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Description
Describe the issue
Stockfish 18 exhibits a critical time management failure in ultra-fast increment scenarios. Under a specific time control (5% of 180+2 blitz = 9s+0.1s), the search algorithm intermittently collapses to Depth 1 for multiple consecutive plies, leading to catastrophic blunders against significantly lower-rated engines.
Environment:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 @ 3.20GHz
RAM: 8GB
Version: Stockfish 18 x64 (AVX2-5Pct)
Case 1: SF18 vs Sirius 9.0 (2609 ELO)
The Anomaly: SF18 dropped to Depth 1 at move 36.
Proof of System Stability: On the same hardware, Sirius 9.0 maintained Depth 18.
Case 2: SF18 vs Dirty CatPaw (2026 ELO)
The Anomaly: SF18 flatlined at Depth 1 from move 58 to 80.
The Blunder: At move 77, SF18 played 77. Qb5 at Depth 1, hanging a Queen in a +3.4 won position.
Evaluation Gap: SF18 evaluated move 77 as -0.06/1, while the opponent (at Depth 16) correctly saw +15.49.
Conclusion:
This is a purely internal Time Management (TM) issue. When the engine's time bank is low, it fails to allocate even the minimum search window required for basic tactical awareness, while weaker engines manage the same 0.1s increment efficiently.
Expected behavior
I expected Stockfish 18 to maintain a stable search and tactical awareness, even under extreme time pressure (0.1s increment). Specifically:
Search Stability: The engine should never "flatline" at Depth 1 for multiple consecutive moves. I expected it to maintain a minimum safety depth (e.g., Depth 4-8) to avoid basic tactical blunders.
Resource Management: Since other engines (Sirius, Tcheran, Dirty CatPaw) consistently reach Depth 12-18 on the same hardware (i5-4570) and time control, Stockfish 18 should be able to utilize the 0.1s increment to perform a meaningful search instead of bypassing it.
Evaluation Integrity: The engine should not drop from a winning evaluation (+3.4) to a losing one in a single move due to a "panic" search. I expected the Time Management logic to prioritize move quality over lightning-fast execution when the increment is 0.1s.
Steps to reproduce
Use Stockfish 18 x64 (AVX2) on a mid-range CPU (e.g., Intel i5-4570).
Set up a match against engines rated between 2000-2700 ELO (e.g., Sirius 9.0, Tcheran 11.0, or Dirty CatPaw).
Use an extreme time control: 9 seconds base + 0.1s increment (simulating 5% of a standard 180+2 blitz game).
Run a tournament of at least 50-100 games.
Monitor the search logs (UCI output) during the transition from middlegame to endgame, especially when SF18 is playing with the White pieces.
Observe the frequency of "depth 1" outputs in the UCI log while the opponent maintains a stable depth (e.g., depth 14-18) on the same hardware.
Anything else?
Game Records (PGNs):
Click to expand: PGN SF18 vs Sirius 9.0
Code snippet
[Event "WorlCup-2026 World Qualify"]
[Site "Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 3.20GHz 8GB RAM(DELL)"]
[Date "2026.02.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Stockfish 18 x64(AVX2-5Pct)"]
[Black "Tcheran 11.0 x64(AVX2-5Pct)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[ECO "A29"]
[Opening "English"]
[Time "16:26:36"]
[Variation "Four knights, kingside Fianchetto"]
[WhiteElo "2886"]
[TimeControl "9+0"]
[Termination "adjudication"]
[PlyCount "105"]
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3
8. bxc3 Re8 9. Qc2 {+0.11/17 0} Qe7 {-0.15/16 0} 10. d3 {+0.04/16 0} exd3
{-0.20/17 0} 11. exd3 {+0.08/16 0} d6 {-0.19/17 0} 12. Nf3 {+0.17/17 0} h6
{-0.13/18 1} 13. Be3 {+0.12/14 0} Rb8 {0.00/17 0} 14. Rfe1 {+0.33/16 0} Qd8
{-0.19/16 0} 15. h3 {+0.39/15 0} b6 {+0.01/15 0} 16. Nd4 {+0.27/14 0} Ne7
{-0.08/15 0} 17. Qd2 {+0.19/15 0} Bb7 {+0.61/15 0} 18. Bxh6 {0.00/21 0}
gxh6 {0.00/16 0} 19. Qxh6 {0.00/14 0} Ng6 {0.00/19 0} 20. Bxb7 {0.00/21 0}
Rxb7 {0.00/20 0} 21. Nf5 {0.00/19 0} Rxe1+ {0.00/21 0} 22. Rxe1 {0.00/19 0}
Qf8 {0.00/23 0} 23. Qg5 {0.00/22 0} Nh7 {0.00/24 0} 24. Qg4 {0.00/30 0} Nf6
{0.00/23 0} 25. Qd4 {+0.02/15 0} Nh5 {0.00/20 0} 26. g4 {0.00/18 0} Ng7
{+0.31/16 0} 27. Qf6 {0.00/20 0} c5 {+0.28/15 0} 28. Re3 {+0.43/16 0} Rd7
{0.00/14 0} 29. a4 {+0.64/18 1} Ne5 {0.00/17 0} 30. f4 {+0.48/18 1} Ng6
{+0.57/13 0} 31. Kf1 {+0.58/17 1} Kh7 {-0.12/13 0} 32. Qg5 {+0.03/12 0} d5
{0.00/16 0} 33. cxd5 {+0.45/14 0} Rxd5 {-0.28/13 0} 34. c4 {+0.59/15 0} Rd8
{0.00/15 0} 35. Kf2 {+0.49/12 0} a6 {0.00/16 0} 36. Kf1 {+0.49/5 0} b5
{-0.38/16 0} 37. axb5 {+0.10/1 0} axb5 {-0.17/14 0} 38. cxb5 {+0.10/1 0}
Rb8 {-0.15/14 0} 39. Qh6+ {+0.21/1 0} Kg8 {+0.79/12 0} 40. h4 {-0.65/1 0}
Nxf5 {+3.02/14 0} 41. Qxf8+ {-3.51/15 0} Kxf8 {+2.88/14 0} 42. gxf5
{-3.26/13 0} Nxf4 {+2.79/15 0} 43. Re4 {-3.55/20 0} Nxd3 {+2.81/15 0} 44.
Ke2 {-3.32/16 0} Nb4 {+2.85/15 0} 45. h5 {-3.55/1 0} Rxb5 {+2.83/13 0} 46.
h6 {-3.54/1 0} Nd5 {+3.00/13 0} 47. Re8+ {-1.91/1 0} Kxe8 {+10.91/18 0} 48.
h7 {-2.19/1} Rb2+ {+10.76/19 0} 49. Ke1 {-1.33/1 0} Rh2 {+20.77/18 0} 50.
h8=R+ {-5.06/1 0} Rxh8 {+22.43/14 0} 51. Kd1 {-M12/24 0} Ke7 {+25.13/19 0}
52. Ke2 {-M10/25 0} Rh3 {+25.68/18 0} 53. Kd2 {-M11/23 0 Arena
Adjudication} 0-1
Click to expand: PGN SF18 vs Dirty CatPaw
Code snippet
[Event "WorlCup-2026 World Qualify"]
[Site "Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 3.20GHz 8GB RAM(DELL)"]
[Date "2026.02.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Stockfish 18 x64(AVX2-5Pct)"]
[Black "Dirty CatPaw x64(5Pct)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2026"]
[ECO "B19h"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann"]
[Time "22:26:43"]
[Variation "Classical, Spassky variation"]
[WhiteElo "2886"]
[TimeControl "9+0"]
[Termination "adjudication"]
[PlyCount "165"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8.
h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 {+0.45/19 0} Bxd3 {-1.46/15 0} 10. Qxd3 {+0.43/15 0} Ngf6
{-1.37/15 0} 11. Bf4 {+0.47/15 0} Nd5 {-1.42/14 0} 12. Bd2 {+0.79/14 0} e6
{-1.20/14 0} 13. O-O-O {+0.77/16 0} Bd6 {-1.04/13 0} 14. Ne4 {+0.89/16 0}
Bc7 {-0.90/14 0} 15. Kb1 {+0.86/17 0} a5 {-0.92/13 0} 16. c4 {+1.11/16 0}
N5f6 {-0.68/14 0} 17. a3 {+1.06/19 1} O-O {+0.07/12 0} 18. Nxf6+ {+1.06/15
0} Nxf6 {+0.22/14 0} 19. Qe2 {+1.03/14 0} b5 {-0.07/15 0} 20. g4 {+0.84/15
0} bxc4 {+0.63/14 0} 21. g5 {+0.77/17 0} hxg5 {+0.64/15 0} 22. Bxg5
{+0.78/15 0} Qd5 {-0.28/15 0} 23. h6 {+0.77/14 0} Qf5+ {0.00/14 0} 24. Ka1
{+0.86/14 0} g6 {-0.50/13 0} 25. Rc1 {+0.88/17 0} Nh7 {-0.74/15 0} 26. Bd2
{+1.20/18 0} Qd5 {-0.82/14 0} 27. Rxc4 {+1.69/14 0} Bd6 {-0.82/15 0} 28.
Rhc1 {+1.46/18 0} Rfd8 {-0.70/13 0} 29. Rxc6 {+1.78/14 0} Rab8 {-0.71/14 0}
30. Be3 {+1.67/18 1} Qh5 {-1.57/14 0} 31. R1c3 {+1.92/18 1} g5 {-0.64/12 0}
32. d5 {+1.92/15 0} exd5 {-1.04/13 0} 33. Ba7 {+2.60/15 0} Rb7 {-0.99/13 0}
34. Qa6 {+2.70/17 0} Rbd7 {-1.26/15 0} 35. Bb6 {+2.46/17 0} Rb8 {-1.26/14
0} 36. Bd4 {+2.37/15 0} Rbd8 {-1.64/11 0} 37. Bb6 {+2.46/14 0} Rf8
{-1.59/13 0} 38. Bxa5 {+2.39/14 0} d4 {-3.06/12 0} 39. Rd3 {+2.55/8 0} Be7
{-3.03/12 0} 40. Ka2 {+2.65/1 0} g4 {-3.47/12 0} 41. Nxd4 {+2.00/17 0} Qd5+
{-3.25/13 0} 42. b3 {+2.19/11 0} Qh5 {-3.25/12 0} 43. a4 {+2.69/15 0} Rd5
{-3.68/11 0} 44. Bc3 {+2.66/13 0} Rfd8 {-3.52/13 0} 45. Bb2 {+2.64/11 0}
Nf8 {-3.24/12 0} 46. Rc8 {+2.93/1 0} Bh4 {-3.65/13 0} 47. Rxd8 {+3.29/1 0}
Rxd8 {-4.32/12 0} 48. Nc6 {+2.57/1 0} Rxd3 {-4.63/13 0} 49. Qxd3 {+2.56/1
0} Qxh6 {-5.28/15 0} 50. Ne5 {+2.56/1 0} Qf4 {-4.59/12 0} 51. Qd1 {+3.05/16
0} Bxf2 {-5.20/13 0} 52. Nxg4 {+3.56/16 0} Bh4 {-4.99/14 0} 53. Be5
{+3.55/14 0} Qg5 {-5.64/14 0} 54. Bf6 {+3.53/12 0} Qh5 {-5.37/15 0} 55. Bb2
{+3.74/11 0} Nh7 {-5.40/14 0} 56. Qd7 {+3.69/15 0} Nf8 {-4.76/14 0} 57. Qd1
{+3.58/11 0} Nh7 {-5.40/15 0} 58. Qd7 {+3.69/1 0} Nf8 {-4.85/15 0} 59. Qd4
{+3.34/1 0} Ne6 {-4.64/14 0} 60. Nf6+ {+2.86/1 0} Bxf6 {-3.64/15 0} 61.
Qxf6 {+2.66/15 0} Kf8 {-3.54/15 0} 62. Ba3+ {+2.60/13 0} Kg8 {-3.36/16 0}
63. Bb2 {+2.53/16 0} Kf8 {-3.54/15 0} 64. Ba3+ {+2.49/11 0} Kg8 {-3.66/16
0} 65. Qe7 {+2.57/10 0} Qd5 {-3.84/13 0} 66. Qe8+ {+2.70/1 0} Kg7 {-3.88/14
0} 67. Bb2+ {+2.71/1 0} Kg6 {-3.91/14 0} 68. Qg8+ {+3.25/1 0} Kf5 {-4.14/14
0} 69. Qxf7+ {+3.12/1 0} Kg4 {-4.14/13 0} 70. Qg6+ {+3.36/1 0} Kh3
{-4.11/12 0} 71. Qc2 {+3.12/19 0} Nf4 {-4.74/12 0} 72. Qc4 {+3.36/12 0} Qd6
{-5.28/12 0} 73. a5 {+3.42/15 0} Nd5 {-5.30/12 0} 74. Bd4 {+3.42/1 0} Nb4+
{-5.40/11 0} 75. Ka3 {+3.27/1 0} Nc2+ {-0.49/14 0} 76. Ka4 {+0.56/1 0} Qd7+
{+15.46/15 0} 77. Qb5 {-0.06/1 0} Qxd4+ {+15.49/16 0} 78. b4 {-0.06/1 0}
Qa1+ {+15.21/16 0} 79. Kb3 {-0.56/1 0} Nd4+ {+15.21/15 0} 80. Kc4 {-4.53/1
0} Qf1+ {+15.21/14 0} 81. Kc3 {-199.96/32 0} Nxb5+ {+M496/12 0} 82. Kb3
{-199.94/21 0} Qd3+ {+M497/5 0} 83. Kb2 {-199.96/9 0 Arena Adjudication}
0-1
Click to expand: PGN SF18 vs Tcheran 11.0
Code snippet
[Event "WorlCup-2026 World Qualify"]
[Site "Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 3.20GHz 8GB RAM(DELL)"]
[Date "2026.02.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Stockfish 18 x64(AVX2-5Pct)"]
[Black "Sirius 9.0 x64(AVX2-5Pct)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2609"]
[ECO "B19h"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann"]
[Time "00:39:36"]
[Variation "Classical, Spassky variation"]
[WhiteElo "2886"]
[TimeControl "9+0"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "96"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8.
h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 {+0.45/19 0} Bxd3 {+0.04/18 0} 10. Qxd3 {+0.43/15 0} Qc7
{+0.07/18 0} 11. Bd2 {+0.61/14 0} Ngf6 {+0.07/18 0} 12. O-O-O {+0.59/15 0}
e6 {+0.34/16 0} 13. Ne4 {+0.61/14 0} a6 {0.00/21 2} 14. Kb1 {+0.50/22 2}
Rd8 {-0.03/19 0} 15. Nxf6+ {+0.53/18 1} Nxf6 {-0.21/17 0} 16. Qe2 {+0.40/17
0} b5 {+0.04/15 0} 17. c4 {+0.84/15 0} Be7 {+0.08/16 0} 18. Rc1 {+0.93/18
0} Qb7 {0.00/18 0} 19. g4 {+0.90/14 0} a5 {0.00/20 0} 20. d5 {+1.16/16 0}
cxd5 {+0.94/15 0} 21. cxb5 {+1.13/13 0} d4 {+0.85/16 0} 22. a4 {+0.76/16 0}
d3 {+0.51/17 0} 23. Qe3 {+0.69/14 0} Nxg4 {+0.63/16 0} 24. Qf4 {+1.17/14 0}
Nf6 {0.00/20 0} 25. Nd4 {+1.32/17 1} Bd6 {+1.50/16 0} 26. Qf3 {+1.39/15 0}
Ne4 {+1.28/16 0} 27. Bxa5 {+1.73/12 0} Bb4 {+4.18/16 0} 28. Ka1 {-2.43/17
0} Bxa5 {+2.82/15 0} 29. Nc6 {-2.43/13 0} Nd2 {+3.21/17 0} 30. Qg4
{-2.61/18 0} Nb3+ {+3.77/15 0} 31. Kb1 {-3.07/19 0} Nxc1 {+3.39/16 0} 32.
Rxc1 {-3.01/16 0} Qd7 {+3.44/17 0} 33. Rd1 {-3.31/16 0} d2 {+3.13/17 0} 34.
Qe4 {-3.11/14 0} Ra8 {+4.07/15 0} 35. b4 {-3.21/10 0} Bd8 {+3.88/15 0} 36.
Ne5 {-3.21/1 0} Qd5 {+4.60/18 0} 37. Qxd5 {-3.21/1 0} exd5 {+4.05/17 0} 38.
Rxd2 {-3.23/1 0} Rxa4 {+4.92/14 0} 39. Nc6 {-3.23/1 0} Bb6 {+4.92/15 0} 40.
Rxd5 {-2.38/1 0} O-O {+5.21/13 0} 41. Rf5 {-4.25/21 0} Rfa8 {+6.11/15 0}
42. f3 {-4.69/16 0} Ra1+ {+7.00/14 0} 43. Kc2 {-4.60/13 0} R8a3 {+8.23/15
0} 44. Ne7+ {-4.06/1 0} Kh7 {+9.30/15 0} 45. Rxf7 {-4.01/1 0} R1a2+ {+M6/29
0} 46. Kb1 {-4.00/1 0} Bd4 {+M4/56 0} 47. Rf8 {-3.12/1 0} Rb2+ {+M2/68 1}
48. Kc1 {-3.58/1 0} Ra1# {+M1/60 0} 0-1
Operating system
Windows
Stockfish version
Stockfish 18 x64(AVX2)