• A PhD in multi-agent reinforcement learning at ETH Zurich • A chess enthusiast - 2585 Elo @Chesscom) • Developed the first language model at Google DeepMind capable of playing the game at near super-human level (3200 Elo).https://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lvoeko5vdc2a1/N I’ve long believed that board games should play a bigger role in AI evaluation. They naturally test strategic reasoning, long-term planning, adaptation—and they can’t be solved by brute force or memorization. Game Arena is transparent, replayable, and tests actual behavioral intelligence. [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 Aug 2025 18:45 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvoeko5vdc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lpuptdiouk2dA year after our trip to AAMAS in New Zealand, @sharky6000.bsky.social came back for more! I should have planned my year not to miss @aamasconf.bsky.social… Big congrats and keep up amazing work! 🎉👏 [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 May 2025 22:52 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpuptdiouk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lpms5cewcs2wLooking forward to speaking at the ML Pub Club on June 3rd! I'll discuss how, during my time at DeepMind, we taught LLMs to play chess at a GM level and the broader implications for strategic AI. If you're in Zagreb, join us at Mažuranićev trg 13 at 6 PM! More info & RSVP: lu.ma/erjji5it https://lu.ma/erjji5it20 May 2025 19:12 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpms5cewcs2whttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lo55w3yacs2eA paper from my time at Google was accepted for a spotlight presentation at ICML! In “Mastering Board Games by External and Internal Planning with Language Models”, we show how language models can achieve grandmaster-level play using a search budget on par with humans. arxiv.org/abs/2412.12119 https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.1211901 May 2025 20:35 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lo55w3yacs2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3li5ouzwsnc2eLLMs Mastering Board Games: ZurichNLP Meetup - Feb 20th! Excited to share insights from my student research at Google DeepMind at the upcoming ZurichNLP meetup! I'll present how we achieved high-level play in board games using LLMs with a search budget comparable to human chess grandmasters.14 Feb 2025 17:07 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3li5ouzwsnc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lgoee6g2j22pAn interesting idea that’s worth keeping an eye on! [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Jan 2025 21:24 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgoee6g2j22phttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lfx47mgq5c2wJohn's talk is now available online! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyxE_GE8noc [contains quote post or other embedded content]17 Jan 2025 15:27 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfx47mgq5c2whttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lfmu4c6ay22uJoin John's talk to get insights on our paper on mastering board games with language models!13 Jan 2025 13:35 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfmu4c6ay22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3leuj6lxles2vAfter 15 years away from competitive chess, I forgot how much thrill and excitement the game gives! ♟️ I decided to attend a tournament with five grandmasters and numerous international, fide, and candidate masters. @lichess.org broadcast: https://lichess.org/broadcast/29th-bosnjaci-open/round-1/jVhEzH7I03 Jan 2025 21:16 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3leuj6lxles2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3ldlfimhytc2jAfter a slight delay, it is now also out on arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2412.12119 [contains quote post or other embedded content]18 Dec 2024 12:50 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldlfimhytc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3ldhehqqzdc2xI will remember @neuripsconf.bsky.social 2024 as a defining moment in my career. Grateful to mentors & colleagues at @ethzurich.bsky.social and @deepmind.google.web.brid.gy for making it possible. Meeting enthusiastic researchers and having insightful, constructive discussions was truly inspiring!16 Dec 2024 22:21 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldhehqqzdc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3ld4mucicw22cDon’t miss this talk by @sharky6000.bsky.social if you want to turn LLMs into interactive, gamified chatbots! [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Dec 2024 15:52 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld4mucicw22chttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3ld2r336vls25I was honored to present our demo on “Mastering Chess With Language Models” at the @GoogleDeepMind booth at @NeurIPSConf right before an inspiring talk by Jeff Dean Thanks to everyone who dropped by and made it a memorable session! ♟️11 Dec 2024 22:02 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld2r336vls25https://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lcw44vicqc2zI couldn’t ask for a better @neuripsconf.bsky.social welcome! Spotted a lovely family playing chess and had the joy of facing a brilliant 6-year-old who just learned the game 3 days ago. Her enthusiasm was truly inspiring!10 Dec 2024 01:37 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcw44vicqc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lcql7y6usk2kI will be showing a “Mastering Chess With Language Models” demo at @googledeepind.bsky.social booth at @neuripsconf.bsky.social with @ericmalmi.bsky.social @nenadtomasev.bsky.social @anianruoss.bsky.social Don't hesitate to reach out if interested or want to chat! https://deepmind.google/discover/events/neurips-2024/ [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Dec 2024 20:51 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcql7y6usk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/matejjusup.bsky.social/post/3lcmwy56yuk2w𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹? ♟️ 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁! 👉 https://gemini.google.com/gem/chess-champ Share your victories (and brags) in the comments!06 Dec 2024 10:11 +0000at://did:plc:xso53bm6ntchrdqur7vyjlva/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcmwy56yuk2w