I played chess against Google Bard

You might've heard that Google recently released its own AI in the AI race against Chat GPT, called Google Bard. We've all seen the hilarious and dimension-bending games played by Chat GPT, so I decided to play a game against Bard.

The first five moves

Bard played like a grandmaster for the first five moves. Immediately, it played the Sicilian, which is the top choice of many of the world's elite chess players. Of course, Google also had to provide some background on the Sicilian, calling it one of the best openings. I played into the Open Sicilian with 3...d4 and eventually Bard played 5...a6, marking the start of the Najdorf variation, an opening I've seen hundreds of times before. Everything seems normal, right? After 6. Bg5, Bard played...

Bxe7!!, capturing its own pawn on e7 and defending the knight on f6. After this illegal move, I played 7.f4, and waited to see if Bard would respawn its pawn that it sacrificed.

e5!!! Bard thinks that it had only sent the pawn into another dimension in the Chess Multiverse. AI is so full of surprises.

The next five moves

I captured the pawn on e5 with fxe5, and Bard captured back with dxe5 (finally a legal move after a string of 2 illegal moves). I moved my knight back to safety with 9.Nf3 and Bard followed with 9...Nc6. I played Qxd8, and at this moment, Bard thought that it was checkmate and told me that the game was not over. I pointed out that Bard had 3 (!!!) different ways to avoid checkmate, and that it could capture with the knight, the bishop, or the king. Bard chose to capture with the knight, an inaccuracy. I castled (also an inaccuracy, Nxe5 wins a free pawn) and Bard plays Be6. Not a bad move, but totally ignoring the hanging pawn on e5. I took the pawn, and Bard, knowing that it is losing, plays another illegal move.

Nxf7??? What??? This move makes no sense at all. Bard voluntarily captures its own pawn on f7 (we'll see if that pawn will reappear since captured pieces only get sucked into another dimension) with its king still in the center. Maybe Bard wanted to trade knights and thought that moving back to c6 would be against chess principles. Who knows?

The next three moves

I took on f7. Bard took back with the king. I played Be2, trying to get my h1 rook into the action. Bard played Bd6, blundering its bishop. From what we're seeing here, Bard is playing like a 500. Or even worse than that. But who am I to judge? As far as I know, this bot may secretly be a grandmaster in disguise, hence the 3500 rating. After being down two pawns and a bishop, Bard decided that it needed to pull out some of its new moves, beginning with...

N@c6!!! The knight that I took on f7 had suddenly made an appearance again, landing back on c6 (this was the same knight that was so reluctant to go back to c6 that it decided to take its own pawn on f7). Confused, I played Rf1. At this moment, the bishop that I took with my rook had reappeared on e7! In the span of two moves, Bard had gone from being down 5 points in material to being up a knight for two pawns.

I played Rd1. Bard played a5. I played Nd5!, and Bard blundered with Bd7??, allowing me to take on f6 and win a bishop. I did not find the right capture, and instead captured the bishop on e7.

Qxe7!!!!! The queen, which had been captured on move 10 (it is currently move 19 for reference) has risen from the dead. I asked the AI where the queen had come from, and it replied that it had spawned on d8 and simultaneously captured my knight on e7.

The end of the game

I played Bc4+ and the AI responded with Be6, defending against the check. I took the bishop on e6, and suddenly, the pawn which Bard had took on f7 and had temporarily sent to another dimension had come back to this dimension, with fxe6, spawning over the king on f7 and taking my pawn on e6.

I had no choice but to play as aggressively as possible. So, I played e5, which is a horrible move (it hangs a pawn), hoping that the AI would not see that the knight on f6 will be hanging if it plays another random move.

At this moment, Bard resigned, saying that there is "no way to defend the position". I had won my first game against Bard.