Daniil Dubov and Vladislav Artemiev played an exhibition 2v2 match against former Dota 2 professional player — NS and Dread, in a video on the Team Spirit YouTube channel.

According to the match rules, every second move comes from the engine. Dota players receive help from the newest version of Stockfish, while Daniil and Vladislav receive assistance from a weak bot.

During the game, the weak bot ‘helping’ the grandmasters made moves that often worsened their position. After the bot reversed the players’ move, returning their piece to the same spot it had been a move ago, Daniil Dubov said:

Daniil Dubov

Daniil Dubov

Russian GM

We’re not playing against them, we’re playing against our own bot!

I don’t believe there’s an engine in there at all. I think it’s just some guy making moves, lol.

The game ended with Dubov and Artemiev winning with a significant advantage on the Evaluation Bar. Yaroslav “NS” Kuznetsov commented on the match:

Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov

Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov

Former professional Dota 2 player

I feel like I’ve stepped into a parallel reality…

GM Daniil Dubov (2672) and GM Vladislav Artemiev (2641) are Russia’s No. 3 and No. 7. Yaroslav “NS” Kuznetsov is a retired professional Dota 2 player, currently working as a caster, commentator, and analyst. Andrey “Dread” Golubev is a prominent Russian Dota 2 personality, former professional player, and one of the most well-known CIS streamers.

Credit: Team Spirit Chess Youtube