Paper
Acquisition of chess knowledge in AlphaZero
We analyze the knowledge acquired by AlphaZero, a neural network engine that learns chess solely by playing against itself yet becomes capable of outperforming human chess players. Although the system trains without access to human games or guidance, it appears to learn concepts analogous to those used by human chess players. We provide two lines of evidence. Linear probes applied to AlphaZero's internal state enable us to quantify when and where such concepts are represented in the network. We also describe a behavioral analysis of opening play, including qualitative commentary by a former world chess champion.
Authors: Thomas McGrath · Andrei Kapishnikov · Nenad Tomašev · Adam Pearce · Martin Wattenberg · Demis Hassabis · Been Kim · Ulrich Paquet · Vladimir Kramnik