TCEC Season 8 graphics created by Santiago Mendez
Stage 1b of the Top Chess Engine Championship is underway with round 1 currently over. The rating favorites Stockfish, Houdini, and Equinox have won their games, but the attention of the round was caught by the game Pedone – Alfil.
Pedone started with 1.e4, followed by Alfil’s 1…Nf6. Pedone crashed at this point and further investigation did not confirm the exact cause. However, there is a slim probability that the cause of the stall in white’s connection is the “Own book” feature of Alfil, which was not disabled.
By the rules and regulations of Season 8, no engine is allowed to use book in the first stage. Even though Alfil had its book switched off in the UCI, it still continued to use it. The impossibility of the engine version to comply with the rules due to an own faulty line (bug) has lead to the disqualification of the engine.
Crafty, with a stable version from last season, will take the place of Alfil. The new engine Pedone will be allowed to replay the game.
More about TCEC Season 8
Official website / Live games and 24h chat / Facebook fan page
Replay the games of TCEC Season 8 – Stage 1a at the Archive Mode.
