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