Stockfish and AllieStein qualify for the superfinal. Stockfish survived without crashing a third time and even finished first. Leela finished third and will not defend its title, despite it being the only undefeated engine and the only engine to beat Stockfish in the division (not through a crash).
The fact that Stockfish was not disqualified means that KomodoMCTS and ScorpioNN are relegated to league 1 next season. ScorpioNN and Stoofvlees started season 16 in the qualification league, both reached the premier division but only Stoofvlees managed to stay in the division for next season.
Leela fans will be disappointed that Leela did not qualify for the superfinal. For AllieStein this will be a first superfinal appearance, in only its second TCEC season. Stockfish is still a top engine despite the NN revolution. In the premier division Stockfish beat AllieStein 3 times. In the superfinal Stockfish will fix its bug and AllieStein will have a new version, I hope to see a competitive match.
A few interesting games
The leaders' scores with 7 games left are: AllieStein +9, Stockfish +8, Leela +6. Stockfish still has 2 crashes, one of those was a gift to AllieStein. Leela is without a loss but needs wins to close the gap.
ScorpioNN - Leela: The game reached a QRR vs QRR position with most pawns on the board. After some suffling the engines exchanged queens, then ScorpioNN blundered and allowed Leela to capture two pawns and create passers on the queen side. ScorpioNN had a king side passer, both engines lost a rook to remove a passer and this left a winning rook ending for Leela. Leela won this opening from both sides.
Houdini - AllieStein: AllieStein had a pawn majority on the queen side and evals turned negative. AllieStein's eval increased quickly after the majority became a supported passer on the 3rd rank. The engines gradually exchanged pieces until only RB vs RN remained, AllieStein lost the queen side passer but was a pawn up with a central passer. AllieStein took its time and didn't push the pawns. The engines shuffled a lot, Houdini lost patience and pushed a pawn. AllieStein captured the pawn and went back to shuffling. The game was finally adjudicated on move 180. A double win for AllieStein in this opening.
ScorpioNN - Stockfish: ScorpioNN gave a rook for a knight early, the position was static and the engines started to shuffle. At move 104 Stockfish's eval jumped over 2 (negative), ScorpioNN blundered with seconds left on its clock. Within a few moves Stockfish reduced to a QB vs QR position, its eval over 13. ScorpioNN gave its queen for a rook to stop mate on the back ranks, a win for Stockfish.
Leela - Komodo: Leela gave a pawn on the queen side and evals started to increase. Komodo sacrificed a bishop for pawns and opened the king side, then gave a knight and exchanged queens. The game reached an unusual RBNN vs RN position with black 4 pawns up. Leela was very patient and Komodo's eval increased slowly. It took Leela 30 moves to capture 3 pawns, and another 30 moves for evals to be high enough for adjudication.
Stoofvlees - AllieStein: Stoofvlees had an eval advantage from the start. The engines mainly shuffled behind their pawn lines. Stoofvlees opened the center and tried to attack the black king, it forgot that its own king was exposed and AllieStein's eval suddenly jumped over 7 (negative). AllieStein's attack was lethal and Stoofvlees lost its queen to defend its king. The game was adjudicated a few moves later. Another double win for AllieStein.
Only 4 games left, the top of the table is: AllieStein +11, Stockfish +9, Leela +8. Leela is only 0.5 points behind, Stockfish and Leela drew their game, AllieStein with two more double wins is leading comfortably.
Stockfish - AllieStein: see featured game below.
Leela - Houdini: Leela opened a file on the king side and the black king ran to the center. Evals gradually increased as the engines exchanged pieces. Houdini went a pawn up and the game reached a RN vs RN position, evals were close to 2. Leela's rook was on the 7th rank and it had an advanced passer, Houdini was able to stop the passer but by then Leela was two pawns up. The game went on for 35 more moves before adjudication.
Only 2 games left, the top of the table is: AllieStein +10, Stockfish +10, Leela +9. AllieStein lost to Stockfish for the third time in the division, the race for the superfinal is wide open. Leela and AllieStein drew their game, the remaining opponents of the leaders are lower ranked engines.
Houdini - Stockfish: Houdini's queen captured two pawns on the queen side, Stockfish gave a rook for a bishop and the game became wild. Both kings were exposed and uncastled, Stockfish lost another knight but Houdini had a trapped rook and its king was in danger. Houdini gave the material back and the game reached a QRB vs QRB position, Houdini was two pawns up but Stockfish's king was safe and this was a huge advantage. It took Stockfish 30 moves to capture 4 pawns while chasing the white king, enough for a win. Stockfish won both games in this opening.
Final scores: Stockfish +11, AllieStein +10, Leela +9. Both Leela and AllieStein drew their last two games, Stockfish survived to the end and even finished first despite having two crashes.
Featured game: Stockfish - AllieStein
Premier division, game 158
Link to game on TCEC
Stockfish had an eval advantage from the start. The engines castled in opposite directions, Stockfish pushed pawns on the king side facing the black king. AllieStein countered with pawns on the queen side and then sacrificed a knight to expose the white king. Stockfish's eval increased over 1.5.
Stockfish opened the king side and pushed a pawn to the 7th rank. AllieStein opened a file on the queen side and threatened mate, however Stockfish was not intimidated and its eval jumped over 9.
Stockfish gave a knight to defend its king, but its king side attack put AllieStein's king in real danger. AllieStein lost material so its king could escape, and Stockfish queened its passer.
Stockfish had two queens attacking, the game ended with mate on the board a few moves later.
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