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Leela Chess Zero

Leela Chess Zero traps Stockfish with BLACK

ChessAnalysisChess engineStrategyTournament
LCZero nets a rook in 68 moves

Featured is the round 1 semifinal game between Stockfish (3862) and Leela Chess Zero (3822) from Chess.com’s Computer Chess Championship 21. The opening is a Sicilian Defense, Rossolimo with play beginning in this Rapid (10+3) game on move 9. It is very rare that Stockfish loses with the white pieces. How did Leela Chess Zero manage to trap Stockfish? After Stockfish attacks Leela Chess Zero’s b-pawn on move 25, a trap is set. A convenient black setup, an optimization of pieces for flexibility, and key pawn breaks paved the way for Leela Chess Zero to win the trapped piece 68 moves later!

Stockfish vs Leela Chess Zero | Chess.com Computer Chess Championship 21

https://lichess.org/anzA4bfD

Below the video I have highlighted 4 positions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUC96f29mjE

Question 1 of 4: How should black reply to cxd4?

https://lichess.org/study/CuawoDiY/o8ebUSrI#69

Question 2 of 4: After 40...b4, how does Leela justify creating a hole on c4?

https://lichess.org/study/CuawoDiY/iveaAoQl#80

Question 3 of 4: How should black reply to Qxf5?

https://lichess.org/study/CuawoDiY/NSFcWvU5#103

Question 4 of 4: In what ways does Leela benefit by sacrificing the f-pawn?

https://lichess.org/study/CuawoDiY/pAcHe54B#108

Closing words

Thank you in advance for any likes and/or follows you may give. Any questions or comments you may have can be left on YouTube or in the forum below. If you enjoyed the featured video, you may also enjoy the playlist I've created Leela Chess Zero (LCZero) chess games. I hope you have, in some way, benefited from this post. Thank you for taking the time to read.
-Jerry