The defending TCEC champion Stockfish is the winner of TCEC Premier Division Season 28. Stockfish collected 36,5/56 and finished three points ahead of competition.
It was a photo finish for the second position this season. The newcomer Integral took an early advantage, but Leela Chees Zero managed to catch up and take over Integral. With just one point difference, Lc0 won the last game of the division, which was a direct match vs Integral, and qualified for the Superfinal.
For the first time ever, the champion of TCEC Seasons 5,7, and 8 KomodoDragon is relegated to the lower division. It relegates together with Ethereal, and the two engines will have to fight for a qualification spot next season.
Stockfish vs Lc0 Superfinal starts today
TCEC Season 28 Superfinal is starting Sunday 2025-08-24 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 13:00 ET) with Stockfish and Lc0. Follow TCEC live: Official website / TCEC Chess TV / Live on Chessdom
Final standings
TCEC Premier Division summary by Jeydra: Stockfish wins TCEC Premier Division, will face Leela Chess Zero in the superfinal
Were you expecting anything else?! After contesting nine out of the last ten superfinals, season 28 will see yet another superfinal between Stockfish and Leela. At the half-way point of the Premier Division, it seemed like there was a chance for something else. After all, both perennial superfinalists had lost opening pairs, Stockfish had a lead of only one point, and Integral was tied with Leela. Nope. Stockfish dumped cold water on Integral in game pair 119/147, then Leela piled on by winning a second game pair in games 140/168, and if that wasn’t sufficient, Stockfish added insult to injury with yet another win in game pair 175/203. There was a flicker of hope for Integral when it beat Leela in game 196, with Stockfish assisting by beating Leela in game pair 178/206. However, Integral could not match Leela’s conversion rate against the bottom four engines. It was still mathematically possible for Integral to qualify up until the final game, but double killing Leela was a mountain much too high. Nonetheless, third place marks a remarkable debut campaign for Integral, which had come all the way from Entrance League.
For the other engines, 4th-placed Obsidian fans are surely a little disappointed. Obsidian had its chances, going +4 -5 =7 against Leela & Integral. However, it also had the most 1-0, 1-0 openings (where both engines win) in the division. A little less bias in the openings and Obsidian might have won more game pairs against the bottom four engines. On the other hand, Stockfish won a remarkable 14 out of 16 game pairs against the bottom four engines, showing how much more room for improvement there still is for Obsidian. PlentyChess finished 5th, capping an outstanding season for the two newly-promoted engines. Berserk narrowly stayed in the division by finishing 6th, while we are waving goodbye to longtime Premier Division engines Komodo Dragon and Ethereal.
