Top Chess Engine Championship

Top Chess Engine Championship, formerly known as Thoresen Chess Engines Competition (TCEC or nTCEC), is a computer chess tournament that has been run since 2010. It was organized, directed, and hosted by Martin Thoresen until the end of Season 6; from Season 7 onward it has been organized by Chessdom. It is often regarded as the Unofficial World Computer Chess Championship because of its strong participant line-up and long time-control matches on high-end hardware, giving rise to very high-class chess.[1][2]

After a short break in 2012,[3] TCEC was restarted in early 2013 (as nTCEC)[4] and is currently active (renamed as TCEC in early 2014) with 24/7 live broadcasts of chess matches on its website.

Since season 5, TCEC has been sponsored by Chessdom Arena.[5][6] The current TCEC champion is Stockfish 14, which defeated LCZero 0.28 56-44 in the TCEC Season 21 Superfinal 100-game match, which took place June 20 - August 7, 2021.

Overview

Basic structure of competition

The TCEC competition is divided into seasons, where each season happens over a course of a few months, with matches played round-the-clock and broadcast live over the internet. Each season is divided into several qualifying stages and one "superfinal", where the top two chess engines play 100 games to win the title of "TCEC Grand Champion". In the superfinal, each engine plays 50 openings, once as each side. Beginning in Season 11 in 2018, a division system was introduced, and beginning in season 21 in 2021, the season was expanded to include a Cup, a Swiss tournament, and a Fischer Random Chess tournament.

Engine settings/characteristics

Pondering is set to off. All engines run on mostly the same hardware[7] and use the same opening book, which is set by the organizers and changed in every stage. Large pages are disabled, but access to various endgame tablebases is permitted. Engines are allowed updates between stages; if there is a critical play-limiting bug, they are also allowed to be updated once during the stage. In previous seasons, if an engine crashes 3 times in one event, it is disqualified to avoid distorting the results for the other engines; however starting in TCEC Season 20, an engine is allowed to crash as many times as possible without being disqualified from the current event; however, the engine will still be disqualified from future events unless the crash is fixed.[8] TCEC generates an Elo rating list from the matches played during the tournament. An initial rating is given to any new participant based on its rating in other chess engine rating lists.

Criteria for entering the competition

There is no definite criterion for entering into the competition, other than inviting the top participants under active development from various rating lists which can run on their Windows platform. Initially, the list of participants was personally chosen by Thoresen before the start of a season. His stated goal was to include "every major engine that is not a direct clone".[9] Usually chess engines that support multiprocessor mode are preferred (8-cores or higher), and engines in active development are given preference. Since TCEC 12, engines like LCZero which use GPUs for neural processing were supported. Either Winboard or UCI protocol are required to participate.

The tournament has attracted nearly all the top competitors compared to the World Computer Chess Championship, but Shredder's developers have declined to enter it in the competition. Also absent are former WCCC champions Rybka, Junior, HIARCS, and Zappa. In TCEC 20, Houdini, Fire, Rybka (engine in Fritz up to TCEC 16), and Critter were banned due to allegations of plagiarism.

Structure by event

Original format
Season numberStructure
Pre TCEC3 matches followed by 2 tournaments then alternating between match and tournament until there were 6 tournaments and 5 matches
13 division (1 through 3) followed by elite match
2Same as Season 1 but with 6 divisions (A through F)
32 stages (1 followed by 2a). Season not completed.
4Same as Season 3 but with 4 more tournaments (Stages 2b, 3 and 4 followed by a superfinal, in that order)
54 stages (1 through 4) followed by a superfinal
6Same as Season 5 but stage 1 was stage 1a through c and a Chess960 tournament after the superfinal
7Same as Season 6 but no stage 1c nor tournament after the superfinal
8Same as Season 7 but no stage 4
9Same as Season 8 but between the stage tournaments and superfinal was a rapid tournament
102 stages (1 followed by 2) then superfinal then 2 other tournaments (rapid followed by blitz)


League format
Season numberStructure
11 - 145 divisions (labelled 4, 3, 2, 1, and Premier) of 8 engines each. Top 2 of each division promote, bottom 2 relegate; top 2 of Premier play the superfinal. Seasons 13 and 14 also had a cup, which were a 5-round single elimination tournament.[10]
15
16
17
18
19
201 division (labelled Qualification) with a variable number of engines, and 5 divisions (labelled 4, 3, 2, 1, and Premier) of 8 engines each. Top 2 of each division promote, bottom 2 relegate; top 2 of Premier play the superfinal.
21Starting this season, each season consists of a league format, the Cup, a Fischer Random Chess tournament, and a Swiss tournament.[11]

TCEC Cups
EventStructure
TCEC Cup 1Knockout tournament, with 8-game Rapid matches and tiebreaks if necessary.
TCEC Cup 2Same as Cup 1
TCEC Cup 3Same as Cups 1 and 2
TCEC Cup 4Same as Cups 1, 2, and 3
TCEC Cup 5Knockout tournament, with 4-game Rapid matches and tiebreaks if necessary.
TCEC Cup 6Same as Cup 5
TCEC Cup 7Same as Cups 5 and 6
TCEC Cup 8Same as Cups 5, 6, and 7
TCEC Cup 9Same as Cups 5, 6, 7, and 8

TCEC Swiss
EventStructure
TCEC Swiss 1Swiss-system tournament with 38 competing engines, playing 11 rounds of game pairs, for a total of 418 games.
TCEC Swiss 2Swiss-system tournament with 44 competing engines, playing 11 rounds of game pairs, for a total of 484 games.

TCEC FRC
EventStructure
TCEC Season 6 FRCQuad-round-robin tournament consisting of the top 8 engines that had support for Fischer Random Chess.
TCEC FRC 1
TCEC FRC 2
TCEC FRC 3
TCEC FRC 4

Event results

Main event

The tables display the results of the events that have the elite match/superfinal.

Original format
SeasonDateWinnerverRunner-UpverElite match/Superfinal score
TCEC Season 1Dec 2010 – Feb 2011Houdini1.5aRybka4.0+ 12 = 23 - 5
TCEC Season 2Feb – Apr 2011Houdini1.5aRybka4.1+ 9 = 26 - 5
TCEC Season 3Apr – May 2011N/A (season not completed)
TCEC Season 41Jan – May 2013Houdini3Stockfish250413+ 6 = 38 - 4
TCEC Season 52Aug – Dec 2013Komodo1142Stockfish191113+ 10 = 30 - 8
TCEC Season 6Feb – May 2014Stockfish170514Komodo7x+ 13 = 45 - 6
TCEC Season 73Sep – Dec 2014Komodo1333Stockfish141214+ 7 = 53 - 4
TCEC Season 8Aug – Nov 2015Komodo9.3xStockfish021115+ 9 = 89 - 2
TCEC Season 9May – Dec 2016Stockfish8Houdini5+ 17 = 75 - 8
TCEC Season 10Oct – Dec 2017Houdini6.03Komodo1970.00+ 15 = 76 - 9
1 Originally named "nTCEC Season 1".
2 Originally named "nTCEC Season 2".
3 Season 7 did not use endgame table bases at all and Stage two did not use opening books either.

League format

After season 20, this event is called the Leagues, as each season also includes the Swiss, the Cup, and the FRC tournament.[12]

SeasonDateWinnerversionRunner-UpversionSuperfinal score
TCEC Season 11Jan 2018 – Apr 2018Stockfish260318Houdini6.03+ 20 = 78 - 2
TCEC Season 12Apr 2018 – Jul 2018Stockfish180614Komodo12.1.1+ 29 = 62 - 9
TCEC Season 13Aug 2018 – Nov 2018Stockfish18102108Komodo2155.00+ 16 = 78 - 6
TCEC Season 14Nov 2018 – Feb 2019Stockfish190203LCZerov0.20.2-32930+ 10 = 81 - 9
TCEC Season 15Mar 2019 – May 2019LCZerov0.21.1-nT40.T8.610Stockfish19050918+ 14 = 79 - 7
TCEC Season 16Jul 2019 – Oct 2019Stockfish19092522AllieSteinv0.5-dev_7b41f8c-n11+ 14 = 81 - 5
TCEC Season 17Jan 2020 – Apr 2020LCZerov0.24-sv-t60-3010Stockfish20200407+ 17 = 71 - 12
TCEC Season 18May 2020 – Jul 2020Stockfish202006170741LCZerov0.25.1-svjio-t60-3972-mlh+ 23 = 61 - 16
TCEC Season 19Aug 2020 – Oct 2020Stockfish202009282242_nn-baeb9ef2d183LCZerov0.26.3-rc1_T60.SV.JH.92-190+ 18 = 73 - 9
TCEC Season 20Dec 2020 – Feb 2021Stockfish20210113LCZero0.27.0d-Tilps-dje-magic_JH.94-100+ 14 = 78 - 8
TCEC Season 21 LeaguesMay 2021 – Aug 2021Stockfish14_202107131735LCZero0.28-dev+_69626+ 19 = 74 - 7

TCEC Cups
SeasonDateWinnerRunner-Up
TCEC Cup 1Oct 2018Stockfish 270918Houdini 6.03
TCEC Cup 2Jan 2019LCZero v0.20.1-32742Houdini 6.03
TCEC Cup 3May 2019LCZero v0.21.1-nT40.T6.532Stockfish 19042711
TCEC Cup 4Oct 2019Stockfish 19100908LCZero v0.22.0-nT2
TCEC Cup 5Apr 2020Stockfish 202004181536LCZero v0.24-sv-t60-3010
TCEC Cup 6Jul 2020AllieStein v0.7_dev2-net_15.0LCZero v0.26.0_sv-t60-4229-mlh_opt2
TCEC Cup 7Nov 2020Stockfish 2020102823_nn-2eb2e0707c2bLCZero v0.26.3_T60.SV.JH.92-270
TCEC Cup 8Feb 2021Stockfish 202102202249LCZero 0.27.0-pr1509_JH.94-100
TCEC Cup 9Oct 2021Stockfish dev15_20211015LCZero 0.28-dev+_609958

TCEC Swiss
SeasonDateWinnerRunner-Up
TCEC Swiss 1Apr 2021KomodoDragon 2679.08Stockfish 20210310
TCEC Swiss 2Nov – Dec 2021Dragon 2.5.1Stockfish 14.1_20211101

TCEC FRC
SeasonDateWinnerRunner-Up
TCEC Season 6 FRCJun – Jul 2014Stockfish 260614Houdini 4
TCEC FRC 1Oct – Nov 2019Stockfish 191107AllieStein v0.5_c328142-n11.1
TCEC FRC 2Nov 2020Stockfish 202011101829_nn-c3ca321c51c9LCZero v0.26.3_T60.SV.JH.92-330
TCEC FRC 3Mar 2021KomodoDragon 2671.00Stockfish 20210226
TCEC FRC 4Dec 2021

Other TCEC events
SeasonDateWinnerRunner-Up
TCEC Season 9 Rapid1Sep 2016Houdini 200716Komodo 1692.19
TCEC Season 10 RapidDec 2017Stockfish 051117Houdini 6.03
TCEC Season 10 BlitzDec 2017Komodo 1959.00Stockfish 051117
1 Double round robin tournament.

Statistics

All-time table for champions after TCEC Season 20

This table includes Main/Leagues, Cup, FRC and Swiss results.[13]

Rank Engine Participations Games W D L W (%) D (%) L (%) Pts Avg Pts Finals Trophies
1 Stockfish 32 3013 797 2015 201 26.45 66.88 6.67 1804.5 0.599 25 17
2 Komodo 32 2553 626 1676 251 24.52 65.65 9.83 1464 0.573 9 5
3 LCZero 20 1561 350 1059 152 22.42 67.84 9.74 879.5 0.563 14 4

Notable games
Shredder vs Gull, TCEC S4
abcdefgh
8
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Shredder (White) is on the brink of being checkmated, but found the defensive resource 46. Bb3 Nxb3 47. Qf4+ gxf4 48. Rb7+ Kc8 49. Rc7+ Kd8, etc. If Black captures the white rook, it is stalemate.[14][15][16]
Season numberDate and game title infoWhiteBlackResultNotes (material calculations excluding king)Source/s
128 January 2011 (Elite Match, Round 1 of Game 1)RybkaHoudini0-1Houdini sacrifices three pawns for piece activity and defeats the reigning computer chess champion Rybka in this game, popularly dubbed as the "Houdini Immortal".[17][18]
425 March 2013 (Stage 2b, Game 3 of Round 14)ShredderGull1/2-1/2Shredder, on the brink of being checkmated, pulls off a miraculous escape.[14][15][16]
15May 21, 2019 (Game 61 of Superfinal)StockfishLeela Chess Zero0-1[19]
16September 28, 2019 (Game 14 of Superfinal)StockfishAllieStein1-0[20]
17April 8, 2020 (Game 1 of Superfinal)StockfishLeela Chess Zero1/2-1/2Although a draw, there was a moment in the game beginning around move 14 that stunned the commentary team at chess24 consisting of GMs Jan Gustafsson, Laurent Fressinet, Peter Heine Nielsen, and Anish Giri.[21]
April 8, 2020 (Game 3 of Superfinal)StockfishLeela Chess Zero1-0The engines played a Scheveningen Sicilian, and Peter Heine Nielsen, coach to Magnus Carlsen, is simply amazed that the position is simply won for white. White manages to place a pawn on h6 and exploits the resulting weaknesses in black's kingside position, where the black king is located, resulting in a win for white.[21]
April 9, 2020 (Game 6 of Superfinal)Leela Chess ZeroStockfish1/2-1/2The engines played the Mar del Plata variation of the King's Indian Defence, entering a critical variation known to opening theorists, and despite white's advantage, Stockfish was able to find an exceptional defense and draw the game.[21]
April 10, 2020 (Game 14 of Superfinal)Leela Chess ZeroStockfish1-0Leela sacrifices a pawn to open its bishop and dominate Stockfish on the dark squares. However, it then exchanges off the dark squared bishop, which shocked the commentary team at chess24, and still won the game.[21]
18June 20, 2020 (Game 8 of Superfinal)StockfishLeela Chess Zero1-0[22]
19October 9, 2020 (Game 60 of Superfinal)StockfishLeela Chess Zero1-0[23]
20January 21, 2021 (Game 33 of Superfinal)StockfishLeela Chess Zero1-0[24]

References
  1. Kosteniuk, Alexandra (August 15, 2013). "TCEC Computer Chess Championship New Season starts August 26th". Chess News Blog. Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  2. Soltis, Andy (June 9, 2013). "Engine Super Bowl". New York Post. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  3. Thoresen, Martin (May 28, 2011). "TCEC announcement: End of project". Talkchess. Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  4. Thoresen, Martin (January 12, 2013). "Official (re)launch of TCEC - website is up!". Talkchess. Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  5. Thoresen, Martin (August 15, 2013). "TCEC and Chessdom announces partnership". TCEC. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  6. "TCEC computer chess championship New Season starts August 26th". Chessdom. Chessdom. August 15, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  7. Until season 13, all engines ran on the same hardware; however, in season 13 the entrance of two neural network engines caused TCEC to use different hardware for the two types of engines. "TCEC Season 13 – the advance of the NNs". Chessdom. 2 August 2018.
  8. "TCEC Leagues Season Rules, 15.Crashes".
  9. Chabris, Christopher. "Martin Thoresen's World Chess Championship".
  10. "Announcing TCEC Cup 2018 | Chessdom".
  11. "TCEC Leagues Season 21".
  12. "TCEC wiki".
  13. "TCEC - Live Chess Broadcast". www.tcec-chess.com.
  14. "Shredder (Computer) vs Gull (Computer) (2013) UnBb3vable!". www.chessgames.com.
  15. "Shredder - Gull, Stage 2b: Stupendous Stalemate Swindle". Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  16. "A defensive brilliancy". Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  17. "Rybka (Computer) vs Houdini (Computer) (2011) The Amazing Houdini". www.chessgames.com.
  18. Annotated by FM Dennis Monokroussos at TCEC
  19. Sadler, Matthew, The TCEC15 Computer Chess Superfinal: a perspective (PDF), retrieved 11 November 2021
  20. Sadler, Matthew, The TCEC16 Computer Chess Superfinal: a perspective (PDF), retrieved 11 November 2021
  21. Sadler, Matthew, The TCEC17 Computer Chess Superfinal: a perspective (PDF), retrieved 11 November 2021
  22. Sadler, Matthew, The TCEC18 Computer Chess Superfinal: a perspective (PDF), retrieved 11 November 2021
  23. Sadler, Matthew, The TCEC19 Computer Chess Superfinal: a perspective (PDF), retrieved 11 November 2021
  24. Sadler, Matthew, The TCEC20 Computer Chess Superfinal: a perspective (PDF), retrieved 11 November 2021

Sources
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.