Memorable Stockfish games, part 2

More memorable Stockfish games:
part 1
part 3

Season 6, stage 1b, round 6, Stockfish - Fire, the F stack
Game on TCEC archive


Stockfish and Fire were the highest rated engines in the first stage group 1b of season 6, which made this game one of the highlights of the stage.

From very early on in the game Stockfish had an evaluation higher than 1.5 and growing as the game progressed, while Fire's evaluation was around 0.7 and generally constant. Fire couldn't see its danger, and the question was how Stockfish will get the win. By move 45 Stockfish is a bishop up with almost no pawns but Fire still has a queen and rook, the winning path is not clear. Even though Stockfish's evaluation is over 4 it's principal variation does not look immediately winning. Checking a 6-man tablebase shows that if we remove the rooks and pawns the position is a draw. Is this what Fire is telling us?

After 11 more moves the game reaches this beautiful position which made this game so memorable to me:

Almost all pieces are stacked on the F column!! Stockfish sees a clear win now, but Fire still thinks its not in real danger. The illusion is broken on the next move, Fire's evaluation jumps to 4.77, and in a few more moves Fire loses its rook for a bishop and the game is over.

The analysis of this position is far beyond me. To my mind only engines can venture into such positions, and as we see in this game only the top ones manage to analyze them correctly.