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Today, I decided to take my Chessnut Go portable electronic chess board with me to the Rising Sun Workshop, a brilliant local café/restaurant with a motorcycle workshop downstairs! I had a lunch of ramen, and then played a quick game against the next AI-powered bot on Chessiverse on my Chessnut Go, connected through Chessconnect! This time, I had the game set as 10+0 rapid. 🍜🍺🤤♟️

I had the black pieces, and my opponent “Ray” played what seemed to me to be an unusual line in the Scotch Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qe2?). I’d never seen it before. When I looked this up afterwards in analysis on the Lichess community database, it has previously only occurred in about 1 in 30,000 games from the position, so very rare indeed!

The bot was nominally rated at an ELO of 920, so, it should play like a beginner player. What I wanted to see was whether they indeed played in a way that “felt human”, or at least, human-ish.

I was actually fairly impressed! The bot spent time “thinking”, and although I knew that this was all a clever simulation, it was possible to imagine that a thinking mind was behind some of the (not great) moves. For instance, “Ray” spent some time thinking before playing Qe2 as if they didn’t know any more Scotch game theory and were trying to decide their next move.

I narrate in the video that it seemed like Ray had some tactics planned with their suboptimal moves, and this bore out several times. This contrasts with more typical weakened bots where suboptimal moves often seem quite random and lack a sense of move-to-move coherence.

And then lastly, when I put some pressure on Ray’s queen with (11… Bg6), the bot blundered their queen in a believable way; they captured a piece not recognising that it was defended by a knight! This is a common rookie mistake, and furthermore, Ray immediately resigned when their queen was captured! 😲

My verdict? Pretty good! Although I still think that (4. Qe2) is statistically a weird move to play, the bot justified it in a human-ish way. It fits well with the beginner theme of attempting an early queen attack, it not being very effective, and then flubbing it when the queen is put under pressure. But what do you think? I’m keen to know your thoughts in the comments below!

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[Event "Chessiverse Unrated Game"]
[Site "Chessiverse.com"]
[Date "2025.10.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ray Nisch"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Time "02:35:35"]
[WhiteElo "920"]
[BlackElo "1454"]
[TimeControl "600+0"]
[Termination "Resign"]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.b9866645.50x50o.b3ba794d99f9.webp"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/game_analysis_self/a38bc410-ae33-11f0-b163-edc1ed7d0c06.af4b5b2c.160x160o.a7ea160bfce0.webp"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/3QVioHLRHQ/analysis"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {Scotch Game  $1} 3... exd4 4. Qe2 $2 {[%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f3d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f3;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false] This is a very
unusual line in the Scotch  $1 According to the Lichess community database, it has
occurred in only about 1 in 30,000 games of the Scotch Game  $1 I'd never seen it
before and had to think for a bit. The logic is that the queen supports the
e-pawn for a forward advance  $2} 4... Bc5 {Support the won d-pawn, with longer
term pressure on the f2-square} 5. e5 $6 {[%c_effect
e5;square;e5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c2c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c2;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false]} 5... Nge7 {Develop a
piece, preparation for short castling, and to block a potential discovered check
if/when White's e5-pawn moves off the file} 6. Nfd2 $2 {[%c_effect
d2;square;d2;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b1d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;b1;to;d2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false] This backwards knight
move doesn't make a lot of sense. Potentially, White is opening the diagonal for
their queen, but they should develop pieces first.} 6... d6 7. Qh5 $6 {[%c_effect
h5;square;h5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e5d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e5;to;d6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false]} 7... O-O {[%c_arrow
c6e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c6;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] My logic was to get
the king out of the centre.} 8. g3 $6 {[%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e5d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e5;to;d6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false]} 8... dxe5 9. Nb3 Bb6
{[%c_arrow
d8d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d8;to;d5;persistent;false,d5h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d5;to;h1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] Qd5 is best} 10.
N3d2 Bf5 {[%c_arrow
f5c2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f5;to;c2;persistent;false,f5g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f5;to;g6;persistent;false,g6h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g6;to;h5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c2;persistent;false,g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false,h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false]
Develop the bishop, with the potential of threatening White's queen and pressure
on the c2-pawn} 11. Bg2 Bg6 12. Qxe5 $4 {[%c_effect
e5;square;e5;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] And Ray blunders
their queen under pressure, that is beginner like $1} 12... Nxe5 {[%c_effect
g8;square;g8;type;Winner;animated;true] ... emotional damage, and resigns
immediately $1 Good game, GG $1} 0-1