TCEC Season 8

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TCEC Season 8, a private tournament directed and organized by Martin Thoresen and supported by the Chessdom Arena, started on August 21, 2015. There are 3 Stages plus the Superfinal. Stage 1, a single-round robin consisting of two seeded sub-divisions of 12 engines each, is played without book openings. In Stage 2 the top six surviving engines from each of the two divisions in Stage 1 compete in double round-robin, using a two-move book designed by Adam Hair and checked by Nelson Hernandez (alias Cato the Younger) for statistical and evaluative play-balance. Stage 3 and the Superfinal used an opening book of 8 moves.

=Participants=
 * CC Country Codes

=Stage 1= August 21, 2015 - September 10, 2015 The top 6 from each of Stage 1A/1B will qualify for Stage 2.

Stage 1b

 * SB: Sonneborn-Berger score

Due to the severe problems with crashes, three engines will not be allowed in further stages. Junior, Pedone, and Equinox will not move on even if top 6, as the frequent crashes create both extra work for Martin Thoresen and discontent in the audience.

=Stage 2= September 12, 2015 - October 08, 2015. Double round-robin, using a two-move book designed by Adam Hair and checked by Nelson Hernandez for statistical and evaluative play-balance. The top 6 will qualify for Stage 3.
 * SB: Sonneborn-Berger score

=Stage 3= October 08, 2015 - October 28, 2015. The format for Stage 3 is a hexa round robin (x 6) so that each engine will play both sides of the same opening against each other, three times. After Stage 3 has finished, the top 2 engines will meet in a Superfinal of 100 games.

=Superfinal= The Superfinal between Stockfish 021115 and Komodo 9.3x was played from November 06 until November 30, 2015 with 50 different 8 move openings selected by IM Erik Kislik, of which 33 are his own and the remaining 17 are made by Cato. Each engine played both the black and white side of the same position. Komodo dominated the match and secured the title five games before the end of the hundred games marathon.
 * SB: Sonneborn-Berger score


 * Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO)
 * List of chess openings - Wikipedia

=Selected Games=

Stage 1b
Houdini 4 - Stockfish 300815 » Lomonosov Tablebases, Rook Endgame [Event "TCEC Season 8 - Stage 1b"] [Site "http://tcec.chessdom.com"] [Date "2015.09.06"] [Round "8"] [White "Houdini 4"] [Black "Stockfish 300815"] [Result "0-1"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.e3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Ne5 Bb7 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.O-O O-O 10.b3 c5 11.Bb2 Na6 12.Nd2 Qe7 13.Re1 Nb4 14.Bb1 Rae8 15.a3 Na6 16.f4 Nc7 17.dxc5 bxc5 18.Bc2 g6 19.Ndf3 Rb8 20.Bd3 Ne6 21.Qc2 Ba8 22.Rab1 Rb6 23.Ba1 Rd8 24.a4 Ne4 25.Ng4 h5 26.Qb2 d4 27.exd4 cxd4 28.Nh6+ Kh7 29.Bxe4 Bxe4 30.Rxe4 Kxh6 31.f5 gxf5 32.Qd2+ Kh7 33.Rh4 Kg8 34.Rxh5 Bf4 35.Qe1 Qf6 36.Kh1 Ng7 37.Rh4 Re6 38.Qd1 Be3 39.Qd3 Qe7 40.Rd1 Re4 41.Rh3 Ne6 42.Rf1 Nf4 43.Rg3+ Ng6 44.Bb2 Qe6 45.Bc1 Bxc1 46.Rxc1 Re3 47.Qc4 Qxc4 48.bxc4 Rc3 49.Rd1 Rxc4 50.h4 Kf8 51.h5 Nf4 52.Rg5 Rd5 53.Nh4 d3 54.Rxf5 Rd6 55.Kh2 Ne2 56.Nf3 Rxa4 57.Rd2 Kg7 58.g3 Nd4 59.Nxd4 Raxd4 60.Kg2 R6d5 61.h6+ Kg6 62.h7 Rd8 63.Rf3 Kg7 64.h8=B+ Rxh8 65.Rfxd3 Rxd3 66.Rxd3 a5 67.Ra3 Rh5 68.Kf3 Rb5 69.Ra4 Kh6 70.Rh4+ Kg5 71.Rg4+ Kf6 72.Ra4 Kg7 73.Rg4+ Kf8 74.Ra4 Ke7 75.Ke2 Ke6 76.Kd3 f6 77.Re4+ Kd6 78.Ra4 Ke5 79.g4 Ke6 80.Rc4 Kf7 81.Rc7+ Kg6 82.Ra7 Rb3+ 83.Kc2 Ra3 84.Kb2 Ra4 85.Kc3 Kg5 86.Rg7+ Kh4 87.Rg6 Rf4 88.Kb3 a4+ 89.Kb2 Rf3 90.Rg7 Rf2+ 91.Ka3 Rf4 92.Rg6 Kg3 93.Kb2 Kf3 94.Ka3 Ke4 95.Rg8 Ke5 96.Rg6 Kd5 97.Rh6 Ke4 98.Rg6 Ke5 99.Rg7 Ke6 100.Ka2 Rf3 101.Rb7 0-1

Superfinal
Stockfish 021115 - Komodo 9.3x, Round 22, 64.Kg4 [Event "TCEC Season 8 - Superfinal"] [Site "http://tcec.chessdom.com"] [Date "2015.11.11"] [Round "22"] [White "Stockfish 021115"] [Black "Komodo 9.3x"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Nbd2 c5 6.e4 cxd4 7.e5 Ng4 8.h3 Nh6 9.Bg2 Nc6 10.O-O Be7 11.Qa4 Bb7 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Bxb7 Rb8 14.Be4 Qc7 15.Qd1 Nhf5 16.Re1 Qxe5 17.Nb3 Rd8 18.Bf4 Qf6 19.Qd3 Bc5 20.Rad1 Nxb3 21.axb3 Nd4 22.Kg2 Nc6 23.h4 a5 24.Qe2 Qe7 25.Qh5 g6 26.Qf3 Nd4 27.Qc3 Qf6 28.Bd5 Bb4 29.Qd3 O-O 30.Be5 Qf5 31.Qxd4 Bxe1 32.Rxe1 d6 33.Bf6 e5 34.Qxb6 Qxf6 35.Qxa5 Kh8 36.b4 g5 37.Rh1 gxh4 38.Rxh4 Qg6 39.Qa3 f5 40.Qf3 Qg7 41.b5 Rb8 42.b4 Rf6 43.Rh5 Qg6 44.Qe2 f4 45.Be4 Qg7 46.Qf3 Rh6 47.Rxh6 Qxh6 48.Qe2 fxg3 49.fxg3 Qg5 50.c5 Rg8 51.Qe1 dxc5 52.bxc5 Rd8 53.b6 Rd2+ 54.Kg1 Qd8 55.Qe3 Rb2 56.Bf3 Rb1+ 57.Kg2 Rb2+ 58.Kh3 Qf6 59.b7 Qe6+ 60.g4 h5 61.c6 hxg4+ 62.Bxg4 Qd6 63.Bf5 Qf6 64.Kg4 Rg2+ 65.Kf3 Rb2 66.Kg4 Rg2+ 67.Kf3 Rb2 68.Qe4 Qd6 1/2-1/2 =Forum Posts=
 * TCEC Season 8 by Nelson Hernandez, Rybka Forum, August 06, 2015
 * TCEC SEASON 8 by terrapene, OpenChess Forum, August 20, 2015
 * TCEC Season 8 – complete information by Sean Evans, CCC, August 20, 2015
 * Gaviota upsets Protector in TCEC by Miguel A. Ballicora, CCC, August 22, 2015
 * 7 men Rook endgames H4 vs SF in recent TCEC stage 1b by Nay Lin Tun, CCC, September 07, 2015 » Lomonosov Tablebases, Rook Endgame
 * Martin on the SF loss on time by Rob Nicholas, CCC, October 09, 2015
 * Test Position: TCEC 8 - Stage 3 by Louis Zulli, CCC, October 12, 2015
 * New Stockfish with Lazy_SMP, but what about the TC bug ? by Ernest Bonnem, CCC, October 26, 2015 » Stockfish, Parallel Search
 * SF binaries for TCEC superfinal by Marco Costalba, CCC, October 31, 2015 » Stockfish
 * Komodo strikes first at the TCEC Superfinal by Sean Evans, CCC, November 07, 2015
 * TCEC superfinal game 1 by Jon Dart, CCC, November 10, 2015
 * From +26.13 to 0.00 in two moves by juha.n..., FishCooking, November 11, 2015
 * A position that needs a physician by Dann Corbit, CCC, November 14, 2015
 * Congratulations to Komodo team for winning TCEC by M ANSARI, CCC, November 29, 2015
 * Soccer-like chess by Marco Costalba, CCC, November 29, 2015

=External Links=
 * Live Computer Chess Broadcast
 * TCEC Season 8 – complete information, Chessdom, August 18, 2015
 * Press release regarding the Stockfish case in TCEC Stage 3, Chessdom, October 11, 2015
 * Thanks for Additivity by Ken Regan, Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP, November 27, 2015
 * Komodo is triple champion, wins the Top Chess Engine Championship 2015!, Chessdom, November 29, 2015

=References= Up one level