Before the start of league 2 chess22k and Fritz crashed in testing, apparently they are not compatible with the new hardware. As a result two more engines from the qualification league were promoted to replace them, Minic and PeSTO.
The plan is to have 6 relegations and 4 promotions in League 2, there may be changes after league 1 testing.
Scores after 15 rounds
Fire +8, DefenChess +6, Pedone +5, Vajolet RubiChess +3, Nemorino +2, Winter 0, Texel Wasp Minic Gull -1, Demolito -2, PeSTO iCE -3, Igel -7, Pirarucu -8.
At the top of the table Fire, DefenChess and Pedone are without loss, all have a good chance of promoting to league 1. Fire returned to its AB version after its NN version failed miserably in season 16, which led it to league 2. Fire AB played in the premier division for many seasons, it is likely to stay in league 1 after promotion. The newcomer DefenChess continues its success in this league. There are at least 3 contenders for the 4th promotion spot, though recall that Nemorino got a free point from a crash in a losing position against Minic.
The last 5 engines in the table played in the qualification league. Igel and Pirarucu are surely on their way back down, the other engines may still avoid relegation. Gull is facing relegation like in season 16, in which case it will stop playing in TCEC because it is "abandon-ware".
Wasp crashed twice so far and is in serious danger of disqualification. Minic crashed once in round 3, but has been stable since.
Notable games
Game 5, Texel - PeSTO: 13 move miniature, 3-fold repetition.
Game 12, PeSTO - RubiChess: The game reached a RRB vs Q position, black with connected passers, one on the 2nd rank. Evals were 0, but RubiChess' play was not accurate. PeSTO used the bishop to stop the white passers, and its rooks slowly took over the game, it took 40 moves for the engines to agree PeSTO winning.
Game 17, Nemorino - Minic: Minic surprised - after qualifying 7th - when the game reached a RB vs RB position with black a pawn up. It then surprised again when it crashed just before securing the win.
Game 50, Texel - Vajolet: Vajolet gave a rook for a knight and pawns early in the game, but its passers were not strong enough. Texel reduced to a RB vs BB ending, gradually captured pawns and improved its position until the game was adjudicated.
Game 64, Pedone - Texel: Pedone outplayed Texel in a RB vs RB ending. Evals started to increase from move 75, it took 20 moves to capture a pawn, the game lasted until move 119 after Pedone captured another pawn.
Game 81, RubiChess - Minic: In a queen ending Minic captured a pawn and then reduced to a winning king and pawns ending.
Game 86, Winter - DefenChess: The game reached a drawish-looking RB vs RN position, then DefenChess found a winning path that Winter overlooked, reducing to a rook ending two pawns up.
Game 93, Vajolet - Fire: Fire was better in a RR vs BNN imbalance which turned into a QR vs QBN position. Fire went two pawns up and exchanged queens, enough for a win.
Game 102, PeSTO - Nemorino: Nemorino doubled rooks on the h file and PeSTO kept the file closed while playing on the queen side. PeSTO trapped the black king and then opened the h file for a knight. Nemorino's attack was weak while PeSTO's back-rank threat was enough to win material and the game.
Game 109, Pedone - Winter: Winter's king side rook was trapped and Pedone had a strong knight on the 6th rank. Winter freed its rook while Pedone created an advanced queen side passer. Winter gave 3 pawns to get a passer to the 2nd rank, Pedone traded passers and the remaining pieces to get a winning king and pawns ending.
Game 110, Texel - Fire: Texel gave a bishop and attacked the black king, driving it to the queen side and capturing 3 pawns. Fire stabilized the position and pushed a passer to the 2nd rank, together with the extra piece this was enough to win.
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