What is the Lc0 chess engine? Don't be afraid. Yet!

You have probably seen the Computer Chess Championships on Chess.com. Computer chess programs like Stockfish, Komodo, Houdini, etc. battling around the clock to answer the question, what is the best computer chess program? 

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Most of these programs are based on the same idea: use pre-evaluated lines stored in databases for the opening and endgame. In the middlegame use the "brute force" method to look ahead as far as possible. Brute force evaluates the positions based on values placed in the program gathered from hundreds of years of human chess study. Think: an isolated pawn is worth less than a connected pawn for example. 

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Recent advancements in computing from Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence project led to programs such as AlphaGo and Alpha Zero.  Giving birth to Lc0.  Programmer Gary Linscott from the Stockfish team is the lead developer. probably inspired by the success of Alpha Zero.

Lc0 (Leela Chess Zero) uses a similar form of artificial intelligence (AI). Given only the rules of the game, Lc0 played against  itself to develop its own evaluations. It has taken Lc0 awhile but it is currently atop the standings and certainly is one of, if not the, top chess engine. Here is a link to a Danny Rensch video with detailed evaluation of a Lc0 vs Stockfish draw. Click Here for video. 

Chess.com Youtube video