Show notes
This week’s guest is Samuel Sonning, a Swedish computer scientist, former Google engineer, and founder of NoctieAI—a user-friendly chess platform featuring rating tests and bots designed to play like humans. In our conversation, Samuel discusses his unique improvement philosophy as an adult learner, including how memorizing famous games helped him build intuition and visualization skills. A passionate player himself, many of Sam’s ideas have directly shaped NoctieAI, which offers immediate move feedback and personalized flashcards based on individual mistakes. We also explore the broader state of machine learning as it relates to chess. Samuel has been fascinated by this intersection since the days of Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, but while he still sees great potential in AI-assisted chess learning, he no longer views chess as the leading edge of AI development. This was a fascinating conversation, and I’m excited to follow NoctieAI’s continued evolution.Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link:https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=proAnd you can check out their new offerings here:https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/You can also check out special offers from Chessmood, Chessdojo and Chess.com at the following page: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/partnersMentioned: EP 383 with Dan Bock08:00- Why did Sam decide to develop Noctie such that it gives immediate feedback on your moves, rather than after your games? Mentioned: Sam’s Blog post- https://noctie.ai/chess/how-not-to-get-better-at-chess/31:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What new paradigms could still be coming from chess engines?” Mentioned: Nate Silver’s blog post:https://www.natesilver.net/p/chatgpt-is-shockingly-bad-at-pokerJen Shahade’s blog post:https://jenshahade.substack.com/p/chatgpt-is-weirdly-bad-at-chessMentioned: Jeremy Silman, Shereshevsky’s Endgame Strategy, ChessNetwork Thanks to Samuel for joining us! The best way to reach him is via NoctieAI.https://noctie.ai/If you would like to help support Perpetual Chess via Patreon, you can do so here:https://www.patreon.com/c/perpetualchessEditing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
