It was the first time since Season 14 when the superfinalists had been decided by tiebreak. Stockfish broke through to send Leela to the superfinal. For a while it looked like Komodo might hold, but eventually Black’s bad light-square bishop proved a decisive liability. The opening was a difficult one for Black, but Stockfish had managed to defend it, so it was possible Komodo might manage the same. Leela failed to shake the unshakeable Stockfish, and so had to pray for a fourth Stockfish victory. With two rounds left, Leela needed to either beat Stockfish with White, or hope for Stockfish to notch yet another win against Komodo, in which case Leela would make the superfinal on the second tiebreak (Sonneborn–Berger score). Meanwhile, Komodo kept winning, once again recording wins against the entire chasing pack to set up a nervy finale. With only a half-point gap now, a tense fourth round saw Leela draw Komodo in the head-to-head while dropping points against Ethereal. And it happened! Komodo scored a crucial 1.5-0.5 win over Leela in the third round and, coupled with wins over the entire chasing pack, Komodo would have caught Leela there and then had Stockfish not won a third opening Komodo. On the other hand, Leela had a 1.5-point lead over Komodo Dragon, a lead that meant Komodo Dragon realistically needed to win an opening against Leela to stand a chance. I had written then that it would take a major shock for Stockfish to miss the superfinal, which did not materialize, and Stockfish cruised through. Although this was the foreshadowed result at the halfway mark, the second half of the division brought up plenty of drama. The Premier Division of TCEC Season 23 is over, and we will see Stockfish take on Leela in the superfinal while Komodo Dragon takes on Ethereal in the infrafinal.
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