TCEC round 2 is complete, and once again the chess engines bring a great show for the audience. A total of 11 decisive games, most of which won by black, and only five draws, made the second round of TCEC Stage 1 exciting.
The central news of the round is the first “wrong” step by Houdini. The chess world expects the 3192 ELO version of Houdini 3 to steamroll any opposition ahead. However, that proved difficult in the game against Hiarcs 14.0b. The engines played a Nimzo Indian with 4.Qc2 (part 2, part 3, part 4) and Hiarcs never really encountered problems on the white side of the 53 moves game that finished in a draw.
Rybka continued the unlucky run in TCEC, after being held to a draw in round 1 it could not beat Equinox 1.65 despite having the advantage for most of the game.
The biggest surprise of the round was the victory with black of Exchess, rated 2686, against Minkochess, rated 2851. The Baron chess engine also achieved a favorable draw as black against Crafty. Scroll down for all results of round 2.
Only four engines remain perfect after round 2 – Gull II, Critter 1.6a, Chiron 1.5, and Stockfish 2.31.
Replay all TCEC games with analysis here / Official website of TCEC
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TCEC round 2 results
| Arasan 15.1 | 2692 | – | Nebula 2.0b | 2421 | 1_0 |
| Crafty 23.5 | 2771 | – | The Baron 3.34b | 2551 | ½-½ |
| Danasah 5.0 | 2502 | – | Octochess 4741 | 2694 | 0-1 |
| Gaviota 0.86b3 | 2705 | – | Scorpio 2.75 | 2792 | 0-1 |
| Gull II | 3084 | – | Spike 1.4 | 2926 | 1_0 |
| Hannibal 1.3 | 2955 | – | Critter 1.6a | 3105 | 0-1 |
| Hiarcs 14.0b | 2972 | – | Houdini 3.0 | 3192 | ½-½ |
| Junior 13.3 | 2897 | – | Chiron 1.5 | 2990 | 0-1 |
| Komodo 4534 | 3128 | – | Shredder 12.0 | 2961 | ½-½ |
| Minkochess 1.3 | 2851 | – | Exchess 6.71b | 2686 | 0-1 |
| Prodeo 1.83c | 2639 | – | Nemo 1.01b | 2862 | 0-1 |
| Protector 1.5b2 | 2921 | – | Stockfish 2.31 | 3088 | 0-1 |
| Rodent 0.17 | 2613 | – | Dirty 190113 | 2743 | 1_0 |
| Rybka 4.1 | 3095 | – | Equinox 1.65 | 3071 | ½-½ |
| Texel 1.01 | 2791 | – | Redqueen 1.13 | 2621 | 1_0 |
| Vitruvius 1.19 | 3071 | – | Quazar 0.4 | 2906 | ½-½ |
