A full of action TCEC round 5 has come to an end. Spectators could enjoy 3 top pairing games of average ELO 3000+ including Houdini 3 – Rybka 4.1, Gull II – Komodo, and Chiron – Vitruvius.

After alternating draws and victories at the start, Houdini came back on its steady pace. The victim of the highest rated engine of the competition was the finalist from last season of TCEC – Rybka. In an equal game, where Rybka had a pawn advantage for the active bishop pair and better structure of Houdini, the engines headed for an interesting endgame. However, things turned into a disaster for Rybka when “the fish” used all of its time on the clock until move 47. Playing only on the increment in a difficult position, Rybka succumbed to the coordinated play by Houdini.

Chiron and Vitruvius was an exciting show right from the start. Chiron opted for a Sicilian Keres variation after 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2. However, it missed a chance to castle and left the king in the center. This is where the wrong steps for white started, as Chiron needed several tempi to secure the king in the middlegame. Seeing the difficulties coming, it exchanged the queen for a bishop and rook, something that Vitruvius gladly accepted. The material imbalance created was strong enough, and Vitruvius scored the full point at move 61.

The leader of round 4 Gull II faced the second seeded Komodo in the top pairing of the day. In a materially balanced game, Komodo tried to create a second passed pawn in the center. Gull was precise in countering this attempt by multiple exchanges and rightly evaluating that a N vs B endgame would draw. The engines agreed the game is equal after move 40, and 15 moves later the show ended as a draw.

With this draw Gull allowed Houdini and Vitruvius to catch up. The three engines lead TCEC with 4,0/5. They are closely followed by Komodo and Hiarcs with 3,5/5.

TCEC report round 1 / TCEC report round 2 / TCEC report round 3 / TCEC report round 4 / TCEC round 5 report

Official website / Replay all games with analysis

Standings


 Engine ELO Points
1 Gull II 3083 4
2 Houdini 3 3191 4
3 Vitruvius 3070 4
4 Komodo 3126 3.5
5 Hiarcs 14.0b 2970 3.5
6 Chiron 1 2990 3
7 Critter 1.6a 3104 3
8 Rybka 4.1 3101 3
9 Shredder 12 2960 3
10 Stockfish 2.31 3086 3
11 Scorpio 2.75 2787 3
12 Hannibal 2955 3
13 Spike 2926 3
14 Quazar 2905 3
15 Junior 13.3 2896 3
16 Nemo 1.01b 2862 3
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar February 12, 2013 Chess Improvement, Chess Research 11 Comments
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