Season 19 league 3

Final standings

 

SlowChess and Igel promote to league 2. This is the second promotion for SlowChess this season. Igel and Minic competed for 2nd place and were tied in the end, Igel promotes on a tiebreak since it won one of their head-to-head games.

Counter and iCE relegate to qualification. Counter was at the bottom of the table from the start, it was also weak last season in league 3. iCE relegated after a weak 2nd half with 5 losses, last season it had a much better score. Roc survives after promoting from qualification.

SlowChess and Igel will join the following engines in League 2:
relegated from league 1 in season 18: RubiChess
played in league 2 in season 18: Pedone, Winter, Vajolet, Chiron, Wasp, Nemorino, Demolito

ChessBrain also played in season 18 league 2 but will not participate this season.

Interesting games 

Game 7, Pirarucu - Marvin: Marvin blundered in what appeared to be a drawn N vs B ending. Pirarucu blocked the black bishop and captured pawns with its knight to win.

Game 15, Topple - Pirarucu: In a RRB vs RBN position Topple created a queen side passer while most of the black pieces protected their king on the king side. Topple used the passer to reduce to a winning rook vs pawns ending.

Game 20, Igel - Minic: Minic gave a bishop for pawns to remove a white passer. Igel kept its last pawn safe in a RRB vs RR position, cleared a path for it and pushed it slowly forward to win.

Game 22, iCE - Igel: Igel was close to a win in a N vs R ending with a pawn on the 2nd rank, but a wrong pawn move allowed iCE to draw.

Game 27, SlowChess - Pirarucu: SlowChess reduced to a B vs N ending. The bishop had many pawn targets and Pirarucu couldn't protect all of them. A crucial queen side passer gave SlowChess the win.

Game 41, Marvin - Roc: A miniature, over on move 12 in a 3-fold repetition.

Scores after 9 rounds: SlowChess +3, Igel Minic +2, Pirarucu +1, Marvin Roc +0, Gogobello -1, Topple iCE -2, Counter -3. At the half point the promotion and relegation races are wide open. SlowChess is in the lead with a good chance to promote again, 3 more engines have positive scores and are not far behind. There are 4 engines with negative scores, all are candidates for relegation.

Game 46, Roc - Gogobello: Roc moved its queen into a trap in the corner, Gogobello reduced to a Q vs BN position 4 pawns up. By the time the queen got out of the trap there were too many black passers moving forward and Gogobello kept its king safe from checks. The game was adjudicated before Gogobello queened a pawn.

Game 48, Counter - Minic: Counter was 2 pawns up, but due to lack of tablebase support allowed Minic to reduce to a drawn rook ending with f+h pawns.

Scores after 15 rounds: SlowChess +6, Igel +4, Minic +3, Pirarucu +1, Topple Gogobello Roc -1, Marvin -2, Counter -4, iCE -5. The table is clearer with 3 rounds left. SlowChess continues to lead, probably Igel or Minic will also promote. At the bottom iCE lost 3 games and dropped to last, it will probably relegate with Counter.

In round 16 Minic beat Marvin, Igel drew against Topple and they are tied with two games to go. iCE and Counter lost again, Marvin is only 1 point away and is still in danger.

Game 85, Marvin - iCE: The engines shuffled in a closed position with Marvin up a rook for a bishop. After most pieces were exchanged the game reached a R vs N ending, iCE was 2 pawns up but Marvin kept its last pawn and secured the win. 

Round 17: Counter lost again, Marvin is safe, iCE and Counter relegate. Igel and Minic drew their games, they are still tied before the last round.

Game 88, Minic - Pirarucu: Minic opened the position starting with a knight sacrifice on move 102, that resulted in a R vs BB imbalance. All the white major pieces came forward, Minic created a passer and reduced to a R vs BB ending. The rook was strong enough to clear a path for the passer, giving Minic the win.

Igel needed a win in its last game against Counter, it played better than Counter and was a piece up when the game was adjudicated after only 36 moves. Igel and Minic have the same +5 score, Igel has a better tiebreak since it beat Minic in their direct mini-match.