Google's Astra Ultra splits games vs 1800-rated chess bot, resigns after missing pawn promotion
MikePFrank · x · 2026-09-07
- Mike Frank gave Google's Astra (Ultra tier, with board visualization) a rematch against the 1800-rated Wally chess bot, instructing it to watch for obvious counter-attack lines.
- Astra played well overall but failed to stop a pawn promotion in the endgame and resigned, though it was "a good sport about it."
- Across the day Astra won half its games, with thinking levels ramping from High (game 1) to Extra High (games 2-3) to Ultra (games 4-6); board pre-visualization was only enabled in games 4-6, making the effect of tiers and visualization on chess strength worth pondering.
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