Final standings
Igel and SlowChess promote to league 1. As a result of Booot dropping out of season 19 it was decided that there will be a 3rd engine promoting, so RubiChess will also play in league 1. Igel was updated before the league started, it now uses the rising NNUE system (for evaluation? using GPU? I'm not clear about this). In this league the new version was much stronger than the previous one. SlowChess continues to rise, this is its third promotion of the season. RubiChess joined the leaders after a strong second half with a +4 score.
Nemorino and Wasp relegate to league 3. The race at the bottom of the table was close, there were 5 engines within one point with 3 rounds left. Then Wasp crashed in round 17, it relegated in a 3-way tiebreak situation. Nemorino was last just half a point below.
This league used variable length openings by Eduardo Sauceda (cookie_monster_71 in the chat) for the first time. I think the experiment was successful, the draw rate was lower than usual for this stage, the games were interesting and had a lot of variation, and it didn't feel like the openings were a major factor in determining the game results.
Igel, SlowChess and RubiChess will play in League 1 together with:
Fire, rofChade, Defenchess, Fritz, Xiphos, ScorpioNN, Arasan (all played in league 1 in season 18).
Interesting games
Game 1, Igel - Pedone: Igel reduced to a NN vs BN position. The white knights were strong with most pawns on the board, Igel created a passer and exchanged a knight for a bishop, the game was adjudicated before Pedone lost its knight.
Game 8, Demolito - Winter: Winter blundered in a N vs R endgame, it allowed the white king to move forward and support two advanced passers, Demolito converted the win.
Game 12, SlowChess - Igel: Igel went a pawn up and then very slowly improved its position. On move 58 only QRN vs QRB remained and Igel created a central passer, then abandoned it for a queen side passer. The game was adjudicated after the passer reached the 2nd rank and Igel captured another pawn.
Game 28, Igel - RubiChess: The black king was forced to move early and RubiChess castled by walking. Igel created an advanced passer in a RBN vs RNN position, and very slowly increased the pressure until RubiChess' defense collapsed. Igel reduced to a winning RN vs R endgame.
Scores after 9 rounds: Igel +7, SlowChess +3, Pedone +1, RubiChess Winter +0, Vajolet Chiron -1, Wasp -2, Demolito -3, Nemorino -4. Igel with a remarkable 7 wins in 9 games, nothing can stop it from promoting. SlowChess has a good chance of promoting for the 3rd time this season. Demolito and Nemorino close the table but the relegation race is still open.
Game 46, Pedone - Igel: Igel gave a rook for a knight on the queen side and attacked on the king side. Igel used an advanced passer and an attack on the white king to reduce to a RRB vs RBB position, Pedone couldn't stop all the advancing passers. Igel gets a double win against Pedone.
Game 51, RubiChess - Pedone: In a QBN vs QBN position RubiChess used the exposed black king to capture the bishop for pawns. After exchanging queens the extra piece was enough to win.
Game 73, RubiChess - Igel: The game reached a RBN vs Q position, the white king was exposed and Igel gave checks with its queen until it ran out. RubiChess went after the two black pawns, it finally managed to capture them on move 109. The last white pawn gave RubiChess the win. This is the first loss for Igel in the league.
Scores after 15 rounds: Igel +8, SlowChess +6, RubiChess +4, Pedone Vajolet +0, Winter Wasp Demolito -3, Chiron -4, Nemorino -5. Apparently 3 engines promote from league 2. RubiChess joins the leader group with 4 wins in 6 games, one against Igel. It seems the promotion race is almost over. Chiron and Winter drop after 3 losses each. There are 5 engines close to relegation and anything can happen in the last 3 rounds.
In round 16 Chiron beat Demolito and Wasp lost to SlowChess. The scores at the bottom: Winter Chiron -3, Wasp Demolito -4, Nemorino -5.
Game 85, Wasp - Winter: Wasp crashes unexpectedly in a drawn position with evals at 0.
All remaining games were drawn in round 17. The scores at the bottom: Winter -2, Chiron -3, Demolito -4, Wasp Nemorino -5. Winter is safe. The crash means that Wasp loses tiebreaks automatically.
Game 86: Pedone - Wasp: Wasp had a pawn majority on the queen side. It used an open file to apply pressure on the king side, and created a passer on the queen side while the white pieces were busy defending their king. The game was adjudicated with the passer on the 2nd rank.
Wasp won its last game, Chiron lost, Nemorino and Demolito drew their game. Chiron, Demolito and Wasp are tied at -4, Wasp's crash means it relegates together with Nemorino.
