Komodo Chess Engine wins TCEC Stage 2

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Komodo chess engine has won the second stage of the world's strongest computer chess championship, the TCEC. The engine is rated 3084 and is by Don Dailey and Larry Kaufman. In second place is Stockfish 4, by M. Costalba, T. Romstad and J. Kiiski. Stockfish is rated 3098. Third place went to Gull 2.2 by Vadim Demichev. 

With the same points as Gull, but with lower tiebreak, at fourth and fifth positions are Hiarcs. It is the top placed engine under 3000 elo and fared through the event with good start and strong finish. Houdini 3, the absolute champion of the competition, remained at 5th position. The engine by Robert Houdart is rated 3145 elo.

A total of 10 engines qualify for Stage 3 (that starts October 19th at 12:00 CET). The remaining qualifiers are Bouquet with 11,5/19, Rybka with 11,5/19, Critter with 11,5/19, Naum with 10,0/19, and Junior with 8,5/19. (Final standings all engines here)

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Computer Chess Championship 2013: Top Stars Lose

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

TCEC, the leading global computer chess championship by Martin Thoresen, started this August 26th with the participation of the top chess engines and with a new live homepage.

The top engines including the defending champion Houdini 3 will perform against the new version of Stockfish 4, the new entry Bouquet, and the established Rybka, Komodo, Critter, Gull, and Equinox, cruised through Round 1 of Stage 1 without any problem, scoring easy and expected victories.

However, even the most eccentric predictions could not see five 3000+ ELO engines being held in Round 2. The biggest surprise is last season’s champion Houdini, which could not overcome the resistance of Hiarcs 14. Many point Komodo as a possible super finalist of the TCEC, however, it was the second 3000+ ELO victim of the round, drawing its game with Spike. The newcomer Bouquet 1.8 and the long time best engine Rybka 4.1, and Critter 1.6 entered the “draw party” after fierce fights from Junior 13.3, Shredder 12, and Toga II.

These results were used by the other favorites of the field. The new version of Stockfish 4 , Gull II, and Equinox 2b to take the lead with full 2,0/2. They are joined at the top of the table by Exchess 7.15b.

Scroll down for the full standings.

TCEC continues now with R3 of Stage 1, in search of new records after breaking two on day 1 of the competition.

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