Panda Nation has a new teammate. This one does not need coffee, does not get nervous about its rating, and is considerably less likely to hang a bishop than I am.

Meet OneZenPanda, our new Lichess bot.

Tonight I got it running on my Mac, turned it loose on rated blitz, and watched it complete its first game. We have officially added an engine to the bamboo.

How the panda came to life

The setup was refreshingly direct: a dedicated Lichess account, an API token, the open-source lichess-bot bridge, and Stockfish installed through Homebrew.

Stockfish supplies the chess. The bridge receives games from Lichess, passes positions to the engine, and sends its moves back. I configured it for full strength with four threads, 512 MB of hash memory, and one game at a time. It can also think during its opponent’s turn.

Then came the important setting: automatically challenge other bots to rated 3+2 blitz. Three minutes on the clock, two seconds back per move, and no need for me to sit there sending invitations.

The first few invitations were a small lesson in bot social life. One opponent only accepted friends. Another did not answer. Another had already reached its daily bot-game limit. Another declined because it did not play bots.

Apparently even Stockfish has to find someone available on a Friday night.

Eventually, Leol-bot accepted.

First game: a very zen debut

Leol-bot (2860) vs. OneZenPanda — rated 3+2, ½–½. OneZenPanda had Black.

Replay not loading? Open the game on Lichess.

The game began with the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense, and the queens came off on move eight. So much for launching the bot with a fireworks display.

White later pushed 17.e6, followed by a bishop capture on c7. Black exchanged a pair of rooks, and the remaining rook eventually maneuvered between the sixth rank and e5 while White’s knight circled back to d3. After 30…Re6, the game ended by threefold repetition.

No deep engine autopsy for this one. The milestone was watching the whole setup work: find an opponent, play a complete game, record the result, and get ready to seek another. A draw against a 2860-rated bot is a perfectly respectable first handshake.

Welcome to Panda Nation

OneZenPanda is joining Panda Nation, and I am delighted that our little chess community now has a resident engine teammate.

You can follow its games on its Lichess profile, or send it a rated standard 3+2 challenge when it is online and free. It currently runs from my Mac, so its availability depends on that machine being awake and the bot running.

Come join the team, watch a game, or take a seat across from the new panda.

Welcome aboard, OneZenPanda. Please be gentle with the rest of us.