Sunday, July 1, 2018

Season 12 superfinal, games 59-66

After 66 games Stockfish leads 16-7 with 43 draws. The draw rate continues to be low, now at 65.1%. Stockfish extends its lead with three more wins, it doesn't look like Komodo can come back with two thirds of the match over.

The engines castled in opposite directions in game 30.1. Stockfish pushed pawns on the king side while Komodo moved its pieces to the queen side. The white pawn storm looked intimidating, and Stockfish's eval jumped over 3. Komodo was less concerned, even when the h file opened it thought its king side pawns provided enough defense for its king.




Komodo continued to play on the queen side, its two knights had excellent outposts in the center. Stockfish ignored this and built a massive canon on the h file. Komodo finally saw the danger, it gave a rook for a knight in order to stop the f pawn from advancing and to keep the king side files closed.




It was too late, Stockfish sacrificed a rook and opened the h file. The game was adjudicated before Komodo lost its queen. This was the shortest decisive game of the match so far, only 38 moves.

In the reverse game 30.2 Komodo opened the center and did not attack on the king side. Evals stayed low and the engines exchanged their pieces. By move 31 only QRR vs QRR remained, the game ended in a tablebase draw.

Stockfish had a space advantage in a closed position in game 31.1, its eval climbing over 1. After exchanging queens Stockfish was a pawn up, the engines started to shuffle. There was another piece exchange and only RRN vs RRN remained. After another shuffle period Komodo captured a pawn and equalized material, evals came down to 0 and the game was adjudicated. In the reverse game 31.2 evals stayed low. Komodo gave a pawn and opened the center. After exchanging queens only RRN vs RRB remained, Komodo had a central passer. Both engines thought they had a small advantage, yet both could only shuffle pieces. The evals dropped to 0 only when the 50 move draw was getting near.

The 32nd opening was another King's Gambit variant. In game 32.1 the white king was uncastled in the center, Komodo gave 3 pawns and opened a central file. Stockfish's king side pieces were blocked until its king walked to the corner and found safety. Both evals were 0 for a long time, Komodo regained the pawns and the engines exchanged most of their pieces. The game ended in a tablebase draw.

In the reverse game 32.2 both kings stayed uncastled, all the white king side pawns were gone and Stockfish gave a rook for a bishop. Komodo's king walked to the queen side, blocking a rook. After exchanging queens evals favored black in an unusual position.




Komodo pushed pawns on the queen side and let its rook out of the corner. Evals gradually increased as Stockfish prepared its king side for its passers. Komodo created a passer in the center and exchanged bishops, the black knights dominated the center and restricted white's defense.





The black king side pawns slowly marched forward. Komodo exchanged a pair of knights and tried to push its d pawn but it was not enough. Stockfish's king came to support its pawns and the game was adjudicated before Komodo lost material.

Evals stayed close to 0 in game 33.1. The engines castled in opposite directions, Komodo pushed pawns and opened the queen side, Stockfish's king hid behind the black pawns. The white queen moved forward, Komodo avoided a queen exchange and ended the game in a repetition. The game was a miniature of 26 moves.

In game 33.2 both engines pushed pawns towards their opponent's king. At first the evals were close to 0, the pawns were stopped on both sides. Komodo's king was a little more exposed with a black pawn on a3, evals turned negative. Komodo prepared a king side attack, Stockfish exchanged pieces and gave a rook for a knight. On move 37 only RRB vs RBB remained, the white king was trapped in the corner.



Stockfish started to push its king side pawns. The black bishops were very effective at supporting the pawns and making sure the white pawns don't advance on the queen side. Stockfish moved its king to support the pawns, while Komodo had to free its king by capturing the pawn on a3. Stockfish managed to get a pawn to the 3rd rank supported by a bishop.




As the PVs predicted Komodo gave a rook to stop the passer, leading to a R vs RB ending. The last black pawn was enough for a win.


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