Abstract
Stoofvlees II is the World Computer Chess Champion of 2023 and shared the title with Jonny and Raptor in 2024. It is a hybrid Monte–Carlo Tree-Search chess engine augmented by a deep-convolutional neural network and a classical evaluator. This paper reviews the architecture and training methodology. Moreover, it documents Stoofvlees II's performances at the 2023 (Valencia) and 2024 (Santiago de Compostela) WCCCs. Particular emphasis is placed on (1) the design decisions that deviate from the AlphaZero paradigm, (2) the training and hardware regimes employed, and (3) the practical tournament considerations that decided critical games. All three issues together were important for the engine's first place at the 2023 and 2024 WCCCs.
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