Sad to see this ending so soon...there were many good games to come. Qixel, I hope that you will keep on top of any future showcases/exhibitions with these great engines and post when they become available. Certainly looking forward to it!

The TCEC suddenly ends !

Martin Thoresen just pulled the plug on the TCEC, citing personal reasons.

Here is his statement:

As we know, this kind of thing happens all the time on the Internet, especially when sites are run by a single person.  Still, the abruptness makes one wonder what is really going on.  Apparently, not only is the tournament ending, but the site itself is going away, including its game archive.

My mistake...Rybka and Stockfish had played earlier to a draw, but Stockfish won its final two games on the last day (the last one over Spark in a KIA was beautiful in the middle- and endgame) to take the first half lead (5.5) by half a point over Rybka (5.0). Those two engines are the clear leaders, having a 1.5 and 1.0 lead over third place Junior going into the second half.

This is Stockfish's clutch performance in its final first half game to give it the lead. Spark gets a R+P for two pieces, but Stockfish sacrifices back a piece and uses the two bishops in a strong attack to win black's Q and reach 2R+N vs Q+B+2P. Only computers would dare enter those complicated imbalanced endgames!

This has been a very exciting round...when Junior beat Rybka early in stage 2a, the field was quite open. Rybka has made a strong comeback with four wins and two draws. It will come down to Rybka (5.0) and Stockfish (4.5 and not losing a game) playing each other for first and second this round in the last game!

The Stage-1 Swiss has just wrapped up.

Rybka and Shredder tied for first; Houdini, Stockfish, and Junior tied for second; and Spike and Zappa Mexico for third.

The tournament now moves to Stage 2, a double round robin with two divisions.

The following engines will take part in Stage 2a:

Rybka
Stockfish
Junior
Naum
Spark
Sjeng
Critter
Gull

The following engines will participate in Stage 2b:

Shredder
Houdini
Spike
Zappa Mexico
Ivanhoe
Hiarcs
Hannibal
Komodo

The remaining 16 engines placed in the lower half of the field and thus have been eliminated from the tournament.

Stage 2a starts on Wednesday; Stage 2b on Friday.

Wow...this certainly is a fascinating tournament, and its impact on where top level chess goes. Thanks for keeping the news updated, qixel! I think your perspective and knowledge on chess and its history is great and I certainly look forward to reading more of your posts.

After 6 rounds, Shredder leads by a full point.  Houdini, Rybka, and Junior are tied for second.  Stockfish, Naum, and Spike are tied for third.  The Stage 1 tournament now moves into the 7th and final round.

Shredder won a surprising victory over Houdini in round 5 and now leads the Swiss.  Houdini is in second place, followed by Spark, Rybka, Stockfish, Junior, and Hiarcs, all tied for third.

After four rounds in the Swiss, Houdini leads with a perfect score of 4, while second spot is held by Shredder at 3.5.  Stockfish, Hiarcs, and Spark are in a three-way tie for third.

In their first meeting of Season 3, Houdini as black defeated Rybka.  After three rounds of the 7-round Swiss, Houdini is the only engine with a perfect score.  Ivanhoe, Komodo, and Shredder follow with 2.5 points each.

Here is the Rybka/Houdini game:

After the first two rounds of the 7-round Swiss, only Houdini, Ivanhoe, and Shredder have perfect scores.

It seems that Houdini definitely has an edge over Rybka at the moment!