15th World Champion Viswanathan Anand shared his opinion on artificial intelligence in chess. Anand states that using AI in chess preparation is necessary. Vishy notes that computers have been beating humans at chess for more than 30 years. Anand spoke about it in an interview with a CNBC-TV18 reporter.

Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand

15th World Champion

“[Question: What are your thoughts on the rise of AI and how do you see the future of sports and chess in particular?]

There I can gloat a little bit. Computers have been beating us for 30 years now, so we are used to this.

And all the moments when we were in shock and all that, we finished that 30 years ago. So now I can just laugh at everyone and say: ‘Welcome to the club!’

[Question: What would you advise to young players who are preparing to get into this world? To use AI to their benefit, or to not use AI?]

I don’t think there’s a choice. And most of the youngsters work a lot with AI.

Because these things are so far ahead of us that there’s no other way, simply. You have to incorporate that into your chess.”

14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik believes that AI will not replace human professional coaches for a long time. Kramnik noted that properly explaining the cause of mistakes to the student is important.

Many websites dedicated to chess education have appeared on the internet over the past few years. Many of these websites offer AI coaching services as a main feature. On Chess.com there is a Play Coach system, where a user can play and review games with an AI coach. Full access to this system is available through a paid subscription.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE