Stockfish takes dominating lead at halfway in the TCEC Season 22 Superfinal
We have just reached the halfway mark of the TCEC Season 22 Superfinal. Defending champion Stockfish leads Komodo Dragon by 12 points (+17 -5 =28), a dominant performance that all but ensures that it will win the Superfinal. Stockfish signaled its intent straight from the get-go by winning the first opening with its signature move g4!, and reeled off two more opening wins before Komodo Dragon won its first game in game 9. However, Stockfish won the reverse game to draw the opening. Although not as dominant as Leela’s demolition of rofChade in the Infrafinal, Stockfish’s performance is such that Komodo Dragon has yet to win an opening. Komodo Dragon did score a few moral victories, such as in Game 13 when it successfully drew after finding a winning move that Stockfish failed to find, and in Game 40 when it did a better job defending the opening than Stockfish had, reaching an endgame with real drawing chances. Still, it conceded unnecessary losses with self-inflicted weakening moves in Game 6 and Game 46 to find itself on the brink. Live: TCEC official site / TCEC Twitch TV / Superfinal preview More: Chess’s icons are now Carlsen and Stockfish
Stockfish is on track to set two TCEC records: the most decisive Superfinal ever (the current record is +20 over 100 games, also set by Stockfish against Komodo in Season 12), and an “undefeated” Superfinal where the only games it loses are to “to the opening book”. Barring a miracle, the second half of the Superfinal will be one of damage control for Komodo Dragon, as it fights to avoid being on the wrong end of history. Afterwards, however, it will get the chance to redeem itself against Leela in the Subfinal.
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