Man vs. Machine: 2025
It’s been many years since a human had a realistic chance at taking down a full strength chess computer. In 2025, we have a new twist on man vs. machine, as the engine Leela (Lc0) is giving knight odds to Grandmaster Joel Benjamin for a match of classical games. In fast time controls, Leela has performed well against top players previously, but at the 60+30 time control (one hour, plus 30 seconds per move), Benjamin is said to be the clear favourite, leaving the question of how many wins can he score out of 8 games.
The lczero.org post describes more about the match and the history of the knight odds matches. The first three of these games took place on Saturday, with Benjamin winning the first two and Leela managing to slip into a drawn three-pawns-down opposite coloured bishops endgame in game three. There are three more games scheduled for Sunday, starting at noon E.T. / 8:00 p.m. CET, followed by two more on Monday.
Lichess has an event page for the match, so you can see what the games look like where Leela (always as White) plays without a knight, alternating kingside and queenside. GM Matthew Sadler is doing live commentary as well on his Youtube page, as an expert on the subject.
Graphic via Lichess
