After 70 games Stockfish leads 10-7 with 53 draws. There was one double white win and Stockfish's lead remained +3, now with only 30 games left to play in the match.
Games 61-62 started with a 6-ply book in the Czech Benoni Defense, and both games left known theory very quickly. In game Stockfish kept its king in the center and developed its king side rook through the h file. After exchanging a pair of rooks Leela started to push pawns on the king side. Stockfish's queen came forward on the queen side and captured two pawns, its eval came down to 0. Leela opened the king side with a bishop sacrifice, and two connected passers advanced towards the black king. Stockfish lost a knight for one of the passers, Leela threatened mate on the open file. However the black queen could attack the exposed white king and Leela had to stop its attack to avoid a perpetual check. The draw rule ended the game quickly. In game 62 both kings did not castle, there was one minor piece exchange after the start and all pawns remained on the board. On move 24 the engines started to exchange pawns, Stockfish went a pawn up and created a passer on the queen side. The engines shuffled for a while and evals started to come down. A few exchanges later the game reached a RBN vs RBN position, Leela captured two pawns and was a pawn up, Stockfish's passer was more advanced then the black pawns. Stockfish equalized material and pushed its passer to the 7th rank, Leela exchanged minors and pushed its own passer to the 2nd rank. Both passers could not advance further and the draw rule stopped the game.
In game 63 Leela moved its king early and could not castle, it developed the king side rook through the h file. Stockfish castled long despite an open file on the queen side. The engines started to shuffle on move 28, evals drifted down to 0, a few pawn moves and exchanges extended the shuffle to move 138. A series of exchanges opened the position, both queens move forward and both kings were exposed. The game ended in a check repetition. In game 64 both engines did not castle, Leela pushed a pawn to a3 and gave it away. The kings walked in opposite directions, Stockfish developed its king side rook through the h file. Shuffling began on move 18, on move 56 Stockfish gave the pawn back and the shuffle continued. Stockfish wouldn't lower its eval until the engines ran out of pawn moves, the game was adjudicated on move 187.
Games 65-66 started in the Benko Gambit, with white a pawn up and a queen side passer while its king is unable to castle after it moved. In both games the white king found safety on the g2 square. In game 65 Leela gave the pawn back, the engines traded pawns on the queen side and by move 31 they were all gone. Evals were close to 0, the engines traded NN for R and then the game was adjudicated. In game 66 Stockfish kept the pawn and pushed the passer to a5 where Leela blocked it. After some shuffling the engines reduced to a RRB vs RRN position and Leela regained the pawn. Evals came down and the game was adjudicated after the king side pawns stopped moving.
In game 67 Leela pushed pawns on the king side and castled long, Stockfish kept its king in the center. There were almost no exchanges and evals did not change a lot. Leela waited before opening the king side, it saw an opportunity and captured a pawn on the queen side. After a few minor piece exchanges evals started to increase, Stockfish moved its major pieces to the queen side and threatened the white king. Leela finally opened a file on the king side on move 36.
Leela considered how to proceed and the engines shuffled, Leela had to be careful to defend its queen side pawns. Leela couldn't decide which pawn to push, finally on move 56 it pushed the b pawn and created connected passers on the queen side. It took a while to get the rooks on the queen side and then Leela exchanged pieces until reaching a rook ending.
Leela was up only one pawn but its rook kept the black king away from the passers. The a pawn moved forward supported by the white king, the game was adjudicated with the pawn on a6.
In game 68 Stockfish pushed pawns on the king side and castled long as before, this time Leela castled short. Leela went up a pawn, it was not afraid of the white pieces on the king side and it even exchanged a pair of pawns there. Stockfish thought Leela made a mistake on move 26 and its eval jumped over 3.
Stockfish exchanged the defending knight on f5 and moved its queen to h6. Then it opened the king side with a rook sacrifice and forced a RR for Q trade. The black king was exposed and Stockfish controlled the dark squares.
The white passer was an additional threat that Leela had to deal with. Stockfish pushed it to the 7th rank but Leela captured it there after the knights were exchanged. Stockfish didn't seem to have an immediate threat, however it was confident it was winning and evals increased steadily.
The white queen danced on the board, Stockfish used mate threats to keep the black rooks on the back ranks. On move 62 Stockfish captured a pawn and created a passer on the queen side. Leela ran out of options, by the time the game was adjudicated Stockfish captured all the black pawns and one rook for a bishop. There were two white wins in this opening, Stockfish continues to lead by +3.
In game 69 Leela pushed pawns on the king side and opened the g file. After exchanging queens Leela had a bishop pair advantage. It pushed the black king to the corner, but with a rook and a bishop could only threaten a perpetual check. Stockfish's eval dropped to 0, Leela kept trying but could not improve its attack. Eventually Leela's eval came down as well, the engines started to exchange pieces until the game reached a drawn king and pawns ending. In game 70 Stockfish pushed pawns on the queen side and opened files there. By move 24 the queens were off the board, Stockfish was 2 pawns up and there was only one white pawn left on the queen side. Leela used its bishop pair to drive the white rooks away, it exchanged one bishop and captured one pawn back. The game reached a RRB vs RRB position on move 31, the engines mostly shuffled until Stockfish lowered its eval for the draw rule.
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