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Chess, board games & puzzles: videos Hacker News recommends
Tabletop and abstract games: chess, Go, poker, board game design, card games, AlphaGo matches, puzzles, Rubik's cube, strategy and game AI. Below: every video in this topic that at least three HN users linked with real commentary, in at least three different months (10 demos, 5 explainers, 2 tutorials), best-scored first, with the comments on each video page.
- 10 HN recommenders 10 months 2020–2025G Google DeepMind · documentaryHN commenters call it a moving, well-made human story about AI and Go that works for non-technical viewers and does not date.
- 9 HN recommenders 10 months 2015–2025Loved on HN as a hilarious, brilliant example of hacker-academic work and cited whenever game-playing AI or fuzzing comes up.
- 6 HN recommenders 5 months 2022–2026Frequently recommended in threads on learning, the 10,000 hours rule and deliberate practice as a clearer account of how expertise develops.
- 8 HN recommenders 6 months 2019–2026HN commenters call it a must-watch for its deadpan, absurdly elaborate engineering and cite it for ideas like diluting strong engines with random moves.
- 6 HN recommenders 5 months 2019–2025T The British Museum · demoRecommended in threads on ancient games and cuneiform as a charming match with an enthusiastic expert.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2015–2023J John Bartholomew · tutorialStrongly recommended as a way to improve at chess, since it explains the basics and common mistakes at each rating level.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2017–2021J John Bartholomew · lectureHN chess improvers recommend Bartholomew's beginner playlist as a clear, approachable path to getting better.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2009–2012R Robin Baumgarten · demoHN points to it as a vivid demo that plain A* search can beat fancier machine-learning approaches in game AI.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2020–2022L Lichess · talkHN commenters point to it as a good talk on how one person built a major free, open-source chess server with few resources, and on the cheating problem.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2025–2026HN people point to it for intuition about why some games are hard to navigate and for its Rush Hour and graph visualizations.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2019–2026B Because Science · demoHN links it as the accessible, hands-on demo behind the claim that Magic is Turing complete.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2019–2025A agadmator's Chess Channel · explainerHN recommends it as a striking, well-explained example of AlphaZero's play and of zugzwang.
- 3 HN recommenders 2 months 2019–2022Recommended as an accessible explanation of how Rubik's cube solving relates to group theory.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2021–2024D Dosgamert · demoUsed as a nostalgic link to a beloved childhood game, and as an example of a tight failure-iteration learning loop.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2021–2022G GothamChess · commentaryHN points to it as an entertaining analysis of AlphaZero's play in threads about chess engines.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2016–2023HN links it as a fun explanation of the purely mechanical Dr. Nim game in threads about early game computers and marble-based binary math.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2011–2023D defjam99b · lectureCited in discussions of the scientific method and empiricism as Feynman's classic analogy of watching a game to infer its rules.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2019–2022D Derren Brown · demoHN cites it as a neat, simple trick of relaying moves between opponents, often in discussions of chess, AI or ludic fallacies.
- cited 4× 0 months 2017–2023T TCGplayer · demoCited as the real-world example of an inescapable loop in Magic: The Gathering, in discussions of its Turing completeness.
- cited 4× 0 months 2016–2018A Automaton2000Micro · demoCited in StarCraft AI threads to show how much perfect micro matters, though one commenter finds such play boring.
- cited 5× 0 months 2021–2024Used as a joke or shorthand quote, 'the only winning move is not to play', in unrelated threads.
- cited 3× 0 months 2021–2022C chess24 · demoHN commenters cite it as an example of expert memory built on context, such as Carlsen identifying players, tournaments and moves from positions.
- cited 4× 0 months 2018–2024B Ben Katz · demoCited as proof that machines solved the cube in under a second years ago, often as the earlier record before newer robots.
Questions
What is the most recommended chess, board games & puzzles video on Hacker News?
AlphaGo - The Movie | Full award-winning documentary by Google DeepMind: HN commenters call it a moving, well-made human story about AI and Go that works for non-technical viewers and does not date.
How is this chess, board games & puzzles list ranked?
By HackerTube's score: the number of distinct months in which an HN comment recommended the video, plus half a point for every month with a strong recommendation. One viral thread counts less than steady recommendations over years.
Where do the videos come from?
From every Hacker News comment between 2007 and 2026 that linked a YouTube video, labeled by an AI model as a recommendation, a citation, a joke or a criticism. The list is published by HackerTube under ODC-By 1.0; this edition adds indexable pages and the comment context.
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.