Season 16 qualification league, final results

Final crosstable





The games played by LCZeroCPU are not taken into account for the qualification race. This does not change the results significantly (e.g. Wasp, Topple and Asymptote lose 0.5 points). The qualifiers for league 2 are: ScorpioNN, Stoofvlees, Marvin, Wasp, Topple and chess22k.

ScorpioNN and Topple improved a lot, in season 15 they were weak in divisions 4a and 4b.

Two NN engines enter the main TCEC draw (Stoofvlees and ScorpioNN). Recall that in season 15 AllieStein started from the bottom and reached the premier division. Will we see a repeat in this season?

League 2 will start soon, the qualifiers will join Fritz, Nirvana, Arasan, Texel, Vajolet, Gull, Pedone, Nemorino, RubiChess and Pirarucu. The top 4 will advance to league 1.

Notable games
Game 183, Marvin - Stoofvlees: Marvin was a pawn up in a QRN vs QRB position. Stoofvlees gave a second pawn and attacked the white king, but it wasn't strong enough. Marvin countered and won a rook and the game. First loss for Stoofvlees.
Game 188, chess22k - Asymptote: All pieces were on the board until move 39. The position opened, chess22k gave a pawn and created a central passer. Asymptote gave a rook for a knight to capture the passer, chess22k won the RN vs BN ending. With this win chess22k is back in the qualification race.

After 24 rounds the top of the table was (ignoring LCZeroCPU games): ScorpioNN +17, Stoofvlees +13, Wasp +11, Marvin +9, Topple +6, Asymptote +4, chess22k +4, Winter +2, Rodent -1, The Baron -1.

Game 226, Winter - ChessFighterNN: The game reached a drawn rook ending. ChessFighterNN lost two pawns and then blundered on move 109 and lost the game.
Game 230, Asymptote - Marvin: Asymptote was up a pawn from the opening. Marvin gave a second pawn and attacked the white king without success. The game reached a RN vs RN ending and the two pawns gave Asymptote the win.
Game 239, Minic - Asymptote: Minic was a pawn down in a QRR vs QRR position. Asymptote ignored the danger to its king when Minic put all its pieces on the h file. Minic traded RR for Q and reached a winning endgame.

After 28 rounds the top of the table was (ignoring LCZeroCPU games): ScorpioNN +21, Stoofvlees +17, Wasp +11, Marvin +10, chess22k +6, Topple +5, Asymptote +4, Winter +2.

Game 271, Tucano - Winter: Winter had an eval advantage of 1 in a RRB vs RRN position, but only managed to capture a pawn and Tucano held the draw.
Game 273, The Baron - Asymptote: Asymptote missed a win in a rook ending two pawns up.


After 31 rounds the top of the table was (ignoring LCZeroCPU games): ScorpioNN +24, Stoofvlees +20, Wasp +12, Marvin +12, chess22k +7, Topple +5, Winter +3, Asymptote +2. 
Winter has only 2 games left. chess22k has to face the two leaders but has a 2 point advantage and will probably stay in the top 6. Topple has easier games but has to face Asymptote.

Game 284, chess22k - ScorpioNN: chess22k had an eval advantage from the start, ScorpioNN equalized and achieved a better position, but it let chess22k exchange pieces and lost its chance. The game reached a drawn kings and pawns position.
Game 287, Asymptote - Topple: Asymptote gave a bishop for pawns, Topple reduced to a B vs BN position 3 pawns down. The extra piece was enough for a win.  

After round 32 Asymptote is out of the qualification race, Topple is ahead of Winter by 1.5 points with two games left.


In round 33 Winter played black against Wasp. It managed to get an advantage but reached a drawn rook ending with a pawn up. Topple played white against Bagatur and won easily.

Winter is out and Topple is the last to qualify for league 2.

Game 301, Igel - ScorpioNN: In a drawn QRR vs QRR position Igel seemed to blunder, ScorpioNN reduced to a rook ending a pawn up. Evals suggested ScorpioNN was winning, but it couldn't find the right moves and settled for a draw.

Season 16 qualification league statistics

A summary statistics table of previous stages and seasons. 

The statistics include the games involving LCZeroCPU, though their results were ignored in the league results.

Draw rate, wins


Final draw rate was 33%.


Game termination

The three most common game termination causes were:

35.9% - SyzygyTB
30.7% - TCEC win rule
11.1% - TCEC draw rule

There were 3 crashes in the stage: Asymptote, chess22k and ChessFighterNN each crashed once.

Moves per game

 
Median= 62
Average= 69

There were 30 games longer than 100 moves, the longest was 269 moves (Wasp - LCZeroCPU, game 212, draw).

Time per game (hours)

 
Median= 1:04
Average= 1:03

Openings

There were 2-move book openings in this stage chosen by Cato. The first letter of the ECO codes was distributed as follows:

 
The engines had a lot of freedom to choose the opening variant. Only 47.7% of the game pairs repeated the same ECO code twice, and 43.8% repeated the same opening variant. In 9.8% of the game pairs the ECO first letter was not repeated twice.

Reverse pairs, wins

 
Reverse pairs, same moves 

 
Pairs of reverse games diverged very quickly, 46.4% diverged immediately out of book, 77.8% of the pairs diverged at most after 1 move. The longest repeated sequence of moves was 11 plys (Jumbo - Winter, games 109 and 262, Four knights Scotch variation, Winter won both games)  

Season16 qualification league, live blog Saturday 27.07.19

The race for qualification is over, the league is almost over. We cover the Marvin - LCZeroCPU game, Marvin is one of the stronger engines in this league and it may be strong enough to hold against CPU Leela. Leela won the first game.

move 5: Marvin diverged from the reverse game on move 4, choosing the QGD Vienna opening (reverse was a Catalan opening).

move 11: Marvin chose the less drawish line, it feels good with an eval over 0.8 despite being 2 pawns down. The position is very sharp with many pins. Marvin won a knight for 3 pawns, Leela's eval remains close to 0.

move 17: Leela's 12th move was less popular but still played at the highest level. Marvin got one pawn back, then seemed to bllunder on move 14 and Leela's eval jumped to negative 0.8. Both engines see exchanges coming. Marvin's eval dropped to 0.5 but it still thinks it is ahead.

move 21: Marvin's eval drops below 0 and Leela's eval is over negative 1. Leela castled on move 19, its eval over 2 on move 21. The white king is in danger, there have not been exchanges and black has QRN attacking and the king is exposed.

move 26: Leela doubled rooks on the c file, it looks like game over for Marvin despite being a piece up. Evals are over 5, Leela captured pawns on the queen side and the white king is facing QRR.

move 31: Marvin gave the knight back and it is 3 pawns down and losing. The game will be over soon.

move 38: Leela reduced to a RB vs RB position, Marvin exchanged bishops and only rooks remain. Evals are close to 10, still waiting for the win rule count down.

move 45: game over finally. This was a short game, Marvin was too weak for Leela, even the CPU version.

Season 16 qualification league, overview after 20 rounds

I have been following the qualification league results without looking at too many games. Round 22 of 34 is being played now, more than half the league is over. I have some time now to go over the archive, look for interesting games and make some observations in hindsight. If I overlook important events feel free to comment on them below.

NN engines
There are two NN engines in the lead. ScorpioNN improved a lot, it was very weak in season 14, while in season 15 it had a stability problem. This season ScorpioNN is without loss so far and will very likely qualify for league 2. Stoofvlees is a new engine in TCEC which was supposed to be strong, and indeed it too is on its way up. Stoofvlees' eval scaling is not the same as the other engines, its eval rarely (or never) goes over 10. As a result the TCEC win rule never applies in its decisive games and they are played until mate or 6-man TB adjudication.
There is a 3rd NN engines in the league, ChessFighterNN. Unlike the two leaders ChessFighterNN's score is -10 and it is close to the bottom of the table. Using a neural net is not enough to become a strong engine.

Jumbo and Bagatur are losing
The two engines at the bottom of the table, Jumbo and Bagatur, have 31 losses between them out of 40 games. Both played in season 15 and both have updated versions, but the other engines in the league are still much stronger. Jumbo has lost 18/20 games, Bagatur has wins against ChessFighterNN and Asymptote, but the win against Asymptote was due to a bug that caused Asymptote to lose on time in a winning position with mate in sight. There are several games where these engines blunder in a drawn position in the middlegame or endgame.

CPU Leela
LCZeroCPU is a version of Leela that runs on CPU only, it has a small net to improve its performance. It is much weaker than the full GPU version that was the season 15 champion, but it is in 3rd place and could have qualified in this league. However, it is not in the formal race and its games are just for entertainment. These games will be ignored and will not affect the other engines' scores. This may cause some confusion when trying to understand the current qualification race standings.

Top 6 engines
The top 6 engines qualify to league 2. After 20 rounds the scores were (ignoring LCZeroCPU games): ScorpioNN +14, Stoofvlees +13, Wasp +9, Marvin +6, Topple +4, Winter +3, Asymptote +2, chess22k +1, The Baron 0, Rodent 0. The race for places 5-6 is quite open. Keep in mind that Asymptote lost a full point when it crashed against Bagatur, with this point it would be in 5th place.

Notable games
Game 15, Topple - ChessFighterNN:  ChessFighterNN gave a rook for a knight and developed a strong king side attack. Topple had to give material to stop the advancing black pawns, losing the game.

Game 42, LCZeroCPU - Topple: LCZeroCPU was 4 pawns up in a RB vs RB position, the game was nearly adjudicated with the win rule, Topple already seeing mate. Then LCZeroCPU fell into a stalemate trap, the black king couldn't move and the black rook chased the white king. A capture would have ended the game immediately, Leela kept playing until reaching the 50-move draw.
Game 53, Bagatur - ChessFighterNN: Bagatur's only win came after ChessFighterNN chose to reduce to a BBN vs RB position. Bagatur's pieces were stronger, it forced ChessFighterNN to give its rook for a bishop and the extra piece was enough to win.
Game 61, Minic - Topple: Topple blundered in a closed position, Minic created a passer and Topple's position crumbled (toppled over?).
Game 68, Wasp - Marvin:  Wasp had an eval advantage of over 1 that came down to 0 in a QRB vs QRN position. Evals became negative after Wasp gave a rook for a knight and two pawns. Marvin was better in the endgame, reducing to a winning B vs R position.
Game 73, ChessFighterNN - Winter: ChessFighterNN gave a bishop and thought its attack on the exposed black king was enough compensation. Winter exchanged pieces and had a winning position, but it allowed ChessFighterNN to force a perpetual check draw.
Game 74, Igel - chess22k: The engines avoided a 50-move draw and opened the position, Igel won a pawn and the game reduced to an opposite color bishop ending. chess22k blundered and allowed Igel to capture a second pawn, two advanced passers were enough for a win.
Game 100, Winter - Topple: Winter was two pawns up in a QB vs QB position. After Winter exchanged queens the remaining bishops were of opposite colors, keading to a draw.
Game 122, Cheese - ScorpioNN: ScorpioNN had an eval advantage in a QB vs QB position, it allowed Cheese to sacrifice the bishop and get a perpetual check draw.
Game 134, Topple - Asymptote:  Asymptote gave a rook for a bishop and a pawn, it had a strong bishop pair and a passer in a QRN vs QBB position. Topple couldn't stop the passer and its attack on the black king was not strong enough, Asymptote captured the knight and won the game.
Game 169, chess22k - Tucano: chess22k was up a rook for 3 pawns in a QRR vs QR position but failed to convert. Tucano managed to push a pawn to the 2nd rank and forced a perpetual check draw.
Game 172, Winter - Bagatur: Winter was a pawn up in an opposite color bishop ending. Stockfish saw a way to force a win but Winter didn't and Bagatur managed to hold.
Game 178. Stoofvlees - LCZeroCPU: Evals started around 0 and increased very slowly. Stoofvlees created a passer on the queen side, then captured a pawn and reduced to a QRB vs QRB position on move 50. LCZeroCPU countered with a passer on the king side, Stoofvlees exchanged queens and captured the passer on the 2nd rank. LCZeroCPU had to give its bishop to stop the white queen side passer, then it gave up the rook in despair and lost. First loss for LCZeroCPU.

Season 16 has started, new league format

TCEC season 16 has started yesterday, after a slightly longer than usual 6-week break that included testing and bonus events. The new season comes with format changes which I will describe briefly, the full details can be found on chessdom.

The changes affect the lower divisions, the premier division and superfinal do not change. In the last few seasons there were 3 divisions with 8 engines each and 2 promotions/relegations between divisions. There was also a preliminary division 4 which had a variable size, increasing from season to season. Last season division 4 was played in two parts 4a and 4b with a playoff that determined the 2 engines promoting to division 3. In the new format there are two leagues with 16 engines and a preliminary qualification league of variable size. There will be 6 engines promoting to league 2 from qualification, and 4 engines promoting from league 2 to league 1. The engines that were supposed to play in divisions 1-3 were places in the new leagues 1-2, and the engines that played in division 4 were placed in the qualification league, together with several new entries.

The engines playing in the qualification league are: Winter, Rodent, The Baron, Tucano, Cheese, Minic, Topple, Igel, Wasp, Marvin, chess22k, ScorpioNN, Jumbo, Bagatur, Stoofvlees, ChessFighterNN and Asymptote. The last 3 are new entries, two are new NN engines and one "classical" AB. Also playing in the qualification league is LCZeroCPU, a version of Leela with a small net that runs on the CPU server without using GPUs. This is only for testing and entertainment, its results will be nullified at the end of the league and it cannot promote nor affect the results of the other engines.

There will be 306 games in the qualification league, this will take about two weeks at a rate of a little more than an  hour per game. Leagues 1-2 will be similar, the games in league 1 will be longer at about 100 minutes per game. I will not cover these leagues very closely, I may have a few live sessions if I have the time. I hope that when the premier division starts around the end of August I will have more time to increase coverage and to post more detailed reports.