Poster of TCEC Season 8 by Santiago Mendez. Click on the image for full size
Three rounds of the Top Chess Engine Championship TCEC Season 8 are complete. The defending TCEC Champion Komodo has started Season 8 in style. It is top of the table with 2,5/3 after defeating Jonny (ELO 2941) and Cheng4 (ELO 2739) and drawing with one of its strongest contenders of the stage Gull (ELO 3118).
Arasan and Gaviota are also with 2,5/3, sharing the first position with Komodo. Arasan started with a draw vs Gaviota (ELO 2781), but then quickly gained speed with victories against Fruit Reloaded (ELO 2789) and Exchess (ELO 2714).
Gaviota began with a draw vs Arasan (ELO 2678), followed by a solid win vs Protector (ELO 2982). The real drama happened in round 3, when Gaviota with black played against one of the favorires Fire (ELO 3122). In totally winning position with evaluation +11, Fire crashed and handed the game to Gaviota. As per the TCEC rule “White’s connection stalls”, the result of the game was fixed as 0-1. (replay the game here)
Komodo and Arasan are playing with new versions compared to Season 7, while Gaviota has the same version as last season. Arasan has added around 300 ELO points of playing strength and is growing in ratings. Komodo is also stronger version and is expected to add even more power with an upgraded version in Stage 2.
The three engines are closely followed by the 3000+ ELO Ginkgo and Gull with 2,0/3. See the full standings below.
More about TCEC Season 8
Official website / Live games and 24h chat / Facebook fan page
The event begins with the engines divided into two groups – Stage 1a and 1b. Each consists of 12 engines. Each group format is a single round robin. There is no opening book in use here, so the engines are on their own from move 1. The top 6 from each group will move on to Stage 2, while the rest are out of TCEC for the current Season. For Stage 1, the time control is 90 minutes + 30 seconds added per move for the whole game.
Standings
| Engine | Pts |
| Komodo 9.1 | 2.5 |
| Arasan 18 | 2.5 |
| Gaviota 1 | 2.5 |
| Ginkgo 1.2 | 2 |
| Gull 3 | 2 |
| Fire 5b | 1.5 |
| Texel 1.06a19 | 1.5 |
| Cheng4 0.39 | 1.5 |
| Protector 1.9 | 1 |
| Fruit 200815 | 0.5 |
| Jonny 7 | 0.5 |
| Exchess 7.71b | 0 |
The second group of the competition Stage 1b will start after Stage 1a is complete. See all participants here
New: Follow Sinquefield Cup 2015 live with analysis at the TCEC official website
