TCEC Announcement - Season 2 information!

[Martin Thoresen]

As the current Elite Match of season 1 is coming to an end, it's time to
share some information about how season 2 will look.

There has been quite some discussion in my forum about this, so instead
of writing everything here you can register at my forum and read the
different threads on the matter.

I will list the biggest changes here:

1: The overall time control will stay the same as in the current Elite Match,
meaning 150 minutes plus 30 seconds added per move for the whole game.

2: The division system now consist of 6 smaller divisions, each with 6
engines. The format they will be playing is a double round robin with
alternate colors of each opening. A total of 30 games will be played per
division.

3: The normal scoring system will be used instead of 3-1-0.

4: The GUI adjudication for won/lost positions will be changed to 5 moves
or 10 plies with an eval of +/- 7.50 pawns. A few people think some of
the adjudication has been made prematurely, so this should help in that
regard.

The following engines are currently scheduled to play in TCEC for season 2:

TCEC F
Naraku
Pawny
Glass
Philou
Gnuchess
Delphil

TCEC E
Tornado
Daydreamer
Scorpio
Gaviota
Redqueen
Deuterium

TCEC D
Jonny
Hannibal
Protector
Crafty
Chronos
Chessmaster

TCEC C
Komodo
Onno
Sjeng c't
Gull
Spike
Booot

TCEC B
Junior
Spark
Naum
Hiarcs
Loop
Zappa

TCEC A
Houdini
Rybka
Stockfish
Ivanhoe
Critter
Shredder

In regards to this list, please keep in mind that I have not yet tested
all engines to confirm that they work like they should, so there could
be a chance that one or more of the new ones will have to be replaced.

The top two finishers from TCEC A will meet in a 40-game Elite Match,
which will decide the TCEC Season 2 Champion.

The total number of games in the old system were:
56+56+56+40=208

The total number of games in the new system are:
30+30+30+30+30+30+40=220

There is a possibility that I will run a "theme" tournament if there is an
interest in this by simply including all the winners from the 6 divisions in
a double round robin playing a theme tournament (for example gambits).
But this will be voted on in my forum.

Season 2 will kick off with TCEC F at Friday the 11th of February at 18:00 GMT.

TCEC E will start 3 days after TCEC F has ended.
TCEC D will start 3 days after TCEC E has ended - and so on.

[Martin Thoresen]

I forgot to add:

The winner of each division will promote to the division
above and the engine finishing last in each division will
be demoted to the division below for the next season.

In TCEC F the bottom two engines are out of TCEC for the next season.

[Martin Thoresen]

The info page has been updated with all changes for season 2:

http://www.tcec-chess.org/info.php

Best,
Martin

[BB+]

So... it seems that winning Division 2 in Season 1 didn't merit a promotion in the end, due to the change of system? Can the engines sue you for false advertising? The biggest gripe might be from Komodo, who was 11th overall, but is in Division C due to the entrance of Loop and Zappa. The standings from CEGT seem to put Komodo (still only on 1 cpu) about 50 Elo ahead of Loop M1-P (on 4 cpus).

[Martin Thoresen]

So... it seems that winning Division 2 in Season 1 didn't merit a promotion in the end, due to the change of system? Can the engines sue you for false advertising? The biggest gripe might be from Komodo, who was 11th overall, but is in Division C due to the entrance of Loop and Zappa. The standings from CEGT seem to put Komodo (still only on 1 cpu) about 50 Elo ahead of Loop M1-P (on 4 cpus).

I am sure that if Komodo belongs in B it will win C. Right?

The top is crowded, that's for sure.

Remember, the new system reflects the old system in that A = div 1, C = div 2 and E = div 3.

Best,
Martin

[Dave Mitchell]

Glad to see Zappa being included.

Gotta give the Z it's props.

Other changes sound great, also.