TCEC 22 superfinal book, by GM Matthew Sadler and Jeroen Noomen

Just like the TCEC 21 superfinal book, the TCEC 22 superfinal book was again developed in cooperation between international chess Grandmaster Matthew Sadler and myself (Jeroen Noomen). 

Here is the most important information about our book:

• The TCEC 22 superfinal book was completed in the months before September 2021. Both Matthew and I have chosen 25 lines, which will be played alternately. Matthew's lines are #1, #3, #5 and so forth, my lines are #2, #4, #6 and so forth. The lines are mixed, which means that lower book exits are mixed with higher book exits. I ordered both Matthew's and my own lines from 1 (lowest exit) to 25 (highest exit). Then I made pairs: 1-25, 2-24, 3-23, 4-22 and so on. The pairs are distributed randomly over the book.
• All lines typically have a Leela Chess Zero book exit between +0.35 and +0.50, with a few exceptions. Of course the book exits at TCEC can be very different, because of much faster hardware or because engines like Stockfish and Komodo Dragon have much higher evaluations than Leela.  
• All important openings will be played; just like in the previous TCEC superfinals the opening lines are risky and have a (very) high bias. This is necessary to avoid an excessive number of uninteresting draws. Statistics of the previous superfinals show that a Leela book exit below +0.30 is an almost 100% certain draw. 
• The chosen lines typically have a length between 1 moves and 16 moves; there is one line which is 1 move (2 ply) long and there is one line which is 16 moves long. 
• Three opening lines have a black advantage, to increase the chance of a black win.
• Average move length is 7.3, which is a bit higher compared to the previous two superfinals.
• We have avoided positions that could lead to many exchanges, as well as positions with a symmetrical pawn structure and positions that could lead to easy wins for the side with an advantage. The last aspect is becoming more and more difficult, with strong hardware, a long time control and engines being so strong. Of course risky lines means that the chance of 1-0 1-0 is increasing.
• The purpose of the lines is to have interesting play with a reasonable chance of a decisive result. An opening result of 1.5-0.5 is the preferred outcome. Enjoy the TCEC 22 superfinal!

 

ECO code distribution

ECO A: 10 lines

ECO B: 10 lines

ECO C: 13 lines

ECO D: 4 lines

ECO E: 13 lines

Move length distribution

1 move: 1 line

3 moves: 2 lines

4 moves: 3 lines

5 moves: 8 lines

6 moves: 7 lines

7 moves: 3 lines

8 moves: 12 lines

9 moves: 6 lines

10 moves: 3 lines

>10 moves: 5 lines