Standings after RR2
The top 3 engines are back in their familiar position in the table, again dominating from the start. They won 12/15 game pairs against the rest of the field without loss. Stockfish won all its game pairs against weaker engines, KomodoDragon won 4 and Leela only 3. Leela also won a game pair against Stockfish, the reason all 3 engines are tied.
Currently Berserk is in 4th place, this season this is significant since there will be a playoff stage for the 4 engines in the lead at the end of the premier division.
SlowChess is last, it is the only engine in the bottom 5 with a negative score in games within the bottom 5. Ethereal is currently in 7th place but it is very early in the relegation race. I'm a bit surprised that Berserk has a better score that Koivisto and Ethereal, Koivisto was much better than Berserk in league 1, and Ethereal finished 4th in the premier division of season 23 where Berserk finished last. Berserk was updated after league 1, it appears that this update was significant.
Interesting games
game 4, SlowChess - Stoofvlees: The black queen moved forward to attack, a series of exchanges left SlowChess up by a rook while its king and king side rook were trapped in a corner. Stoofvlees' attack was not strong enough, SlowChess pushed a passer on the queen side and Stoofvlees lost another rook to stop it. SlowChess eliminated the threats near its king, after its king side rook was released the material advantage was too great and SlowChess mated.
game 5, Stockfish - Stoofvlees: There were many piece exchanges after the staTrt, evals started to increase and the game reached a RRB vs RRB position with a white rook on the 7th rank. Stockfish went a pawn up and exchanged a pair of rooks, its king was active in the center and it had a central passer. Stockfish had mate scores in its eval, the bishops were exchanged and the passer was unstoppable, game over.
game 6, Ethereal - SlowChess: Ethereal castled long, SlowChess tried to attack on the queen side and it left its king uncastled. Ethereal kept its king safe and pushed the black pieces back, SlowChess tried to find a safe spot for its king on the king side. Ethereal lined up its major pieces on the g file, then forced open the king side. In a QRB vs QRB position Ethereal chased the black king back to the center, then reduced to a won same color bishops ending a pawn up.
game 7, Leela - Koivisto: Leela castled long, Koivisto pushed pawns on the queen side and opened the a file. The black king stayed in the center, Leela created a passer on the queen side and pushed it slowly forward until it reached the 7th rank. Koivisto tried to counter with pawns on the king side where it had a majority, but its pieces were busy defending. Leela created a second passer, it went a pawn up and exchanged a pair of rooks. In a QRB vs QRN position Leela pushed a second passer to the 7th rank, Koivisto couldn't stop a queening, game over.
game 8, KomodoDragon - Berserk: The engines castled in opposite directions, there were no pawn attacks and material was equal, KomodoDragon created a passer on the queen side. Evals started to increase after move 30, though Berserk created a passer on the king side. KomodoDragon went a pawn up, Berserk gave a bishop for two pawns to clear most of the pawns on the queen side. In a QRN vs QR position KomodoDragon attacked the black king and Berserk didn't have time to push passers forward. Both engines had mate score evals and the game ended in a tablebase win.
game 12, Stoofvlees - Ethereal: For a while it seemed that Ethereal equalized, evals were more or less stable until move 30. Stoofvlees had a pawn majority on the queen side with a pawn on a6, Ethereal used a bishop as a blocker. In a series of exchanges the engines reduced to an opposite color bishops ending, at first white was only one pawn up but due to the weak pawn structure Stoofvlees captured two more pawns. The black king was too far and the bishop had too much to defend. Stoofvlees gave back pawns but created passers on the king side and Ethereal had to give its bishop to avoid a queening. The game ended in a tablebase win.
game 13, Stockfish - Ethereal: Stockfish thought Ethereal's move 17 was weak, after Stockfish's response Ethereal's eval jumped as well. Ethereal captured a knight on the queen side but Stockfish attacked the black king with a bishop sacrifice. Ethereal gave back the material and exchanged pieces, the result of the attack was a RR vs RB position. Stockfish had a passer on either side of the board while Ethereal had a doubled passer. It took Stockfish more than 40 moves to pushed both its passers forward and to capture one black pawn, the game ended in a tablebase win.
game 14, Leela - Stoofvlees: Stoofvlees moved its king without castling and evals started to increase. Leela opened the center with a knight sacrifice for two pawns. For many moves Leela refused to exchange bishop for rook, instead it increased the pressure on the open d file. The engines traded queens and Leela moved both its rooks to the 7th rank, then used them to capture a rook and reduce to a RB vs NN position. Both engines had a passer, Leela queened first with check and a few moves later mated.
game 15, KomodoDragon - SlowChess: Evals were stable until move 40, the only pieces exchanged were a pair of bishops and a pair of rooks. SlowChess moved its bishop to e4, KomodoDragon thought that was a mistake and both evals jumped. Within a few moves all the white pieces were attacking, KomodoDragon captured the bishop and the game reached a QBN vs QN position. SlowChess delayed a little with checks but it was soon mated.
game 16, Berserk - Koivisto: Evals slowly increased after the start though material was equal. Berserk's main advantage was that it controlled an open file on the queen side. The white rook moved forward and after a while the white queen joined the rook, Koivisto could not force them away. Berserk managed to capture a bishop on the back rank, then the engines reduced to a QB vs Q position. Berserk captured two pawns, then exchanged queens to win.
game 19, Stoofvlees - KomodoDragon: Evals were stable until move 35, KomodoDragon had a passer on the queen side and Stoofvlees had a pawn majority on the king side. Evals started to slowly increase as Stoofvlees created a passer on the king side, there were still many pieces on the board and all passers were blocked. The engines opened the queen side and the white queen moved forward, then on the king side Stoofvlees captured a pawn and connected a second passer. After exchanging queens KomodoDragon did not have enough strength to block the passers, Stoofvlees captured a knight and queened to win.
game 22, KomodoDragon - Ethereal: The engines castled in opposite directions, KomodoDragon gave two pawns and opened the king side. Ethereal had tripled pawns in the center, KomodoDragon doubled rooks on the e file and captured all three black pawns there. The game reached a rook ending with white a pawn up, KomodoDragon with a passer in the center. The white king came forward and Ethereal couldn't stop the passer, the game ended in a tablebase win.
game 24, Koivisto - SlowChess: Evals were stable until move 32, then started increasing as a series of exchanges reduced to a QRB vs QRB position with white a pawn up. Koivisto exchanged queens and captured another pawn, creating a passer on the queen side. The engines shuffled for a while after a pawn exchange that removed the last black pawn, then Koivisto found a way to reduce to a tablebase win.
game 26, Stoofvlees - Koivisto: Koivisto moved its king without castling but castled short by walking, while Stoofvlees castled long. Stoofvlees captured a rook for a knight and the engines reduced to a RR vs RB position. Koivisto was 3 pawns up, Stoofvlees used its active rooks to capture all the black pawns with one last white pawn left. The 7-man position was a win for white, it took another 25 moves to reach a (6-man) tablebase win.
Standings after RR1: Stockfish Leela KomodoDragon +2, Berserk Stoofvlees 0, SlowChess Ethereal Koivisto -2. Still very early and the reverse games have to be played, yet the top 3 engines are already in their expected place. Ethereal and Koivisto are under-performing so far.
game 32, Stoofvlees - SlowChess: There were only a few excanges after the start, Stoofvlees castled long despite the open c file. Evals started to increase and there was a period of shuffling, then Stoofvlees opened the king side. After a series of exchanges the game reached a double rook ending with white a pawn up. Both engines had advanced passers, while they dealt with those Stoofvlees captured another pawn and reduced to a tablebase win. There were two white wins in this game pair.
game 35, Koivisto - Leela: The engines castled in opposite directions, there were many exchanges after the start and the game reached a RRN vs RRN position. Leela's eval remained low, it had a pawn majority on the king side and Koivisto had one on the queen side. After trading pawns each engine had two connected passers, then Leela gave its knight for the remaining white pawns. There was one black pawn left, for a while the engines shuffled in the 8-man position. Suddenly Koivisto's eval jumped, Leela's eval reacted only 4 moves later. Koivisto used back rank mate threats to reduce to a tablebase win. Did Leela blunder here? There were two white wins in this game pair.
game 37, Stockfish - Berserk: Stockfish was up a pawn but evals were low in the first 25 moves. Stockfish's eval started to increase after it gave a pawn back and created a passer. Berserk thought it was safe for more than 10 moves, its eval only reacted after a long think and the game reached a rook ending. Stockfish was a pawn up and it had connected passers in the center. Berserk couldn't avoid a queening, game over.
game 38, KomodoDragon - Koivisto: Both engines castled short, the first exchange in the game opened the g file and both kings hid in the corner. After a few piece exchanges and some shuffling evals started to increase as KomodoDragon walked its king to the queen side. KomodoDragon pushed the h pawn forward and prepared for an attack on the black king, Koivisto countered with a knight sacrifice to open the center. Koivisto tried to threaten the white king and it pushed a passer to the 7th rank, KomodoDragon reduced to a NN vs N position and captured the black passer. KomodoDragon had enough pawns left to win.
game 39, Leela - SlowChess: Evals jumped after the start, the engines exchanged queens and SlowChess moved its king forward to connect the rooks. Leela gave a pawn to open the d file, then doubled rooks in the file and attacked. Leela captured a rook for a bishop, SlowChess was up two pawns but Leela moved a rook forward and created a passer on the king side. SlowChess gave a knight to capture the passer, Leela converted the RRN vs RB position easily.
game 40, Ethereal - Stoofvlees: Ethereal's eval increased gradually from the start, the black queen was out on the king side and Ethereal attacked through the queen side. After opening the a file the white queen moved to the 7th rank, Ethereal moved a rook forward as well. Stoofvlees' eval started to increase as it saw the danger much too late, Ethereal moved a second rook forward and captured a bishop. Stoofvlees pushed a passer to the 2nd rank but Ethereal was back on time to block. Ethereal gave a rook for a bishop to capture the passer, then used a mate threat to reduce to a NN vs R position two pawns up. The game ended in a tablebase win. There were two white wins in this game pair.
game 45, Stockfish - Koivisto: Evals increased slowly from the start though there were only a few exchanges. Stockfish increased the pressure on the black king, its own king looked exposed but was quite safe. Stockfish placed a knight on d6, then replaced it with a rook and exchanged it for two minor pieces. The game reached a BN vs R position with white a pawn up, Stockfish used an unstoppable passer to win.
game 47, KomodoDragon - Stoofvlees: Evals slowly increased from the start, Stoofvlees sacrificed a knight for a pawn and started a series of pins and exchanges in the center. As a result the game reached a QRB vs QRB position with the black king exposed. Stoofvlees gave a rook for a bishop to protect its king, KomodoDragon used checks to capture pawns and then captured the queen for a rook. KomodoDragon had a winning material advantage, it chose to give it away and still won only two pawns up. There were two white wins in this game pair.
game 48, Leela - Ethereal: Evals started to increase after move 22 as Leela prepared an attack on the king side. It pushed pawns forward leaving its king without pawn support, then gave a knight for a pawn. The black king was exposed with white pawns advancing and the white queen in front. Ethereal couldn't get rid of the white pawns, after a while there was a line of 4 pawns advancing on the king side backed by the white major pieces. After exchanging queens nothing could stop the pawns, Leela gained material and queened one pawn to win.
game 49, Leela - Stockfish: see featured game below.
game 53, Stockfish - SlowChess: There were a few exchanges after the start, from move 25 SlowChess stabilized its pawns and played waiting moves. Stockfish moved a few pawns and exchanged a few pieces, other than that the engines shuffled and evals were stable. On move 104 Stockfish exchanged a pair of knights and its eval increased a little. On move 121 it went a pawn up, evals jumped as the engines reduced to a queen ending. SlowChess managed to capture two pawns, but the black king was trapped on the back rank and the white king was active, Stockfish reduced to a tablebase win.
game 54, Koivisto - Stoofvlees: Stoofvlees moved its king without castling and Koivisto castled long. Koivisto gave two pawns to open the position, Stoofvlees tried to threaten the white king but was not strong enough. Koivisto gave a rook for a knight to open the center and the black king was in a mating net. Koivisto sacrificed a knight and its queen before mating. There were two white wins in this game pair.
game 55, Berserk - Ethereal: The engines castled in opposite directions, most minor pieces were exchanged after the start. Berserk placed a pawn on h6, Ethereal was weak on the dark squares. Evals slowly increased though the engines seemed to be mostly shuffling, the black king was vulnerable on the long diagonal. On move 45 there was a series of exchanges that left a double rook ending with white a pawn up and a queen side passer. After exchanging a pair of rooks Berserk created a passer on the king side and Ethereal couldn't stop both, Berserk queened and won.
Featured game: Leela - Stockfish
game 49
The engines castled in opposite directions. Starting from move 9 the engines followed a long PV agreement where the engines exchanged queens and a few minor pieces, and Leela went a pawn up. Stockfish's eval was mostly stable but Leela's eval slowly increased. Stockfish doubled its rooks on the queen side facing the black king, Leela was not concerned and even Stockfish's eval started to increase. On move 29 the game reached a RRN vs RRN position.
Stockfish could not stop the white passers, for each one it lost a rook and the game ended quickly. Leela won the game pair.
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