Closing an AI/NN Chapter

It's finally time to close the AI/NN series that I've been running for the last five months. It started with a look at Leela (aka LCzero, LC0).

• 2018-10-12: Catching Up with Leela
• 2018-10-19: A Free Google Service?
• 2018-10-26: GPU Specifications
• 2018-11-02: GPU Configurations
• 2018-11-09: GPU Pricing
• 2018-11-16: GPU Benchmarks

That was interrrupted by a staged sequence of promotions that started during the 2018 Carlsen - Caruana match (London, XI, 2018), in DeepMind's backyard.

• 2018-11-23: A Conversation with Demis Hassabis
• 2018-11-30: An AI/NN Blockbuster
• 2018-12-07: AlphaZero Is Back!
• 2018-12-14: DeepMind Videos
• 2018-12-21: An AlphaZero - Stockfish Game

The conversation first turned to AlphaZero itself...

• 2018-12-28: Talking About AlphaZero
• 2019-01-04: Insights on AlphaZero
• 2019-01-11: AlphaZero Match Conditions
• 2019-01-18: Throwing the Book at AlphaZero

...then turned to a well-timed book about AlphaZero.

• 2019-01-25: AlphaZero Stars in 'Game Changer'
• 2019-02-01: 'Game Changer' Interview
• 2019-02-08: 'Game Changer' Excerpts
• 2019-02-15: AI/NN: 'Here to Stay?' • 'a panel discusses how AlphaZero impacts the world of chess engines'

Finally I examined a component of the emerging engine technology that I hadn't previously understood.

• 2019-02-22: Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS)
• 2019-03-01: MCTS Data Flow

Because the AI/NN chess engine evolution is destined to continue, I can follow it via two world class engine-vs-engine competitions, seen earlier this week in TCEC S14/S15; CCC6 S2. I now want to jump from the 21st century to the 19th century. The same technologies that are driving the evolution of chess engines are also opening doors into the past.