tension and fall. Also, it is a more flexible move and the formation in which to attack the center could be changed by what your opponent plays. (we still don't know what is the best way to attack the center once we found our opponents reply, we need help on that. ) In this time, it seems like white is trying to get kingside safety. There are still much more openings to explore (d4 and e4) and see the main ideas for the white and black side.
  
  Anyway, my point is that we got a lot to learn from this information and it is going to take a long while for me to sort this out. For the chess community, let's collaborate and learn from this beast that is also known as Alpha Zero.
  
  **Tags:** opening, engines, strategy, alphazero
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: It's perfectly OK to answer your own question, but the question should be a question and the answer should be an answer.  Perhaps you can edit this?  
  > **username_2**: There are only 10 known Alpha Zero games, far too few to answer something like this.  
  > **username_3**: Magnus Carlsen changed his playing style learning from Alphazero. I do not agree with the answer below that we cannot learn anything from Alphazero.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2018-06-12. Score: 2
  
  > I want to know how I can play more like Alpha Zero. I think if we can
  > see the main ideas that Alpha Zero uses (like fianchettoing his
  > bishop) and put them into our own games, we could understand chess
  > better and play better overall.
  
  I don't think AlphaZero is any useful for teaching us chess. While I understand your enthusiasm, you learn more from your local master than a supercomputer.
  
  > Here are some questions to spark your imagination! Would you describe
  > Alpha Zero plays positionally of aggressively or anything in between?
  > Does Alpha Zero prefer bishops or knights more? Does Alpha Zero use
  > his f-pawn to attack the center or does it reject this idea? Does
  > Alpha Zero Move his Queen to c2 often? I've seen it played in some of
  > its games and I don't know the purpose why?
  
  There is absolutely no way to infer from just 10 public games, but generally all modern engines prefer bishop a little better.
  
  **What we actually learn:**
  
  We haven't improved our chess playing strength from AlphaZero. What we learn is - machine learning works well with chess engine programming. Leela is a good example.
  
  I've voted to close the question for too broad. If you can pinpoint your question to something more answerable, I'll modify my answer.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: Is AlphaZero not useful for teaching us chess? Maybe it isn't (this would not surprise me), but can one already suppose that is isn't? I would like to see what some chess masters do with AlphaZero and the other new AIs before drawing conclusions.  
  > **username_4**: @username_5 AlphaZero has given us clues for machine learning in programming. It's useful but not for teaching chess theories.  
  
  ---
  
  