Final standings
Counter and Asymptote promote to league 3. The race for the top 2 spots was very close, 7 engines had a real chance to promote. The race was only concluded in the last round. There was a possibility of a 4-way tie at the top, but in the end Counter finished a clear first and Asymptote qualified with a tiebreak.
Losses of the bottom 3 engines accounted for most of the decisive games in the league. Weiss in particular lost 15 of 18 its games.
The qualification league was very tense, but there wasn't enough time to build up the excitement. One DRR and fast games, the league was over before we got to know the engines playing. The same will probably happen in the next few leagues.
The engines to compete in league 3:
- Played in league 2 in Season 17: Demolito, Minic, iCE, Igel, Pirarucu
- Played in the qualification league in season 17: Marvin, Gogobello, Topple
- Promotion from qualification league: Counter, Asymptote
Notable games
Game 2, FabChess - chess22k: chess22k attacked the exposed white king and won material. In a bishop vs pawns ending chess2k avoided stalemate and won with zugzwang.
Game 4, Asymptote - Monolith: The game reached a RB vs RB ending, Asymptote outplayed Monolith, captured the bishop and kept one pawn to win.
Game 5, Bagatur - ChessFighter: ChessFighter had a winning B vs N position with two pawns up, but it couldn't convert.
Game 8, Combusken - Asymptote: Combusken was up a knight for two pawns, it won the game without any pawns.
Game 10, Counter - FabChess: Counter converted a same color bishop ending.
Game 14, Bagatur - Combusken: Bagatur sacrificed a knight early and exposed the black king. It attacked the king, regained the piece and got a winning 3 pawn advantage.
Game 22, Asymptote - FabChess: FabChess played the RB vs RB ending better, capturing a pawn and creating a passer to win the game.
Game 27, chess22k - Monolith: The game reached a RN vs BN position, chess22k captured pawns to end the game.
Game 28, Counter - ChessFighter: Counter blundered when it captured a hanging pawn, then couldn't stop the black passers on the other side.
Game 42, ChessFighter - Asymptote: Asymptote blundered in the opening and lost a knight, ChessFighter slowly exchanged pieces until reaching a winning BN vs N endgame.
Game 45, chess22k - Counter: chess22k had a space advantage and Counter played defensively for 70 moves. When chess22k lost control of open files Counter turned the tables with a strong attack on the white back ranks. The board cleared, Counter created an advanced passer and ended the game in a winning RB vs RN ending.
Scores after 9 rounds: Counter +4, chess22k +3, FabChess ChessFighter +2, Monolith Combusken Asymptote +1, Tucano Bagatur -3, Weiss -8. The top of the table is still contested. The bottom is clearer, losses of the bottom three engines account for most of the decisive games.
Game 64, Asymptote - Counter: After no exchanges in the first 40 moves the position opened, and Asymptote started to capture black pawns. The game was adjudicated in a double rook ending with white 5 pawns up.
Game 67, FabChess - Asymptote: Asymptote was up a pawn early. In a QR vs QR position it seemed that FabChess could hold, but Asymptote reduced to a winning rook ending.
Game 69, chess22k - ChessFighter: chess22k played better in a QRN vs QRN position, it was able to force a RN for Q trade and the white queen was strong enough to win.
Scores after 14 rounds: Counter +5, chess22k +4, ChessFighter Monolith Asymptote +3, FabChess Combusken +2, Tucano -4, Bagatur -6, Weiss -12. With 4 rounds left there are 7 engines that have a chance of promoting. Asymptote still has to play the bottom 3 engines, the other contenders have at most one such game. The bottom 3 engines continue to lose games. Still many head to head games left within the top 7 engines.
Game 72, Monolith - chess22k: Monolith was a pawn up in a RRB vs RRB position, then reduced to a double rook ending and captured a second pawn to win.
Game 73, ChessFighter - Counter: ChessFighter had a strong king side attack, then reduced to a winning same color bishop ending a pawn up.
Game 79, Counter - Monolith: After a balanced start in a QRN vs QRB position Counter used a king side attack to reduce to a N vs B ending 2 pawns up. One of the pawns was doubled but it was enough for a win.
Scores after 16 rounds: Counter +5, ChessFighter +4, Monolith chess22k Asymptote Combusken FabChess +3, Tucano -3, Bagatur -8, Weiss -13. The race is even closer, only a point of difference between first and seventh places. Counter is in the lead despite a loss to ChessFighter. Asymptote only got two draws against two weak engines.
Game 82, Combusken - Counter: Combusken blundered in what seemed like a drawn double rook ending, not far from a 50 move draw.
Game 83, Monolith - FabChess: Monolith was a pawn up, then reduced to a N vs B ending. The white pawns were out of the bishop's reach, Monolith captured a second pawn to end the game.
Game 84, ChessFighter - Tucano: ChessFighter reduced to a winning rook ending 2 pawns up, but it let Tocano hold, probably due to lack of tablebase support.
Scores at the top after 17 rounds: Counter +6, Monolith Asymptote ChessFighter +4, chess22k +3, Combusken FabChess +2. One round to go Counter has a one point lead, 3 engines fighting for the second spot and chess22k still with a small chance if it beats Counter in the last game.
Game 87, Asymptote - ChessFighter: When the position opened Asymptote was better, then ChessFighter let a white knight move to the 6th rank. Asymptote chased the black king until almost mate.
Asymptote won its last two games to reach second place. Monolith also won its last game but missed promotion due to a head-to-head tiebreak with Asymptote. The tiebreak situation could have been very compilcated if chess22k would have beaten Counter in the last game, creating a 4-way tie. However, the game ended in a draw and Counter kept its first place.
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