It’s a cardboard that does not deny. On January 1, the online chess site Chess.com launched 5 bots in the form of cats with the aim of attracting new players. One of them, named Mittens, is a real big-money sensation on the platform.
Mittens, a marketing phenomenon
As a beginner in chess games, I was immediately offered to play while being assisted by a computer. In front of me, Mittens quickly begins to chamber with blows of “Hehehe” at the end of the sentence. For the rest, except for a few remarks from time to time on a shot, I almost forgot my feline opponent. The cat remembers my good memories when it starts to troll following my defeat, just to remind who is the boss.
Screenshot © Chess.com
On the forums, the opponents of the AI bounce on the comments more or less well felt but which stick with the identity of the character created by Chess.com: “Meow. I became Mittens, destroyer of kings. Hehehe »Where “I am a tiger and you are in the jungle that I call eternity. Hehehe. »
This AI was designed by Will Whalen, a student at Hamilton College in New York State. His idea is to create an opponent that is very difficult for a human opponent to beat, while at the same time being an adorable cartoonish feline.
The phenomenon gained further momentum when Sean Becker, an editor at Chess.com, came up with the personality of Mittens. It’s decided, the robot cat will be a very cute but absolutely diabolical troll.
The statistics are clearly there to attest to the success of this initiative. Thus, Chess.com explodes its audience records thanks to the virtual feline with 27.5 million games played per day in January, and on the way to 850 million over the full month, or 40% more than the monthly record.
Growing in popularity, Mittens caught the eye of American chess champion Hikaru Nakamura who posted a YouTube video reporting on his game. He himself only managed to draw with the virtual chat. Online, enthusiasts therefore try to exchange the best moves to try to beat the AI, but it seems quite complicated.
The world of chess revives
A bit like the Netflix series The Queen’s Game allowed chess to recruit many new players, this robot is a real marketing phenomenon for the discipline which has been trying to find a new lease of life for a few months.
In any case, the chess world really needed this good news. A crisis is indeed affecting this sport after suspicions of cheating tainted one of its champions. As we explained to you last September, Magnus Carlsen who remained on 53 consecutive victories lost against the young Hans Niemann. We could be delighted with this performance, except that the latter is accused of having used a… sex toy to communicate with an accomplice on the best moves to play.
