OpenAI defeated Elon Musk's Grok in an artificial intelligence chess tournament

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, defeated Elon Musk’s Grok in the final of a tournament to determine the best AI chess player.

Tech companies often use chess to test the capabilities of computer machines. It is said that modern chess machines are almost unbeatable, even for top chess players.

This time, it was not computers that competed, but AI programs. OpenAI’s o3 model won the tournament over xAI’s Grok 4 model. This, you know, intensified the storm of long-standing competition between the two companies.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are co-founders of OpenAI, but historically, their paths have diverged. Both claim that their latest AI models are the smartest in the world. (As you know, Google’s Gemini model took third place in the tournament, defeating another OpenAI model).

Yes, these AIs are quite talented when it comes to everyday tasks, but chess still needs some improvement. Grok made a number of mistakes during the final games, including repeatedly losing the queen.

“Until the semifinals, it seemed that nothing could stop Grok 4 on its way to winning the tournament,” noted Pedro Piñata, author of Chess.com, in his report.

 

“Despite a few moments of weakness, AI X seemed to be a much stronger chess player… But the illusion was shattered on the last day of the tournament.”

He said that Grok’s “unrecognizable” and “inconspicuous” play allowed o3 to score a series of “convincing victories.”

“Grok made so many mistakes in these games, and OpenAI didn’t,” said chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura during the live broadcast of the final.

Before Thursday’s final, Musk wrote in a post on X that xAI’s previous success in the tournament was a “side effect” and that the company had “put almost no effort into chess.”

We recently wrote about OpenAI releasing a new version of its AI program, ChatGPT 5. OpenAI is not standing still, and neither is Grok. It will be interesting to see if there will be a rematch and if Grok will make an effort to beat OpenAI. 🤔