TCEC Season 9

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TCEC Season 9, the Top Chess Engine Championship (TCEC) Season 9 ran from May 1st to December 1st 2016 as a competition between 32 chess engines, divided into three stages and a Superfinal. Stage 1, a single-round robin consisting of two seeded sub-divisions (a) and (b) of 16 engines each, is played with a two move opening book. Stage 2, a double round robin, and Stage 3, an octo round robin, is played with an eight move book. First time, a TCEC Rapid is scheduled after Stage 3 of the Top Chess Engine Championship. All 32 engines play double round robin with a total of 992 games with time control of 25 min + 10 sec. Stockfish 8 won the Superfinal versus Houdini 5 with a margin of 54½-45½.

=Participants= =Stages=
 * CC Country Codes

Stage 1
< Prev Next > Season 8, Stage 1, May 01, 2016 - June 14, 2016. The top 8 from each of Stage 1a/1b will qualify for Stage 2.

Stage 1b

 * SB: Sonneborn-Berger score

Stage 2
< Prev Next > Season 9, Stage 2, June 14, 2016 - July 22, 2016. Double round robin The top 8 from each of Stage 2 will qualify for Stage 3.
 * SB: Sonneborn-Berger score

Stage 3
< Prev Next > Season 9, Stage 3, July 23, 2016 - September 08, 2016. The format for Stage 3 was an octo round robin so that each engine played both sides of the same opening against each other, four times. The top 2 engines, Stockfish and the new Houdini will meet in the Superfinal, which is scheduled after the new TCEC rapid with all 32 engines. Defending TCEC champion Komodo did not qualify and came in third. =Rapid= September 09, 2016 - October 23, 2016. Double round robin, time control 25 min + 10 sec. The new Houdini 200716 won convincingly, 3 points ahead of runner up Komodo 1692.19 and 3½ ahead of Stockfish 030916! =Superfinal= < Prev Next > The Season 8 Superfinal between Houdini 5 and Stockfish 8 was played from November 11 until December 05, 2016. 100 games with 50 different openings selected by Jeroen Noomen. Stockfish 8 won convincingly.
 * SB: Sonneborn-Berger score


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

=Selected Games=

The Windup
Komodo 10 - Houdini 4 [Event "TCEC Season 9 - Stage 2"] [Site "http://tcec.chessdom.com"] [Date "2016.07.22"] [Round "30"] [White "Komodo 10"] [Black "Houdini 4"] [Result "1-0"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Ne4 7.Qf3 Ng5 8.Qg3 Ne6 9.Bd3 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.f4 f5 12.b3 d5 13.Nc3 Rb8 14.Kh1 c5 15.Qf2 Bb7 16.Ba3 Bc6 17.Rad1 Qe8 18.Ba6 Rd8 19.Bc1 Kh8 20.Bd3 Ba8 21.a3 Qh5 22.Ne2 Bh4 23.Qg1 a5 24.a4 d4 25.Bc4 Be4 26.Bxe6 Qxe2 27.Rd2 Qh5 28.Bc4 Rb8 29.Ba3 Be7 30.Qf2 Rb6 31.Qe2 Qh6 32.Rd3 Rg6 33.Rdf3 Rg4 34.h3 Rh4 35.Bd3 Qc6 36.Bc1 Rh6 37.Bd2 Qa8 38.Be1 Bd8 39.Kg1 Bd5 40.Bc4 Be4 41.Qd2 Bxf3 42.Rxf3 c6 43.Qd3 Bh4 44.Bd2 Qa7 45.c3 Bd8 46.Bc1 g6 47.Ba3 Re8 48.Kh2 Rh5 49.g3 Kg7 50.Qe2 Be7 51.Rd3 Rd8 52.Bb2 Qb6 53.Qd1 Kh6 54.cxd4 cxd4 55.Bxd4 Qb7 56.Bc3 Rxd3 57.Qxd3 Qa8 58.Qd7 c5 59.Bd5 Qd8 60.Qxd8 Bxd8 61.e6 Be7 1-0
 * European Quartet - The Windup, Frankfurt, 1977, YouTube Video
 * Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen

The new Houdini
The first game of Stage 3 between Houdini 200716 and Komodo 10.1 caused some commotion, since the new parameters of the updated version Komodo 10.1 as provided by its authors concerning contempt (7 instead of 10) and dynamism (the new default 115 instead of 110 - lower settings favors static advantages like material and pawn structure, while a higher settings prioritizes short-term ("dynamic") advantages like mobility and threats to the king ) were not set by the TCEC staff. Unfortunately, the wrong settings were only noticed at the end of the game, when Komodo 10.1 was about to lose versus the new development version of Houdini. While the correct decision was to replay the game, it gave breeding ground for conspiracy theorists. [Event "TCEC Season 9 - Stage 3"] [Site "http://tcec.chessdom.com"] [Date "2016.07.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Houdini 200716"] [Black "Komodo 10.1 wrong settings"] [Result "1-0 *"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.h3 e5 8.O-O Nd7 9.d5 Ne7 10.e4 a5 11.Be3 b6 12.a3 f5 13.exf5 Nxf5 14.Bg5 Bf6 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.b4 h6 17.Rc1 Qd8 18.Qd3 Kg7 19.Qc2 Ba6 20.Qe2 Bb7 21.Rfd1 Rf7 22.Ra1 Nf6 23.Rab1 Ne7 24.Qb2 Qf8 25.Rf1 Qb8 26.Rbd1 Kh7 27.Rc1 Ba6 28.Nd2 Nf5 29.Ne2 Qf8 30.Qc3 Bb7 31.Qd3 Qg7 32.Nc3 Rff8 33.Nf3 Kg8 34.Rfd1 Ba6 35.Re1 Rab8 36.Rb1 Qf7 37.Rb2 Qg7 38.Nd2 Kh7 39.bxa5 bxa5 40.Rxb8 Rxb8 41.Rb1 Rf8 42.Nb3 Nd7 43.Ne4 a4 44.Nbd2 Nb6 45.Rb4 Qd7 46.Nf3 Qd8 47.Qc2 Bc8 48.c5 Nxd5 49.Rxa4 Bb7 50.Ra5 Nc3 51.Qxc3 Bxe4 52.cxd6 Nxd6 53.Nd2 Bxg2 54.Kxg2 e4 55.Re5 Rf7 56.Nxe4 Nxe4 57.Rxe4 Qa8 58.f3 Qd5 59.Qc4 c6 60.a4 Ra7 61.h4 Qxc4 62.Rxc4 Kg7 63.Kf2 Ra6 64.Ke3 Kf7 65.Kd4 Ra5 66.Kc3 c5 67.Re4 Ra8 68.Kb2 h5 69.f4 Kf6 70.Ka3 Kf7 71.Re5 Ra5 72.Kb3 Kf6 73.Rg5 Kf7 74.f5 gxf5 75.Rxf5+ Ke6 76.Rg5 Kd6 77.Ka3 Ra8 78.Rxh5 Rb8 1-0 {result invalid}

The Replay
Despite nondeterminism specially in multi processing environments anyway, the corrected Komodo settings yielded in early deviation and a final draw. [Event "TCEC Season 9 - Stage 3"] [Site "http://tcec.chessdom.com"] [Date "2016.07.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Houdini 200716"] [Black "Komodo 10.1"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.h3 e5 8.O-O Nd7 9.d5 Ne7 10.e4 h6 11.Rb1 Kh7 12.b3 a5 13.a3 Nf6 14.Re1 Bd7 15.Be3 b6 16.b4 Nfg8 17.c5 axb4 18.axb4 f5 19.Rc1 Ra3 20.exf5 gxf5 21.Qd2 Nf6 22.Qb2 Rxc3 23.Qxc3 bxc5 24.bxc5 Nfxd5 25.Qd2 e4 26.cxd6 cxd6 27.Nd4 Nxe3 28.Rxe3 Qb6 29.Rd1 d5 30.Rb3 Qa7 31.Qe3 Rb8 32.Ra3 Qc5 33.Ra2 Rb4 34.Nxf5 d4 35.Nxd4 Bxd4 36.Qxe4+ Bf5 37.Qe1 Kg7 38.Kh2 Bf6 39.Rc1 Qd6 40.Ra7 Rb5 41.Rc6 Qe5 42.Qxe5 Rxe5 43.Bf3 Bg6 44.Kg2 Bf7 45.Rc2 h5 46.h4 Ng8 47.Re2 Re7 48.Rexe7 Bxe7 49.Be4 Kf8 50.Ra8+ Kg7 51.f3 Nf6 52.Bb1 Bc5 53.Ba2 Be8 54.Ra6 Bb4 55.Re6 Bc5 56.Bb3 Bb4 57.Bc4 Bc3 58.Re2 Kf8 59.Bb3 Bb4 60.Be6 Be7 61.Re3 Bd8 62.Re1 Ba5 63.Re5 Bc7 64.Re2 Bd8 65.Ba2 Ba5 66.Re3 Bb4 67.Be6 Bc5 68.Re5 Bd6 69.Rg5 Bb4 70.Ba2 Bd7 71.Bb1 Ke7 72.Bg6 Bd2 73.Rc5 Kd6 74.Rc2 Be3 75.Ra2 Bc6 76.Ra6 Bd4 77.Bf7 Be5 78.Kh3 Kc5 79.Ra5+ Bb5 80.Ra3 Kd6 81.Ra2 Bf1+ 82.Kh2 Bb5 83.Kg2 Bc6 84.Ra5 Bd7 85.Ra7 Bc6 86.Ra6 Kc5 87.Ra3 Kb6 88.Rd3 Kc7 89.Rd1 Ba4 90.Re1 Kd6 91.Re3 Bd7 92.Kh2 Bd4 93.Rd3 Kc5 94.Kg2 Bb5 95.Ra3 Bd7 96.Ra7 Bc6 97.Ra5+ Bb5 98.Ra8 Bc6 99.Rd8 Be5 100.Rh8 1/2-1/2

=Forum Posts=
 * TCEC Season 9 by Dmitri Gusev, CCC, April 04, 2016
 * Houdini 5 in TCEC by John Wentworth, CCC, April 13, 2016 » Houdini
 * TCEC 9 by Carl Bicknell, CCC, April 25, 2016
 * TCEC groupe stage by Jean Baptiste, CCC, April 27, 2016
 * TCEC stage 3, New Houdini starts with a bang by Nay Lin Tun, CCC, July 23, 2016
 * Re: TCEC stage 3, New Houdini starts with a bang by Mark Lefler, CCC, July 24, 2016


 * TCEC openings by Jon Dart, CCC, August 28, 2016
 * Houdini 5 dev in TCEC by Jouni Uski, CCC, September 08, 2016 » Houdini
 * ELO inflation ha ha ha by Henk van den Belt, CCC, September 16, 2016 » Delphil, Stockfish, Match Statistics, Playing Strength
 * New Houdini by Dann Corbit, CCC, October 05, 2016 » Houdini
 * TCEC Super Final News... by Steve Maughan, October 30, 2016
 * TCEC 9 super final: the opening selection by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, November 14, 2016
 * Cursed win at TCEC by Nuno Sousa, CCC, November 15, 2016
 * TCEC 9 superfinal tournament book by Jeroen Noomen, CCC, October 15, 2017

=External Links=
 * Live Computer Chess Broadcast
 * TCEC - Thoresen Chess Engines Competition - Facebook
 * Houdini 5 to participate in TCEC Season 9, Chessdom, April 13, 2016
 * TCEC Season 9 officially announced (Updated), Chessdom, April 24, 2016
 * TCEC Season 9 – groups and participants, Chessdom, April 26, 2016
 * Robert Houdart on Houdini 5 dev in TCEC, Chessdom, August 25, 2016 » Robert Houdart, Houdini
 * TCEC rapid starting soon with 32 engines, Chessdom, August 30, 2016
 * Stockfish is the TCEC Season 9 Grand Champion, Chessdom, December 05, 2016
 * Computer Chess Testing: TCEC 9 superfinal PGN & new Noomen Testsuite 2016

=References= Up one level