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This last rating list of 2023 consists of five new entrants. First one out is the latest version from Team Stockfish, named Stockfish 16. We have as usual used an opening book from Fauzi Dabat for the testing, and this one is called: "Aggressive 5.6 by fauzi.abk". It's of course still early on in the testing, but Stockfish 16 has reached the very strong rating of 3582 after the first 200 games and have taken over the second place in the rating list.

Even though the earlier Stockfish 15 gained 3 points since the last list, Stockfish 16 now has a gap of 9 rating points ahead of its former version. As Lc0 lost a considerable amount of points since the last rating list, the gap between Stockfish and Lc0 have now gone from 40 to just 4 points. It will surely be exciting to see how the rating will continue to fluctuate in the top of the list as more games will be played with all the top programs.

As incidentally mentioned, Lc0 wasn't able to keep up with its strong start in the last rating list and with more than 300 games added since last time, its rating has been lowered with 24 points. Lc0 still holds the number one spot in the list, but now with a much smaller gap to its nearest competitor - Stockfish.

Our second newcomer on the list are Mark Lefler's and Larry Kaufmans's - Dragon Komodo 3.3. It's extremely congested in the top at the moment and even though Dragon Komodo has made a good impression in its first 248 games, it is at the moment only placed eight in the list, with the rating of 3568. This is one point behind Dragon Komodo 3, but also just five points behind Stockfish 15 in third place, so more games will be needed to find out how it will fare in the absolute top of the rating list. As opening book for Dragon Komodo 3.3, we have used Erdogan Günes's opening book: "Out10-35.bin".

Third one out is Alex Morozov's - Booot 7.1, which after the first 200 games have reached a rating of 3484, which is 9 points ahead of the 7.0 version. As opening book for Booot 7.1, we have used Sedat Canbaz's: "Perfect2021.abk".

Last but not least are Richard Pijl's - The Baron 3.45, which we have tested on both our hardware platforms. As opening book we have used The Baron's own opening book. On our 1800X hardware, The Baron 3.45 has reached a rating of 3081 after the first 160 games. This is at the moment 4 points ahead of the 3.43 version which we had tested earlier. On our Q6600 hardware, The Baron 3.45 has received a rating of 3053 after 360 games played. This is 35 points ahead of the 3.43 version on the Q6600 hardware, so more games will be needed on the 1800X hardware to see if the smaller margin there will get bigger as more games are played.

Hope that you all have had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Lars Sandin