After 20 games Stockfish leads 4-3 with 13 draws. Each endine had a game pair won, first Stockfish extended the lead to two wins and then Leela reduced it back to one. So far this superfinal is much closer than the previous few seasons, both engines are capable of winning and any result is possible.
Games 11-12 started in a rare line of the English, Drill variation. In game 11 there was one pawn exchange and one minor piece exchange after the start. Leela doubled rooks on the d file and threatened the black d pawn, Stockfish made sure the pawn was defended. The engines slowly exchanged more minor pieces with very few pawn moves, on move 55 the engines locked pawns on the queen side and started to shuffle. Evals came down, a pawn exchange extended the shuffle to move 143. Then the position opened, Stockfish gave a bishop and ended the game in a check repetition. In game 12 the minor pieces stayed longer on the board, Stockfish moved its queen forward and captured a pawn, then Leela exchanged queens. The engines opened the center and evals started to come down slowly. The game reached a RNN vs RNN position, after some shuffling the engines exchanged a pair of knights and traded pawns. All remaining pawns were on the king side, the game was adjudicated.
Games 13-14 started with a Dutch defense sideline not played in human chess. In game 13 many early exchanges opened the position, Leela moved its king without castling, Stockfish castled long. Leela gave a rook for a knight and pawn, and opened the queen side. Evals came down and the exchanges continued until only QR vs QR remained. When evals were low enough the game was adjudicated on move 36. In game 14 Leela captured a pawn on the king side and the engines opened the e file. Leela walked with its king without castling while Stockfish castled long. Stockfish gave another pawn in the center, the engines exchanged the first minor pieces and the white queen moved forward. Leela's king side pieces were blocked, it could have traded a knight for a rook but chose to keep the active piece. In a very long PV agreement the engines traded almost everything, the game reached a BN vs BN position with white a pawn up. Stockfish had connected passers on the queen side, but after exchanging knights the opposite color bishops ending was a draw.
Games 15-16 started with a rare line in the French Tarrasch, pawn center variation. In game 15 there were a few exchanges on the queen side and Leela went a pawn up. Both engines moved their kings without castling, both created a passer on the queen side. Starting from move 28 there were many exchanges, all the pawns were cleared on the queen side including the passers and the game reached a QN vs QN position. The game was adjudicated when Leela's eval was low enough.
In game 16 the engines opened the c file, Leela moved its knights forward on the queen side and traded them for the white bishops. Stockfish's eval increased slowly from the start, it was a pawn up with a pawn majority on the queen side. Leela kept its king in the center, its king side rook moved and was stuck while pawns blocked the center and the king side.
Stockfish exchanged queens and created an unstoppable passer on the king side to win. Stockfish wins the game pair, it leads 4-2.
Games 17-18 started with a rare sideline of the Sicilian defense, where black avoids the Najdorf variation by playing 5...Nbd7. In game 17 after a few moves the engines' PV agreed, Leela pushed pawns on the king side and most minor pieces were exchanged. Leela castled long and targeted the black weak pawns on d6 and g6. Evals came down and the game reached a QRN vs QRN position. The engines mostly shuffled and the game was adjudicated after knights were exchanged. In game 18 there were no exchanges after the start except for one pair of pawns on the king side, Stockfish castled long and Leela kept its king uncastled. Stockfish created a passer on the king side with another pawn exchange. The first piece exchange was on move 22 when Leela gave a rook for a knight and pawn and created passers in the center. Evals drifted down, Stockfish lost its passer and the queens were exchanged. Leela pushed a passer to the 2nd rank, Stockfish captured it and reduced to a RBN vs BBN position. The engines captured all remaining pawns and the game ended in a tablebase draw.
Games 19-20 started with a rare sideline of the KID Normal variation. In game 19 Leela pushed a pawn to h6 and trapped a black bishop in the corner. The center was blocked and the engines opened the c file. Stockfish managed to free its trapped bishop and exchange it with a white bishop, but then evals started to increase. The engines exchanged minor pieces and the black king walked to the center. Leela forced a queen exchange and moved a rook forward on the queen side, the game reached a RRB vs RRN position.
Leela gave a rook for a knight, queened a passer and mate followed.
In game 20 Stockfish pushed pawns on both sides, the center was blocked and the engines opened the c file. Pawn exchanges opened the queen side, Stockfish walked with its king to the king side. On move 32 pawns stopped moving and the engines shuffled for a long time with evals drifting down. After a minor piece exchange the shuffle continued, on move 116 Leela gave a rook for a bishop and pawn and then there was more shuffling. On move 165 there was another minor piece exchange, the game was finally adjudicated on move 183. Leela wins the game pair, Stockfish leads 4-3.
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