Leela won 5 of its last 9 games, quite incredible. It now has the same number of wins as Stockfish, and Leela played 5 games less. Stockfish is still disappointing in games against GPU engines, so far it has one win in 12 games. AllieStein lost twice in its last 9 games, and won only one. This means it is 2 full points behind Leela and its chances of qualifying to the superfinal are much lower.
Houdini and ScorpioNN continue to accumulate losses, and are sure relegation candidates. KomodoMCTS has a -3 score, it needs a miracle to overtake two engines and survive the division. The remaining 4 engines have scores of -1 and 0, and at least one of them will also relegate.
Interesting games
Game 127, Leela - Fire: Leela had an eval around 1 after the opening. It placed a bishop on d6 and Fire gave a rook to get rid of it. Evals crawled up slowly, not a lot seemed to be happening on the board. Evals went over 2 after Leela pushed pawns on the king side and the engines reduced to a RR vs RN position. As more pawns were exchanged evals kept climbing. In the end only two pawns were left each, Leela found the right moment to exchange a rook for the knight and capture a pawn. Two advanced passers were enough for a win in the rook ending.
Game 128, Stoofvlees - Houdini: Stoofvlees gave a rook for a bishop early in the game, yet kept a small eval advantage, perhaps due to a bishop pair and better development. It pushed a pawn on the king side and created a hole in the pawns defending the black king. Houdini pushed pawns on the queen side and moved a rook forward in the center. Stoofvlees allowed the rook to take two pawns, Houdini gave the rook back for a knight while evals started to climb. Stoofvlees increased the pressure on the exposed black king, its bishop pair controlled the center. Stoofvlees captured the black knight, and after exchanging queens it also captured the black bishop. Houdini's last try was a passer on the 2nd rank, Stoofvlees lost a bishop for it but the remaining RB vs R position was a win for white.
Game 132, Ethereal - AllieStein: See featured game below.
Game 134, Leela - Ethereal: Most minor pieces were exchanged early, on move 22 each engine had its major pieces and one bishop. Leela had an eval over 1, it managed to capture a pawn and then the engines exchanged more pieces. On move 51 the game reached an opposite color bishop ending, Leela was up a pawn but usually this is not enough for a win. After a few pawn exchanges Leela created a connected pair of passers, Ethereal was able to block them and the engines shuffled for 20 moves. Surprisingly Ethereal blundered, it let the white king move closer to the pawns and they became unstoppable.
Game 139, ScorpioNN - Leela: ScorpioNN gave a rook for a knight in a closed position to create an advanced passer. Then ScorpioNN gave a second rook for a knight and pawn, evals remained low as Leela had only major pieces that couldn't penetrate the pawn wall. Leela's eval jumped over (negative) 1 when ScorpioNN captured a pawn and exchanged queens, this opened a file and both black rooks moved forward through it. Leela had to give some material back to stop the white passers, but the remaining N vs R ending was a win.
Game 143: Leela - Stoofvlees: Leela's eval jumped over 2 when Stoofvlees ignored a simple knight fork and lost a rook. Stoofvlees went all out with an attack on the white king, sacrificing its second rook. Leela defended with precision and countered with threats on the black king, it captured a knight and Stoofvlees realised it was doomed. Leela gave some material back to stop the attack completely, still with a rook advantage the game ended quickly with mate on the board.
Game 146, Komodo - AllieStein: AllieStein made a bad judgment call, it let Komodo open the center while the black king was not castled. Evals jumped high as more white pieces joined the attack, Komodo had several black pieces pinned around the black king. AllieStein could not avoid losing material, the game reached a QB vs BB position and was adjudicated on move 34.
Game 148, AllieStein - Houdini: Houdini pushed its h pawn from the start, AllieStein allowed it to take the pawn on g2. The queen side was blocked and the engines exchanged pieces on the king side. Houdini gave a rook for a bishop and a knight and the game reached a QR vs QBN position, white two pawns up. For a long while AllieStein gave futile checks with its queen, evals increased only after it pushed its h pawn forward. When it reached h6 Houdini exchanged queens to capture it, the white rook moved forward to capture a pawn and create a passer. AllieStein traded the passer for a bishop and the R vs N ending was a win.
Game 149, Leela - Komodo: Leela kept its king in the center, with open files on both sides of the board. Queens were exchanged early and Leela had an eval around 1. For 25 moves the engines mostly shuffled, Komodo was clearly waiting for Leela to try something. On move 51 Leela finally pushed a pawn and opened the queen side, evals started to increase. Komodo's bishop couldn't get out of the king side, so Leela had an advantage on the queen side. After exchanging most pieces Leela had a queen side passer in a RN vs RB position. By the time Komodo freed its bishop the passer was advancing with the support of the white king. Komodo lost its rook to stop the passer, the game was over when Leela's eval became high enough.
Featured game: Ethereal - AllieStein
Premier division, game 132
Link to game on TCEC
Ethereal had an eval advantage from the opening, it was better developed and had a space advantage. AllieStein managed to castle its king and develop its pieces, evals remained stable for a while.
Ethereal started to press on the queen side and evals increased gradually, then Ethereal gave a knight for a pawn. This created a passer on the 6th rank and evals were over 2. AllieStein had pieces busy defending a pawn on the queen side, and its DS bishop was almost trapped.
AllieStein lost the DS bishop, gave a rook for one of the white bishops and removed the passer. Ethereal then gave the material back, created a queen side passer and placed a rook on the 7th rank.
The added threat of mate was too much to handle, enough for a win a few moves later.
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