{"paper":{"title":"Disentangling generalization and memorization in large language models using chess","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["cs.AI"],"primary_cat":"cs.CL","authors_text":"Leonard S. Pleiss, Maximilian Schiffer, Robert K. von Weizsaecker","submitted_at":"2026-01-23T15:23:08Z","abstract_excerpt":"Large Language Models (LLMs) exhibit remarkable capabilities, yet it remains unclear to what extent these reflect sophisticated recall or genuine reasoning ability. We introduce chess as a controlled testbed aimed at disentangling these faculties. Leveraging the game's structure and scalable engine evaluations, we construct a taxonomy of positions varying in density of relevant priors - ranging from common states solvable by memorization to completely novel ones requiring generalization. Crucially, our approach achieves this distinction without requiring explicit knowledge of the models' train"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2601.16823","kind":"arxiv","version":2},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2601.16823/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}