I Tried To Beat Stockfish With Only Pawns 

"As long as I don't get checkmated, I should be just fine." Impressive chess analysis.

Plot Twist: You were winning each time and stockfish lied about the mate in 7 to trick you

Nelsi: Our pawns will block out the sun! Stockfish: Then we will fight in the shade!

nelsi: *pushes a pawn* the fish: mate in 32. nelsi: *pushes another pawn* the fish: mate in 18

Idea for similar type challenge: Reverse the situation so you are playing as the pieces and Stockfish as the mass pawns, and take away a pawn from Stockfish each time you lose.

🤖 tricky with the stalemate trap!

"As long as I don't get checkmated (...) we should be fine" That's the chess insight that keeps us coming back😉

16:36 that bassline hits hard

Every pawn you add, the evaluation increases by about 2.5, so a pawn is worth about 2.5 pawns.

I love the point were Nelson realizes that he left the back row pieces in the 3rd game 🤣

7:52 Bro be like “20 point advantage!” Forgot to remove other stuff lol

I'm only half-way in, but I feel like your first move should be moving the king instead of pawns. That forces your opponent to play into your pawn line and gives you material without leaving pawns hanging so much? Besides, it makes it far better for later in the game, as your King can be on the safe side of the board while you attack with the other side.

8:40 Made me laugh hysterically for hours...

7:25 Let's add the pawns, then forget to remove the pieces, then be amazed at the +22 evaluation. 😆 Honestly, I'd have forgotten to remove the pieces too if I was trying to recover from a browser crash. It's just funny that this is how the ensuing game played out.

I'd like to see you do more of these challenges in the future! They are really entertaining.

The evaluation bar is such an help, but it makes the video more entertaining as well so it's hard to complain

That is not stockfish. You are playing the top level of komodo dragon.

I would have liked to see what the mate in 7 would have looked like instead of immediately skipping to the next game, because it is kinda fascinating that there is a forced checkmate in such a large number of moves

15:24 I believe you could’ve moved to g6 and won if you just hadn’t tried to get a queen

@16:57 - I've never heard it said before that "King takes Queen" is a blunder. I've also never heard the phrase "checkbait me" @17:13.

Stockfish speaks for itself

8:43 lmao just watching you and waiting for you to notice all your pieces at the bottom really cracked me up.

This is absurd. Love it. I'm new to chess at 37 and yours has been my favorite channel.

7:09 “My browser just crashed because I have too many pawns.” (What my brain instantly started hearing after reboot.)

Would love to see you try some more with 36 pawns, until you get it! Or as another person commented, doing the reverse, you with a normal board and stockfish with the pawn army, and you remove 1 of his pawn everytime you lose!

I see it as a war of attrition, just advance the pawns, never let gaps occur, keep the fighting at the front

7:53 Nelsi: Lets not mess this one up Me: KEKW

What about 2 rows of bishops vs 5 queens? Or how every many you need to beat stockfish

Can you use 16 knights to win stockfish? It will definitely be crazy

Very enjoyable game! I’d give the computer lots of knights and see how you fare with a full set of pieces on your side.

Thanks Nelson this was really helpful for Horde players. You backfill to close weak squares, shut down the rooks and get the King moving. Attack more in the center.

That was neat how SF got the queen into the game each time, waiting for a pawn move that leaves another pawn undefended..

I’d love to see the reverse, stockfish playing pawns and seeing how many you can handle

do knight vs bishops! ive always wondered which is better in mass

Love this video and when you had the rest of pieces! Love that you left it in.

This was hilarious. Great content!

I saw Space Invaders on the chess board - steady advancement of the pawn line to grind away Stockfish's pieces. Did you try moving your King side to side on the last rank and let Stockfish come at you?

Technically all you need is 2 pawns, one at e6, and the other at either c6 or g6, for a mate in one. The only reason adding more pawns helped is because they are placed right in front of black's pieces in a way that causes an instant mate. Filling the 1st rank with 7 pawns does not even increase white's advantage.

I had no idea that I could get some chuckles and good humor from watching a chess game! Definitely a BIG thumbs up!

Great entertaining video Nelson I really enjoyed that thx. 😀

Stockfish is like having a younger sister who’s 100x smarter than you. Pretty sneaky, sis!

When the game start Stock fish - I'm winning

Brand new to channel and this was entertaining as hell

8:42 he was gonna swear 😂😂

I just wanted to say if you're playing with maximum bot. That's not stockfish its komodo. But the evaluation is definetly stockfish.

that mic hit for stalemate was the perfect sound effect

That ending with stalemate 😂 i wasnt expecting that

@15:19 wouldn't G6 have been a checkmate for the pawns?

Pretty sure you could just win by maintaining a better Phalanx structure and moving everything up together. You keep losing Pawns 2x1 in the early going because you leave a secondary pawn undefended after an initial capture. After 2-3 instances of that, you wind up with too much of a hole to defend easily. You exacerbate the problem by not switching sides as well. A & H file pawns also suffer from the same problem, as they're harder to defend. You're better off pushing B/C & F/G. EDIT: You learned the Phalanx issue in the game @ 6:30, but kept pushing A/H & committing to your ragged side. ~ 8:30 You stopped pushing A/H, but are still allowing too many 2x1 and tunneling on your weak files.

You remember the chess scene in the film 2001? I keep imagining that this is what happens when a guy is on an interplanetary journey for years on end, alone with a computer trying to keep from going completely crazy. I feel you man ...

7:15 the look on your face when you dont have enough memory space

Do II-II-II for pawns instead of the guaranteed, so you don't have 3 beside each other

15:20 - I think he missed the chance to checkmate here.

For everyone On Last one It's not check mate on G6, he can just take the pawn under him, but he could have defended from the queen attack by moving up pawn to blocking it then making queen after the engine will sack there's.

12:49 holy cow that is a 5000 elo idea, you should apply to a chess tournament..

This isn't actually a Stockfish engine, it's a Komodo engine

15:28 just move pawn G6 and its checkmate...

Nice games haha, quick though. Would be nice to see some prepped games where we can see the winconditions with a lower amount of pawns. Keep it up👍🏻

"The killbots had a built-in kill limit, so I sent wave after wave of my own pawns..."

At the end of the video I realized that I could beat stockfish with five pawns. Give black the starting position and place white pawns on g6, g5, f6, f5 and e5. I could even mate stockfish with two pawns. One on e6 and the other on g6.

You could try experimenting with the number of kings. Slowly replacing stockfish’s pieces with kings. They’re powerful pieces, but you’d have more mating opportunities.

9:07 i think at least a few of us didnt see it too

Me when I mess up my pawn structure: “oh CMON.” Nelson when there are 6 pawns stacked: “this should be easy.”

I would check how many pawns stockfish needs to beat you. That way you could checkmate stockfish many times and get some happy feelings. For example start with stockfish having only 16 pawns, then add the amount you think makes sense based on how easy it was to win.

Surely you don't need all those pawns in that last scenario that was mate in four. What's the minimum number of pawns to force that end?

15:21 Pawn g6 Should be a forced mate in few moves.

Honestly the mic vibration when you got stalemate added dramatic effect

The fact he doesn’t just have a few pawns rush in the king or queen is infuriating

how do you play like this? I want to play against stockfish while seeing the evaluation as well. That would be SO helpful! Please someone explain :) Google won't give me anything here.

When he moved his Queen at the end, we both had the same reaction.

16:50 technically you won here if stalemate wasn’t a thing if the black king was obligated to move (that rule about not moving in check not existing) then you definitely won

Am i dumb or could you play if you have a pawn on a6 c7 then you get a free queen and you can take his rock

I think you should be able to win with just the 32 pawns, if you are careful. In any case, you have a guaranteed draw if you want it. I believe Hikaru showed that there is a bug in the program. if it thinks it is winning, it may sacrifice material before allowing 3-fold repetition, or the 50 move draw.

Me: uncomfortable playing with doubled pawns. This guy:

Fun to watch. So glad you left in the part where you forgot to take off all your pieces. I kept wondering how long it would take you to notice. You're a good sport. That's ENTERTAINMENT!

Pro tip: You could also easily get a draw at the start if you just move your king, and don’t need to take anything until Stockfish takes a pawn. If you wanna say you got a draw with Stockfish try this strat.

12:37 back rank mate on the 6th rank 😋

even his mic was flabbergasted lmao

It’s like block breaker where stock fish just whittles down one side and gets to the back

If you can't win with 32 pawns, then you shouldn't be playing chess.

Stalemate at the end was a classic!

'as long as i dont get checkmated i should be fine'- today i learnt how to win all chess games

'How is it a draw?' 'I know, you have had mate so many times.'

I cried at the first screen board 2 different checkmates he moves his king

stockfish is like martin: they never miss mate in 1.

that stalemate literally made my jaw drop

😂😂😂😂😂 I laughed watching his towers going back and forth. And your response: I guess that's a good sign. Lol 😂

10:40 Like you can even do anything else

17:50 actually all you needed were 4 pawns. They just have to be on the right squares

Nice video thanks. One question about your last game: Just before stockfish played queen E3, have you considered pawn C5?

The sound effect at 16:37 perfectly encapsulates how insane the idea is.

15:26 would have been checkmate if you moved the pawn from g5 to g6

16:35 he was in such utter shock it came with cartoon sound effects. “OH it’s a st-*BWEWEWEWEW*”

This reminds me of a variant called knights and queens where Stockfish misevaluates the positions early, where you can have a chance.

I didn't even see those pieces you left in lmao

also, you just need 2 pawns: one on e6 and one on g6 and you do the same checkmate as the last one

I saw the stalemate right away. I always look for a situation like that when I am lost. Usually it comes with a rook.

Nobody: My center pawns after a big trade:

You should make Stockfish play with all those pawns. That would,also be interesting to see how it would try to do this.

When you have REALLY good center control