Division 1 has been more competitive than previous divisions this season. Leela and KomodoMCTS continue their journey to the top, but after two RRs it is still not clear whether they can promote to the premier division. Both have not lost a game in the division so far, Leela has a promising 1 point lead at the top. Fizbo and KomodoMCTS are in joint second place with other engines not too far away.
At the bottom Fritz is well on its way to division 2, having lost 8/14 games. Jonny and Chiron are candidates for relegation, nothing is decided yet.
There has been one crash so far, Ginkgo crashed against Fizbo
A few interesting games
Chiron - Fritz: Fritz took two pawns, letting Chiron trap its bishop. After Chiron captured the bishop it attacked the black king, Fritz exchanged pieces until reaching a RN vs R endgame. Chiron had enough pawns for a win.
Ginkgo - Jonny: Jonny gave a knight for 3 pawns early in the game. Ginkgo's eval increased as Jonny tried to protect its king. The game was adjudicated in a QRB vs QR position, with PV showing that Ginkgo is about to capture the black queen for a rook.
Laser - Fritz: Laser attacked on the king side, trapping the black queen in the corner with a pawn on f6. Fritz started to lose material and it was a rook down when the game was adjudicated.
Leela - Chiron: See featured game below.
Chiron - Fizbo: Chiron started the game with an eval advantage, but evals became negative after a few moves. Fizbo concentrated all its pieces on the king side and it was difficult for Chiron to defend its king. After opening the king side and exchanging a few pieces Fizbo increased the pressure until Chiron gave a rook for a knight. In a RB vs RR position Fizbo captured white pawns until the game was adjudicated.
KomodoMCTS - Fritz: KomodoMCTS gave two pawns on the king side and evals started to jump. Both Fritz' king and queen were targets for attack, after a series of exchanges the game reached a Q vs RB position. A few moves later KomodoMCTS captured the bishop and the game was adjudicated.
Leela - Laser: Leela pushed pawns on the king side right after book, this stopped Laser's king side development, and its king had no safe place to go to. Laser was a pawn up but effectively two pieces down as evals jumped higher. The engines exchanged down to a RRB vs RRB position, by the time Laser freed its pieces Leela had a dangerous passer on the queen side. Laser lost a rook for a bishop for the passer, the R vs B ending was a win for Leela.
Chiron - Ginkgo: Chiron was down a rook for a bishop early in the game, but its eval was over 1 and increasing. It had a protected pawn on e6, restricting Ginkgo's movements. Chiron was stronger on the queen side, it captured black pawns and created a passer. Ginkgo gave the material back to stop the passer, the game reduced to a knight ending with Chiron 2 pawns up, enough for a win.
Ginkgo - Fizbo: Ginkgo had an eval advantage until move 30, then it went a pawn up but evals became negative. Fizbo put a pawn on h3, restricting the white king in the corner. The engines exchanged pieces until only RB vs RN remained, Fizbo pinned the white bishop and then attacked the white pawns on the queen side. Ginkgo lost its bishop while capturing a passer, resulting in a won ending for Fizbo.
Fritz - Leela: Fritz was a pawn up, evals turned negative after Leela created a protected passer on e3. Fritz tried to attack the uncastled black king through the queen side, leaving the white king with less defenders. Leela pressed on the king side, first capturing a rook for a knight and then exposing the king using its pawns. The game was adjudicated in a RN vs RR position with two black pawns on the 3rd rank.
Ginkgo - Fritz: Ginkgo pushed pawns on the king side, exposing its king, while Fritz kept its king in the center uncastled. Evals started to increase after Ginkgo created a hole in the black pawn line on the king side, it gave a knight while pushing a pawn to h7. Ginkgo then gave a rook and queened the pawn, the game reached a QB vs RBB position. A second advanced passer gave Ginkgo the win.
Chiron - Jonny: Evals started to increase after the tension in the center was resolved in a series of exchanges that left only QBB vs QR. The bishop pair was strong, Chiron slowly inproved its position until capturing a pawn and creating a passer on the queen side. Jonny could not counter against the white king nor stop the passer, when it reached the 7th rank the game was adjudicated.
KomodoMCTS - Chiron: The engines started to shuffle behind pawn lines on move 25. Evals started to increase after KomodoMCTS brought its rooks forward and reduced to a QRB vs QRN position. KomodoMCTS created a queen side passer and opened the center, the passer was strong enough to give KomodoMCTS the win though the PVs showed there was still a long way to go.
Laser - Jonny: Laser had an eval advantage from the start. Evals stayed under 1 as the engines exchanged pieces, reaching an opposite color bishop ending on move 34. Then Jonny blundered unexpectedly, it allowed Laser to capture pawns on the queen side and create a connected pair of passers. The white king came forward and secured the win for Laser.
Chiron - Leela: Leela went a pawn up early and evals turned slightly negative. Chiron attacked the king side, Leela defended easily while its eval increased. Chiron's pieces retreated and Leela opened a hole on the king side, exposing the white king to attack. The pressure on the white king gradually increased, Chiron gave a rook for a bishop to remove the immediate danger. Leela reduced to a winning B vs R ending. Leela won this opening from both sides.
Jonny - Fritz: Jonny had an eval advantage from the start, and a significant space advantage as the black pawns were mostly on the 7th rank with the major pieces behind them. Fritz was paralyzed and Jonny slowly advanced and captured pawns until the game was over.
Fritz - KomodoMCTS: Fritz pushed pawns on the king side after castling long, capturing a rook for a bishop as a result. KomodoMCTS' king found safety behind a white pawn and the attack was over. Evals turned negative, KomodoMCTS attacked the queen side and it had 3 connected passers on the king side. Fritz exchanged down to an opposite color bishop ending, but it was 4 pawns down and lost. KomodoMCTS won this opening from both sides.
Ginkgo - Chiron: The black queen ventured forward and evals started to rise. Ginkgo chased the black queen for a while, then captured a black pawn with evals over 1. The game reached a QB vs QB position, Ginkgo attacked the black king and captured more pawns. It was 4 pawns up when the game was adjudicated. Both games in this opening were won by white.
Leela - Fritz: Leela had an eval advantage from the start, and it increased quickly. Fritz walked with its king to the king side and trapped its rook. Leela pushed pawns and blockaded the king side, then captured a pawn on the queen side and created connected passers. The game was adjudicated with Leela 3 pawns up in a RB vs RB position. A second double win for Leela.
Featured game: Leela - Chiron
Division 1, round 4
Link to game on TCEC
Leela gave a pawn early in the game, Chiron's king remained uncastled and it was late developing its queen side. Leela gave a second pawn, then applied pressure on the king side with doubled rooks on the h file. Switching to the queen side it gave more material and sacrificed a bishop.
Despite being behind on material Leela's eval was over 1. Chiron had two pieces trapped on the king side, its king stranded in the center. Leela pushed two connected passers on the queen side, Chiron gave material to stop the attack, resulting in a QR vs RBN position.
Chiron had to defend its king with its pieces, Leela's queen moved quickly across the board and Chiron could not handle all the threats. Leela targeted the black pawns on the king side that were left without defense.
Chiron tried a few checks but it only delayed the inevitable loss.
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