Sunday, December 1, 2024

Season 27 premier division, after RR2

Standings after RR2


Stockfish is in the lead with 6/7 game pair wins and one draw (two white wins) against Obsidian. Leela is second with a loss to Stockfish and 4 game pair wins. Obsidian and Berserk are in joint 3rd place, Obsidian with no game pair loss but only one win, Berserk with 3 wins and 2 losses. Etereal, KomodoDragon and Caissa are fighting against relegation, they drew all game pairs between themselves. Seer is last after 6 game pair losses and one unexpected win against Ethereal. 

Interesting games

game 1, Caissa - Seer: The engines castled in opposite directions, Seer grabbed a pawn on the queen side while Caissa pushed the h pawn and weakened the black king side. Evals increased steadily though Seer tried to attack the queen side. Caissa protected its king and when it was ready opened the h file. Caissa moved both rooks to the 7th rank, in a series of exchanges it captured a bishop and the game reached a RN vs R ending. Caissa captured all the black pawns, then queened and mated.

game 7, Stockfish - Obsidian: The engines castled in opposite directions, Stockfish attacked the king side and offered a knight but Obsidian refused. Stockfish placed a bishop on d6, pushing the black king to the corner. Then Stockfish gave a rook for a knight and pawn and exposed the black king. The game reached a QBB vs QRN position, Stockfish slowly pushed a passer forward. The engines reduced to a B vs R ending, Stockfish captured all black pawns and was 4 pawns up. Obsidian couldn't stop all pawns, the game ended in mate.

game 8, Caissa - KomodoDragon: The engines castled in opposite directions, there were a few minor piece exchanges after the start. After some shuffling the game reached a QRR vs QRR position, the engines traded pawns and Caissa was a pawn up with 3 connected passers on the queen side. Caissa exchanged queens and captured the remaining black pawns before exchanging a pair of rooks. Then Caissa queened and mated.

game 9, KomodoDragon - Seer: The engines castled in opposite directions and exchanged pawns in the center. Both engines created a passer in the center, KomodoDragon shifted its pieces to the king side to threaten the black king. KomodoDragon pushed pawns on the king side and added a second passes, it gave a bishop and opened the h file. Seer blocked the file with pieces, KomodoDragon moved a knight to d6 and Seer gave a rook for it, adding a third white passer. In a series of exchanges KomodoDragon reduced to a rook ending two pawns up, Seer couldn't block all the passers and was mated.

game 14, Stockfish - Leela: see featured game below.

game 16, KomodoDragon - Obsidian: Obsidian pushed pawns on the king side and kept its king in the center. The engines exchanged pawns, KomodoDragon had a passer on the queen side and Obsidian had one in the center. The black queen moved forward to support the passer, KomodoDragon pushed its passer forward to a protected square and the queens were exchanged. The game reached a RB vs RB position, KomodoDragon captured a pawn, pushed the passer to the 7th rank and exchanged bishops. Another white passer moved to the 7th rank, Obsidian lost the rook for the two passers. KomodoDragon was on time to stop the black passer and the game ended in mate.

game 17, Obsidian - Seer: Seer captured a pawn and created a passer in the center. The engines shuffled for a while, then exchanged queens and Obsidian captured the black passer. The game reached a RRN vs RRN position with stable evals, but after exchanging a pair of rooks evals started to increase. Obsidian moved the rook forward and captured a pawn, creating advanced passers. Seer lost the knight to capture two passers, Obsidian was down to one last pawn but that was enough to win.

game 18, Ethereal - KomodoDragon: KomodoDragon pushed pawns on the queen side and created a pawn majority. After some preparation KomodoDragon gave a knight for 3 pawns and then created passers on the queen side. Ethereal captured the black passers and all the queen side pawns were gone. The game reached a RBN vs RN position, it took Ethereal a long time but it managed to gain material and mate. 

game 19, Leela - Caissa: Caissa had a pawn majority on the queen side while Leela had strong pawns in the center. Leela gave two pawns in the center and pinned a black knight. Caissa moved the knight and Leela captured a rook for a bishop, leading to a RR vs RN position. Caissa was a pawn up, the engines traded pawns and Leela captured back a pawn. Each engine had two pawns on the king side, it was a long endgame but eventually Leela reduced to a tablebase win.

game 27, Berserk - KomodoDragon: Berserk pushed the h pawn and it was captured on h6. Berserk regained the pawn after a while and both engines castled long. The game reached a RRB vs RRN position and evals started to increase. The engines shuffled for a very long time, on move 116 Berserk pushed a pawn. Both engines were low on time, Berserk created a passer and moved a rook forward. Then it captured a pawn and added a second passer. KomodoDragon could not avoid a queening and mate.

game 28, Stockfish - Caissa: There were no exchanges after the start, Caissa pushed pawns on the king side and Stockfish pushed pawns on the queen side. Stockfish captured a pawn in the center, the e files opened and there were a few piece exchanges. After some preparation Stockfish gave a knight for two pawns and created two passers on the queen side. Caissa lost material to capture the passers and the game reached a QB vs QB position. Material was equal but the black king was exposed, Stockfish chased the black king and captured a pawn. After exchanging queens (bishops were of same color) the game ended in a tablebase win. 

Standings after RR1: Stockfish +3, Ethereal Berserk +1, Caissa Leela 0, KomodoDragon Obsidian -1, Seer -3. Stockifsh has a comfortable lead, it won all its games in white including a win against Leela. Also without loss are Berserk (two draws as white) and Ethereal (3 draws as white), joint in 2nd place. So far Leela is only in joint 4th with two draws as white. The standings will be more reliable after RR2.

game 30, Stockfish - KomodoDragon: The center was locked and Stockfish had a space advantage. There were no exchanges and the engines shuffled for a while, after a minor piece exchange Stockfish created an advanced passer in the center. For a long time Stockfish offered a knight and KomodoDragon did not take to avoid opening the king side. Eventually the f file opened, in a series of exchanges Stockfish captured a rook for a knight and KomodoDragon captured the white passer. The game reached a QRB vs QBN position, the black king was threatened through the f file. Stockfish exchanged queens and created a passer on the queen side. KomodoDragon lost a bishop for the passer, the game ended in mate.

game 32, Leela - Ethereal: The center was blocked and the engines opened the c file. There were a few piece exchanges, then a pawn exchange on the king side created a passer for both engines. The black passer was on the 3rd rank, after a series of exchanges most pieces were gone and Leela lost a knight for the passer. On the other hand Leela had passers of its own and Ethereal lost a bishop for one. In a B vs N position the white king was on time so stop a black passer, Leela reduced to a winning king and pawns ending.

game 33, Leela - Seer: Leela castled long and pushed pawns on the king side, opening the h file. Seer kept its king in the center, there were a few minor piece exchanges that opened the queen side. Evals slowly increased after move 25, Leela captured a pawn and created passers on the queen side. All pieces on the board moved to the queen side, Seer regained the pawn and tried to stop a white passer while pushing pawns on the king side. The game reached a QR vs QR position, Leela went two pawns up and it slowly pushed passers forward supported by the king. Seer lost material and was mated.

game 34, Ethereal - Berserk: Ethereal pushed pawns on the king side and castled late. The queen side opened and Berserk walked its king to h7. Ethereal captured a pawn and exchanged queens and a [air of rooks, evals were stable for a while. After some shuffling evals started to increase and the engines reduced to a BB vs BN position. Ethereal captured another pawn and created a passer on the queen side. Berserk captured one pawn back but couldn't stop the white passer, Ethereal queened and mated.

game 35, Obsidian - Stockfish: The engines castled in opposite directions, then exchanged pieces until only RRB vs RRB was left. Obsidian moved a rook forward, captured a pawn and created 3 connected passers on the queen side. Stockfish had pawns on the king side, after some preparation Obsidian gave the bishop and captured all black pawns. The game reached a R vs RB position with 4 white pawns, Stockfish lost the rook for a passer and the game ended in a tablebase win. There were two white wins in this pair. 

game 36, KomodoDragon - Caissa: The engines castled in opposite directions, then exchanged most minor pieces in the center. Evals started to increase after KomodoDragon gave a rook for a knight and pawn and attacked through the center. KomodoDragon gave two pawns and captured a rook for a bishop, the game reached a QR vs QR position. Caissa was a pawn up but its king was exposed and KomodoDragon had an advanced passer in the center. KomodoDragon lost a rook and queened, then reduced to a tablebase win. There were two white wins in this pair. 

game 39, Stockfish - Ethereal: Stockfish was a pawn down but its pieces were more developed. Ethereal gave back the pawn, Stockfish castled long despite the open queen side. After exchanging queens the black king moved without castling, Stockfish trapped a bishop and Ethereal gave a knight to save it. The white king was exposed, Stockfish gave material to protect it and after a series of exchanges the game reached a BNN vs RB position. After a minor piece exchange and some pawn trades each engine had two pawns, all passers. Stockfish pushed a passer to the 7th rank and captured the black pawns, the game ended in a tablebase win. 

game 41, Berserk - Seer: Berserk pushed the h pawn and its queen moved to the king side. Berserk captured a pawn and Seer didn't take back to avoid weakening of its king. After exchanging queens Seer felt safe enough to capture the white pawn, Berserk reduced to a RRB vs RRB position two pawns up. Berserk created a passer and pushed it to the 6th rank, the black king moved forward and was trapped by the white rooks. Seer lost material and was mated.

game 44, Obsidian - KomodoDragon: The black king was uncastled, Obsidian attacked through the center. KomodoDragon walked its king the the king side, Obsidian reduced to a QRN vs QRN position and captured a pawn. KomodoDragon pushed connected passers in the center, Obsidian attacked the black king and forced a queen exchange. Obsidian captured the black passers, then pushed a passer forward. KomodoDragon captured the passer but lost the knight, the game ended in a tablebase win. There were two white wins in this pair.

game 46, KomodoDragon - Ethereal: The engines castled in opposite directions and the center was locked. Ethereal opened the c file, then moved its queen forward and exchanged queens. The game reached a RRN vs RRN position and KomodoDragon captured a pawn. After exchanging a pair of rooks the black king was in the corner in danger of mate, KomodoDragon used this to exchange rooks and reduce to a knight ending followed by a tablebase win. There were two white wins in this pair. 

game 48, Stockfish - Berserk: The center was locked and all pawns were on the board. Stockfish had a space advantage, evals start to increase when Stockfish pushed pawns on the king side. After exchanging a pair of pawns Stockfish gave a knight for a pawn and opened the h file. All white major pieces moved to the h file, Berserk protected its king with a protected knight. After some shuffling Berserk gave a pawn to open the queen side and gave a bishop for a pawn. Stockfish saw mate in the PV, Berserk's queen side attack was weak and it lost more material until it was mated.

game 49, Stockfish - Seer: The engines castled in opposite directions, there were a few minor piece exchanges and Seer tried to attack on the queen side. Seer gave a knight and exposed the white king, a series of exchanges reduced to a RBN vs RB position. Seer captured 3 pawns, Stockfish exchanged bishops and slowly captured the pawns back. The white pieces moved forward, trapped the black king and mated.

game 50, Berserk - Caissa: The engines castled in opposite directions, Berserk pushed the h pawn and gave it to open a file for its rook. It then gave two pawns in the center but trapped and captured a bishop. Berserk gave a rook for a knight to open the king side, then moved its major pieces to threaten the black king. The engines mostly shuffled for a very long time with stable evals, evals started to increase after move 80. Caissa walked its king to the queen side, Berserk reduced to a QBN vs QR position with black two pawns up. After a while a series of exchanges reduced to a bishop vs pawns ending and the game ended in a tablebase win.

game 51, Leela - KomodoDragon: Leela pushed pawns on the king side, then castled with no pawn support for its king. KomodoDragon moved pieces forward letting Leela capture a pawn and create an advanced passer in the center. Then Leela traded a rook for two minors and KomodoDragon captured the passer. The white king moved forward closer to the pawns, the game reached a QBN vs QR position. Now the black king was more exposed to checks, After a while Leela exchanged queens and went a pawn up. Leela pushed passers forward, queened and mated.

game 53, Seer - Ethereal: There were no exchanges until move 23, Ethereal pushed pawns on the king side. The white king seemed trapped in the corner while the black king was left without support. Evals started to increase and Seer captured the first pawn on move 32. The engines opened files in the center, for a while it seemed the engines mostly shuffled though evals continued to increase. Seer moved pieces forward and when it was ready there was a series of exchanges that resulted in a capture of the black queen and a QBN vs RN position. Ethereal lost more material and was mated.

Featured game: Stockfish - Leela
game 14

There were only a few exchanges after the start, Leela kept its king in the center and its king side pieces could not develop. Stockfish moved its queen forward and attacked the black king. After exchanging queens there was a series of exchanges that left  RBN vs RBN position. 


Leela created a passer on the king side, and it seemed Stockfish was worse since it had doubled pawns, but the eval advantage was very clear. The black b pawn was weak and hard to defend, Stockfish kept the black king away from the queen side and also secured the g file so the black rook couldn't invade. Eventually Stockfish captured the b pawn and the game reached a rook ending.


Stockfish saw a win in its PV, it pushed the a passer forward to the 7th rank and gave it up to capture the black center pawns. The game ended in a tablebase win.

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