LET’S skip human chess tournament for a moment and report about a computer chess event – specifically the just-concluded 20th season of Top Chess Engine Championship (TCEC) which started on Dec. 1 last year and concluded on Feb. 1.
The TCEC is a computer chess tournament organized and maintained by Chessdom in cooperation with Chessdom Arena. The goal is to provide a live broadcast of quality chess under classical time controls. Games are played strictly between computer chess engines created by different programmers and the 20th season is an octuple round robin competition. An engine qualifies to the Superfinal by placing in the top two places in the Premier Division of TCEC. This year’s Premier Division has Stockfish (Elo 3592), LCZero (3586), Komodo Dragon (3522), StoofvleesII (3513), AllieStein (3509), ScorpioNN (3496), Ethereal (3482) and rofChade (3423) with a time control of 60 minutes base reflection time plus 7 seconds increment per move. Although Stockfish and LCZero tied up for 1st in this division, LCZero was hailed the winner on better tiebreaks. Both engines, advanced to the 100-game Superfinal.
Stockfish defeated LCZero, 53-47, via an overall tally of 14 wins, 8 losses and 78 draws. By winning the Superfinal, the former also won the 20th Season and declared the TCEC Grand Champion.
LCZero (3586)-Stockfish (3592) [B00]
chess.com (66.1) 26.01.2021
1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 e6 4.Nf3 d5 5.exd5 Bxd5 6.c4 Bb7 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Qe2 Nbd7 9.Bc2 Bd6 10.Be3 0-0 11.0-0-0 Bb4 12.Bg5 Bxc3 13.bxc3 h6 14.Bh4 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Kh8 16.Kb2 Rg8 17.f4 Rb8 18.f5 Re8 19.fxe6 Rxe6 20.Qf3 Qf8 21.Bg3 Ne8 22.Rhe1 Qe7 23.Qd3 Nf8 24.f4 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 Qd8 26.f5 Nh7 27.Qe4 Nhf6 28.Qe7 Kg8 29.Qxd8 Rxd8 30.c5 bxc5 31.dxc5 Rd5 32.Bf2 Rd2 33.Bg1 h5 34.Kb3 h4 35.h3 c6 36.c4 Rg2 37.Kc3 Nc7 38.Ba4 Na6 39.Bxc6 Rg3+ 40.Kd2 Rxh3 41.Bb7 Ra3 42.Kc2 h3 43.Kb2 Ra4 44.c6 Rxc4 45.Bxa6 Rxc6 46.Bb5 Rc7 47.a4 Rb7 48.Ka3 Nd5 49.Bc6 Re7 50.Rxe7 Nxe7 51.Bf3 Nxf5 52.Bxa7 h2 53.Kb4 g5 54.a5 Nh4 55.Bh1 Kg7 56.a6 g4 57.Bb8 g3 58.a7 g2 59.Bxg2 Nxg2 60.Bxh2 1-0
Stockfish (3592)-LCZero 3586) [C16]
chess.com (79.1) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 b6 5.h4 Qd7 6.h5 Ba6 7.Rh3 h6 8.Rg3 Bf8 9.Bxa6 Nxa6 10.Nce2 Ne7 11.c3 c5 12.Kf1 0-0-0 13.Rh3 Kb7 14.Nf3 Rc8 15.Kg1 g5 16.hxg6 Nxg6 17.a4 Nb8 18.a5 b5 19.dxc5 Bxc5 20.b4 Bf8 21.Rh5 Bg7 22.a6+ Ka8 23.Qd3 Nc6 24.Bf4 Rb8 25.Bg3 Rb6 26.Ned4 Rc8 27.Ra3 Qe8 28.Nb3 Rc7 29.Nc5 Rc8 30.Qe2 Bf8 31.Nb7 Qd7 32.Kh2 Rc7 33.Qd3 Bg7 34.Nc5 Qe8 35.Nb7 Qd7 36.Qd1 Rc8 37.Qe2 Qc7 38.Nd6 Rcb8 39.Nd4 Bxe5 40.Bxe5 Ncxe5 41.N6xb5 Qc8 42.Rxe5 Nxe5 43.Qxe5 Rxb5 44.Nxb5 Rxb5 45.Qf6 Qd7 46.g3 Rb8 47.Ra5 h5 48.Kg2 Rc8 49.Rc5 Rxc5 50.bxc5 Kb8 51.Qh8+ Qc8 52.Qxh5 Qd7 53.Qh8+ Qc8 54.Qe5+ Qc7 55.Qg7 Qe7 56.Qg8+ Kc7 57.Qa8 Qxc5 58.Qb7+ Kd6 59.Qxf7 Qc6 60.Qb7 Qxb7 61.axb7 Kc7 62.g4 Kxb7 63.g5 a5 64.g6 a4 65.g7 e5 66.g8Q Kc6 67.c4 d4 68.Qd5+ Kc7 69.c5 a3 70.Qd6+ Kb7 71.Qb6+ Kc8 72.c6 a2 73.Qb7+ Kd8 74.Qd7# 1-0
Stockfish (3592)-LCZero (3586) [A44]
chess.com (99.1) 2021
1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nd2 Be7 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Ne2 d6 7.a4 Ne8 8.h3 Nd7 9.g4 Nb6 10.a5 Nd7 11.Ng3 Bg5 12.Nc4 Bf4 13.b3 Rb8 14.Nf5 Bxc1 15.Qxc1 Ndf6 16.Ng3 h6 17.Ne3 b5 18.Qd2 Kh7 19.Be2 Rh8 20.h4 Kg8 21.f3 Nd7 22.0-0-0 Nf8 23.Rdf1 Rb7 24.Ng2 a6 25.Kb1 b4 26.h5 Qxa5 27.Ne3 Qd8 28.Kb2 Ra7 29.Nc4 Nd7 30.Ra1 Kh7 31.Na5 Qf6 32.Bd3 Rf8 33.Rhg1 Nb6 34.Nc6 Rc7 35.Be2 Bb7 36.Nf5 Bxc6 37.g5 hxg5 38.dxc6 Rxc6 39.Rxg5 c4 40.Bxc4 Rxc4 41.Qg2 d5 42.Rg6 Rc6 43.Rxf6 Rxf6 44.Qd2 Nd6 45.Nxd6 Rxd6 46.Rg1 a5 47.Qg5 Rg8 48.Qxe5 Rf6 49.exd5 a4 50.h6 axb3 51.Rxg7+ Rxg7 52.Qxf6 Rg6 53.Qxf7+ Kxh6 54.Kxb3 Kg5 55.Kxb4 Rf6 56.Qg7+ Kf5 57.Qg4+ Ke5 58.Kc5 Nd7+ 59.Qxd7 Ra6 60.Qc7+ Kf6 61.d6 Ra3 62.Qe7+ Kf5 63.d7 Ra5+ 64.Kb4 Ra1 65.Qe4+ Kf6 66.d8Q+ Kg7 67.Qde7+ Kh6 68.Q4h7# 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…fxg6 2.Qe6#; 1…Bf3, Rf4 2.Q(x)f4#; 1…Bd4 2.Qc8#; 1…Rd4 2.Qxf7#.
