Fire and rofChade promote to the premier league. Fire led most of the league, with two wins in the first half and three in the second half. rofChade was in a group of engines that fought for 2nd place, it beat two of its direct competitors in the second half to promote.
RubiChess and Pedone relegate to league 2. Pedone was the weak engine of the league after promoting from league 2, it lost 5 games in the second half. RubiChess only lost 3 games in the league, it was close to the central group of engines but couldn't catch up to them. The other engine that promoted from league 2 was Booot, it was close to the bottom after the first half, it won its last two games to escape relegation.
Fire and rofChade will play in the premier division with Leela, Stockfish, AllieStein, Komodo, Stoofvlees and Ethereal, all played in season 17 premier division. We will not see Houdini or KomodoMCTS this season.
Notable games
Game 5, RubiChess - Fire: RubiChess had an advanced passer in the center, while Fire opened the king side and threatened the white king. RubiChess gave material to protect its king, the game reached a BBN vs RNN position. It took Fire a while to move its king forward and capture a pawn, the game was adjudicated a few moves later.
Game 11, rofChade - Pedone: rofChade was a pawn up in a RRB vs RRB position. rofChade created connected passers on the queen side, Pedone had a central passer. rofChade lost a bishop for the black passer, Pedone lost a rook for the white passers. The RR vs RB ending was a win for white.
Game 16, Pedone - Fritz: Pedone attacked on the king side in a closed position, and its queen got trapped. After the black king walked out of danger to the queen side Fritz forced a Q for R trade and the game reached a RB vs QN position. The game was adjudicated before Fritz started to capture pawns.
Game 24, Fire - Booot: Fire went up a pawn and reduced to a RRB vs RRB position. Fire had connected passers on the queen side, after exchanging a pair of rooks it pushed them forward. Booot blocked the passers with its king, Fire captured another pawn and the game was adjudicated.
Game 27, Booot - Fritz: The engines castled in opposite directions and Booot pushed pawns and opened a file on the king side. The black king was in danger and Fritz lost two pawns in its defense. Booot reduced to a winning RRN vs RRN position.
Game 28, ScorpioNN - Fire: A miniature that ended in a 3-fold repetition on move 17.
Game 30, Xiphos - Defenchess: Xiphos attacked on the king side, the black king hid in the corner supported by one pawn. When it was ready Xiphos exchanged all pieces and got a winning B vs pawns ending.
Game 31, Defenchess - Pedone: Defenchess pushed a pawn to h6 and trapped a black bishop in the corner. The engines exchanged pieces slowly, Pedone couldn't get its bishop out. The game reached a BN vs BN position, Defenchess was virtually a piece up, enough for a win.
Game 36, Pedone - Booot: In a QBN vs QBN position that looked drawn Booot decided to trade its bishop for 3 pawns. Pedone reduced to a QB vs Q position, Booot avoided exchanging queens and gave checks as long as it can. The white king came forward and the game was adjudicated.
Game 40, Defenchess - RubiChess: The engines shuffled in a RBB vs RNN position when Defenchess exchanged a pair of minor pieces and moved its rook to the back rank. RubiChess couldn't protect its pawns, Defenchess went 3 pawns up to win.
Scores after 9 rounds: Fire +2, rofChade Xiphos Defenchess +1, ScorpioNN Arasan Fritz 0, Booot -1, RubiChess Pedone -2. The league is very close, only 2 points separate first and last place. Fire has a small lead, 3 more engines have positive scores. Pedone and Booot that promoted from league 2 are at the bottom, together with RubiChess. Arasan and ScorpioNN have 9 draws.
Game 46, Pedone - ScorpioNN: Pedone castled long, ScorpioNN pushed pawns on the queen side and attacked. Pedone gave a bishop to stop the pawns, the engines reduced to a RR vs RRN position and the extra piece gave ScorpioNN the win.
Game 51, Fire - Pedone: The engines mostly shuffled for 35 moves, then Pedone tried to attack on the queen side. Pedone captured two pawns but its queen became trapped, it gave a rook for a knight to open a way out. Then Pedone blundered and through an attack on the black king Fire captured a rook. The material advantage gave Fire the win.
Game 61, Fritz - Pedone: Fritz attacked the king side while Pedone created an advanced passer on the queen side. Fritz captured a pinned knight and managed to block the black passer on the 2nd rank. It took a while for Fritz to reduce to a RN vs R ending, push a passer of its own and get the win.
Game 62, Fire - Arasan: Both engines castled long and Arasan pushed pawns on the king side, its e pawn stayed behind and was weak. After a long struggle Fire captured the e pawn and took control of the center. Fire went two pawns up in a QRN vs QRN position, it exposed the black king with a pawn sacrifice. It used a mate threat to capture the knight and reach a winning RN vs R ending.
Game 67, rofChade - Defenchess: rofChade gave a pawn and created a queen side passer, while Defenchess had connected passers in the center. Defenchess gave a rook for a bishop to capture the white passer, rofCHade captured one of the black passers and the game reached a RR vs RB ending. rofChade exchanged a pair of rooks and the game was adjudicated, both engines agreed white was winning though it was not clear to me.
Scores after 14 rounds: Fire +4, rofChade +2, Xiphos ScorpioNN Fritz 1, Defenchess 0, Arasan Booot -1, RubiChess -2, Pedone -5. Fire had two wins in the last 5 games, it increases its lead at the top and is close to promotion. Pedone lost 3 of its last 5 games and it will probably relegate. The races for 2nd and 9th places are still undecided with 4 rounds left.
Game 74, RubiChess - rofChade: rofChade played better in a closed position, it increased pressure on both sides until it was ready, then reduced to a BB vs BN position. One white bishop was trapped, rofChade captured two pawns and then traded its knight for the bishop. The remaining same color bishop ending was a win for black.
Game 76, Pedone - Defenchess: Pedone captured a pawn and ignored the danger to its king. Defenchess sacrificed a knight to expose the white king, Pedone started to lose material to stop the attack. DefenChess was a rook up when the game was adjudicated.
Scores after 16 rounds: Fire +4, rofChade +3, Xiphos ScorpioNN Fritz Defenchess 1, Arasan Booot -1, RubiChess -3, Pedone -6. Two rounds left. Fire and rofChade have a small lead at the top, the race for promotion is not over yet. Pedone will relegate, RubiChess needs a miracle to survive.
Game 81, Booot - Pedone: The game reached a QRR vs QRB position, Booot traded RR for Q to clear most of the pawns and reduce to a Q vs RB ending. Pedone could have held with better play, when Booot's king moved forward to support a passer the black defense collapsed.
Game 83, Fritz - rofChade: rofChade had a negative eval above 1 with a pawn majority on the king side. It gave a rook for a knight and created a passer, the game reached a RB vs BN position. rofChade captured white pawns, the game was adjudicated in a B vs R ending with black 3 pawns up.
Game 84, Fire - Xiphos: Fire developed an attack slowly, it opened the king side and doubled rooks in the center. Xiphos gave a rook for a bishop, the center opened up and the black king was exposed. Fire had too many threats, it captured a bishop and the game was adjudicated.
Fire and rofChade secure their promotion with wins. Booot is safe after its win, Arasan is a point away from RubiChess.
RubiChess drew against Pedone, both relegate to league 1.
Game 90, ScorpioNN - Booot: ScorpioNN castled long, Booot sacrificed a knight and attacked the white king. Booot regained the material and reduced to a RBB vs RBN position, black two pawns up. It took a while for the black pawns to advance, eventually ScorpioNN lost a rook to stop a passer.
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