Season 17 league 1 (CPU) after RR2

Scores after RR2
Ethereal +10, Fire KomodoMCTS +7, Xiphos rofChade +6, Laser Andscacs +4, DefenChess +2, RubiChess +1, Arasan +0, Pedone -1, Vajolet -2, Nemorino -8, Winter -9, PeSTO -10, Fizbo -17.

There is a close race at the top of the table. Ethereal has a small lead at the top, the engines in places 2-7 all have a fighting chance to end up in the top 4. The 7 engines at the top have only lost two games so far, the only 2 of 42 games within this group that were decisive. Fire improved its position in RR2 with a +5 result, Xiphos dropped a few places with a disappointing +1 result.

Things are more straightforward at the bottom of the table. The last 4 engines are heading for relegation to league 2, losing almost half of their games (46 out of 96) against the remaining engines.

The draw rate continues to be high, just under 70%.

Notable games

Game 133, Andscacs - Pedone: 3-fold draw in 18 moves.
Game 138, KomodoMCTS - Ethereal: KomodoMCTS had a pawn majority on the queen side in a RRB vs RRB position. It pushed the pawns forward gradually, Ethereal gave a bishop for two pawns to stop them. The RB vs R ending continued another 25 moves before adjudication.
Game 146, Fire - RubiChess: RubiChess pushed its king side pawns forward and its king was left without pawn support. Fire's bishop pair was strong with many open diagonals, eventually Fire came out of a complicated position a piece up in a RBB vs RB ending. It pushed a pawn forward to the 7th rank and the game was adjudicated.
Game 159, Vajolet - Fire: The game reached a NN vs BN position, Fire was down a pawn but had a passer on the 3rd rank. After exchanging a pair of knights Fire played the endgame better, it managed to capture a pawn back while Vajolet's knight blocked the passer. The game was adjudicated with equal material, the PV suggested that Fire can create a second passer to win.
Game 162, DefenChess - Vajolet: The game was heading for a draw in a RR vs RB position, Vajolet had a fortress after exchanging a pair of rooks. DefenChess avoided a 50 move draw, and as it approached for the second time DefenChess failed to make a move and lost on time. This season a loss on time is not counted as a crash.
Game 173, Winter - Arasan: Winter was up a pawn early in the game. The engines reduced to a RN vs RB position and Winter used its pawn majority on the king side to create a passer. Arasan couldn't stop the advancing passer, eventually it gave a bishop for it and that was enough for Winter to win.
Game 188, Laser - Arasan: Arasan held a draw in a Q vs RB position, despite an eval advantage close to 3 for Laser.
Game 194, Vajolet - Nemorino: Nemorino was up a pawn in a rook ending with an advanced passer. For a while it seemed Nemorino was only shuffling, eventually it found the right moves to win.
Game 197, Fire - Laser: Fire had an eval over 2.5 in a Q vs RN position, Laser blocked the a pawn on the 6th rank and was able to hold the draw.
Game 218, Fizbo - Arasan: Fizbo sacrificed a bishop and exposed the black king, evals went over 2 as it attacked but then the black king managed to escape. Arasan took the initiative and reduced to a winning QBN s QN position.
Game 221, Ethereal - RubiChess: RubiChess held a draw in a QR vs QB position with many pawns on the board, despite evals over 2.
Game 227, Pedone - Laser: Pedone had connected passers in a QRR vs QRR position, evals over 1.5, but Laser managed to reduce to a drawn queen ending.