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Brisbane is the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland, and a great place to visit! For people less familiar with Australia, Brisbane is relatively “close” (in Australian terms!) to Sydney, roughly 730 km (450 miles) north and just over an hour’s flight away.

Mrs Chess Noob had a conference to attend in Brisbane over the weekend, so Little Chess Noob and I tagged along. We had fantastic weather, and despite being winter, we had sunny skies with a lovely daytime temperature of around 23 °C (about 73 °F)! 😊

The conference was held, and we stayed at The Westin and I spent time yesterday morning before checking out playing some chess in the lobby! The new Chessnut GO is fantastic to take travelling due to its compact size and low weight. I played a couple of games with Little Chess Noob, one of my nephews, and also against the new Mark Rober bot!

Unfortunately, one of the things with lowered rated bots, especially these seasonal themed ones (which I assume might be less optimised), is that they can play some weird moves down less common lines. In this game, the Mark Rober-bot with the black pieces played the Sicilian Defense (1. e4 d4), and then responded to the Smith-Morra Gambit (1. e4 c5 2. d4) with the Franco-Sicilian Defense (2… e6). This is entirely fine, but after (3. d5), entering the Old Benoni, the bot plays the inexplicable (and mistake) (3… Qc7). The next move, they develop their king’s knight to the edge of the board (4… Nh6) – double weird!

I think what happens is that once the bot is out of its customised opening book (to give the bot its “personality” in the opening), it might be programmed to limit its strength by simply not choosing the top engine move. When you play uncommon openings, the bot can be out of its “book” almost immediately, which then results in this strangeness, especially if it’s an opening that is more forcing – i.e., a smaller range of good moves.

Anyway, it seemed the Mark Rober-bot was programmed to be aggressive with his queen in the opening. This can usually be punished, but it can sometimes be a bit tricky! I don’t navigate this very accurately, and this isn’t a game that I’m especially proud of… Nonetheless, playing relaxing chess in a comfortably and swanky luxury hotel lobby, while having a dark ale on a sunny Brisbane winter’s day is just about perfect! 😊

Game: https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/4CGx4M841L

[Event "?"]
[Site "Brisbane, Australia"]
[Date "2024.07.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Mark Rober-bot"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.100x100o.671ef4f371ed@3x.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/374283703.8cfd7730.100x100o.26c589e50c94@3x.png"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[WhiteElo "1284"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 e6 3. d5 Qc7 4. Nc3 Nh6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bf4 Qxb2 7. Rb1 Qa3 8. Rb3
Qa5 9. Bd2 exd5 10. Nxd5 Qa4 11. Bb5 Qxa2 12. Nc3 Qa5 13. Nd5 Qd8 14. Bg5 f6 15.
Bh4 g5 16. Bg3 Nc6 17. Bxc6 dxc6 18. Ne3 Qxd1+ 19. Nxd1 a6 20. O-O Ra7 21. Re1
c4 22. Rbe3 a5 23. e5 Nf5 24. R3e2 Ba3 25. exf6+ Kd8 26. f7 Nd6 27. Bxd6 Bxd6
28. Re8+ Kc7 29. Rxh8 Bd7 30. f8=Q Bxf8 31. Rxf8 h6 32. Rf7 a4 33. Ree7 a3 34.
Rxd7+ Kb6 35. Nc3 a2 36. Nxa2 Rxa2 37. Rxb7+ Kc5 38. h3 Rxc2 39. Rf5+ Kd6 40.
Rb6 g4 41. hxg4 Kc7 42. Ra6 Rc1+ 43. Kh2 Rc2 44. Kg3 Re2 45. Nd4 Re7 46. Rxc6+
Kd8 47. Rxc4 Rc7 48. Ne6+ Ke7 49. Nxc7 Kd7 50. Rd5+ Kc8 51. Ne6+ Kb7 52. Rb5+
Ka6 53. Rb1 Ka5 54. Rc8 Ka6 55. Ra8# {[%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;Winner,a6;square;a6;type;CheckmateBlack]} 1-0