We're at the halfway point of the inaugural season's qualifying round and we finally have a clear cut leader. Chiron queened two pawns to solidly put away Critter in 75 moves while Deep Junior was bamboozled by Naum in the endgame to lose its first of the tournament. In other games, Bouquet has strung three wins together and now sits tied with Naum with 3.5 points while the drawn heavyweight matchup from round 3 between Houdini and Stockfish has the two favorites sitting 2 points behind the current leader. Further down the table, Komodo, Spike, HIARCS, and DeepSaros sit outside of the top 20 and need to start putting some wins on the board if they're going to qualify for the top tier in stage 2. At the halfway marker of the qualifying round anything is still possible.
Two engine problems have been identified. iCE still reports tablebase hits despite not having tablebases available to it and will be disqualified from the second round should it successfully qualify. RedQueen seems to be playing without thinking leading it to throw all of its pieces away very quickly. While it isn't breaking any rules, it is not putting up a challenge and will be replaced for next season until it gets its act together. Should RedQueen somehow qualify for stage 2, it will be allowed to continue on but given its penchant for losing in 20 moves, such a scenario is unlikely.
Here is Chiron's decisive victory over Critter to give it sole control of first place:
[Event "[28] UCECL Season 1 - Round 1 - Qualification and Seeding - (12/15/13)"]
[Site "Local computer"]
[Date "2013.12.19"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Chiron 2 64bit"]
[Black "Critter 1.6a 64-bit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Variation "Taimanov variation"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Be2 Bb4 7. O-O Bxc3
8. Nxc6 dxc6 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. bxc3 Nxe4 11. Bf3 Nc5 12. Rd1+ Ke8 13. a4 f6
14. a5 Kf7 15. Ba3 Na6 16. h4 Re8 17. Bd6 g6 18. Rab1 e5 19. Be2 Kg7 20.
Rb3 Rd8 21. g3 Rd7 22. h5 Nc7 23. h6+ Kf7 24. c4 Ne6 25. c5 Nd4 26. Bc4+
Ke8 27. Re3 Nf5 28. Ree1 b5 29. Bf1 Nxd6 30. cxd6 Rf7 31. Bg2 Kd7 32. Kh2
Rb8 33. f4 exf4 34. gxf4 f5 35. Re5 Bb7 36. Kg3 Rh8 37. c3 Rd8 38. Kh4 Rb8
39. Bf1 Ba6 40. Kg5 Re8 41. Bg2 Rc8 42. Rde1 b4 43. cxb4 Bc4 44. Bf3 Bb3
45. Rc1 Ba4 46. Be2 Kxd6 47. Bc4 Re7 48. Ra1 Rxe5 49. fxe5+ Kxe5 50. Rxa4
Rh8 51. Ra2 Kd4 52. Rc2 Rb8 53. Ba6 Rxb4 54. Re2 Rb8 55. Re7 Rh8 56. Rxa7
f4 57. Bf1 Ke3 58. a6 Kf2 59. Bc4 Ke3 60. Re7+ Kd4 61. Bf1 Kc5 62. a7 Rd8
63. Rxh7 Kb6 64. Rf7 Ra8 65. h7 Kc5 66. Rb7 Rd8 67. Rb8 Rd5+ 68. Kg4 Rd4
69. h8=Q f3+ 70. Kxf3 Rd7 71. Ke4 Re7+ 72. Qe5+ Rxe5+ 73. Kxe5 g5 74. a8=Q
g4 75. Qa7# 1-0
Two engine problems have been identified. iCE still reports tablebase hits despite not having tablebases available to it and will be disqualified from the second round should it successfully qualify. RedQueen seems to be playing without thinking leading it to throw all of its pieces away very quickly. While it isn't breaking any rules, it is not putting up a challenge and will be replaced for next season until it gets its act together. Should RedQueen somehow qualify for stage 2, it will be allowed to continue on but given its penchant for losing in 20 moves, such a scenario is unlikely.
Here is Chiron's decisive victory over Critter to give it sole control of first place:
[Event "[28] UCECL Season 1 - Round 1 - Qualification and Seeding - (12/15/13)"]
[Site "Local computer"]
[Date "2013.12.19"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Chiron 2 64bit"]
[Black "Critter 1.6a 64-bit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Variation "Taimanov variation"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Be2 Bb4 7. O-O Bxc3
8. Nxc6 dxc6 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. bxc3 Nxe4 11. Bf3 Nc5 12. Rd1+ Ke8 13. a4 f6
14. a5 Kf7 15. Ba3 Na6 16. h4 Re8 17. Bd6 g6 18. Rab1 e5 19. Be2 Kg7 20.
Rb3 Rd8 21. g3 Rd7 22. h5 Nc7 23. h6+ Kf7 24. c4 Ne6 25. c5 Nd4 26. Bc4+
Ke8 27. Re3 Nf5 28. Ree1 b5 29. Bf1 Nxd6 30. cxd6 Rf7 31. Bg2 Kd7 32. Kh2
Rb8 33. f4 exf4 34. gxf4 f5 35. Re5 Bb7 36. Kg3 Rh8 37. c3 Rd8 38. Kh4 Rb8
39. Bf1 Ba6 40. Kg5 Re8 41. Bg2 Rc8 42. Rde1 b4 43. cxb4 Bc4 44. Bf3 Bb3
45. Rc1 Ba4 46. Be2 Kxd6 47. Bc4 Re7 48. Ra1 Rxe5 49. fxe5+ Kxe5 50. Rxa4
Rh8 51. Ra2 Kd4 52. Rc2 Rb8 53. Ba6 Rxb4 54. Re2 Rb8 55. Re7 Rh8 56. Rxa7
f4 57. Bf1 Ke3 58. a6 Kf2 59. Bc4 Ke3 60. Re7+ Kd4 61. Bf1 Kc5 62. a7 Rd8
63. Rxh7 Kb6 64. Rf7 Ra8 65. h7 Kc5 66. Rb7 Rd8 67. Rb8 Rd5+ 68. Kg4 Rd4
69. h8=Q f3+ 70. Kxf3 Rd7 71. Ke4 Re7+ 72. Qe5+ Rxe5+ 73. Kxe5 g5 74. a8=Q
g4 75. Qa7# 1-0