Stockfish, the open source engine by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, Gary Linscott, et al. , has surged ahead in the standings of the Top Chess Engine Championship. After twenty rounds, Stockfish has 14,0/20, a point and a half more than the closest opponents.
The jump of Stockfish comes after two consecutive victories. In round 19 Stockfish defeated its main contender Komodo (replay with analysis), while in round 20 it won a game vs the always tough Gull (replay here).
Komodo, which was equal with Stockfish up to that point lost its direct match in round 19 and then drew with Rybka as white (replay here) thus dropping 1,5 point behind the first position in the standings.
This was used by Houdini 5 dev. The new engine by Robert Houdart drew with another of the medal contenders Fire 5 (replay here) and later defeated Jonny (replay here). Thus, now it is now equal to Komodo in the standings, sharing 2nd-3rd position with 12,5/20.
With Fire being close by at 4th position, we are ahead of one of the most disputed qualification stages of TCEC ever. Adding to the mix the fact that this is the strongest by ELO chess championship in history, the chess fans are up for a treat in the remaining rounds.
Follow the Top Chess Engine Championship live at the official website