Torch vs Stockfish is the biggest rivalry in computer chess right now. Torch is Chess.com's own engine. Stockfish is the free, open-source engine that many chess sites use, ours included. On this page you can see their full head-to-head record in the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship and TCEC, their ratings side by side, and what "Torch Human" means in Chess.com Game Review. Then replay their games with our commentary, move by move, and watch our videos.
Tap a logo for the engine profile. Logos belong to the Stockfish project and Chess.com; shown only to name the engines.
Real games from the official CCC and TCEC files, explained move by move. In CCC and TCEC the first moves come from an opening book chosen by the organisers. Comments are ours; evaluations are from Stockfish at depth 18. Every board has Copy PGN and Analyse.
What to learn: A knight is worth less than open lines against a king with no defenders. Stockfish counted the attack, not the material. Watch this game explained on our YouTube channel.
Key idea: A passed pawn ties down the enemy pieces even if it is lost later. Torch used that time to wreck the black pawns.
What to learn: When a piece is trapped, sell it for the most you can get. Torch gave the a8 knight for a pawn and an open a-file.
What to learn: An exchange is only material. Torch kept its knight, bishop and a passed pawn, and those pieces were worth more than the extra rook.
Key idea: Two passed pawns far apart are very hard to stop: the defender cannot watch both sides of the board at once.
What to learn: A pawn on the 6th or 7th rank can be worth a piece. Stockfish gave a knight and later a rook to keep its pawns rolling.
11,250 games in 18 Chess.com CCC finals, July 2023 - October 2026. Stockfish won all 18 matches; Torch scored 42.0%.
Stockfish vs Torch videos from our channel, newest first. Tap to play.
More decisive Stockfish vs Torch games from the official CCC and TCEC files. Every board can play, flip, copy the PGN and open in the Analyser.
Torch is the chess engine made by Chess.com. It first played in the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCC) in 2023 under the name "Mystery". In July 2023 Chess.com showed who was behind it and called it the new number-two engine in the world, after Stockfish.
The team is a group of well-known engine authors: Andrew Grant (Ethereal), Finn Eggers and Kim Kåhre (Koivisto), Jay Honnold (Berserk) and Michael Whiteley and Dietrich Kappe (Komodo Dragon), with Mark Lefler and Larry Kaufman as advisors. The authors say all of its code is original.
Like Stockfish, Torch uses a fast search with a small neural network (NNUE) to judge positions. The difference is that Stockfish is open source and free to download, while Torch is closed: you can only use it on Chess.com. To learn how this kind of engine thinks, read how Stockfish works and neural network chess engines. Our profile page has more Torch games: Torch chess engine profile.
Since mid-2023 Stockfish and Torch have met in every bullet and blitz final of the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship, plus the rapid matches below. We counted every game of those finals from the official CCC game files: 18 matches and 11,250 games. A draw counts as half a point.
| Match | Date | Games | Torch wins | Draws | Stockfish wins | Score (Stockfish - Torch) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCC 20 Bullet Final (1+1) | Jul 2023 | 1000 | 55 | 610 | 335 | 640 - 360 |
| CCC 21 Blitz Final (3+2) | Aug 2023 | 500 | 45 | 306 | 149 | 302 - 198 |
| CCC 21 Rapid Alt Final (10+3) | Oct 2023 | 250 | 20 | 162 | 68 | 149 - 101 |
| CCC 21 Bullet Final (1+1) | Dec 2023 | 1000 | 99 | 640 | 261 | 581 - 419 |
| CCC 22 Blitz Final (3+2) | Jan 2024 | 500 | 50 | 332 | 118 | 284 - 216 |
| CCC 22 Rapid Alt Final (10+3) | Mar 2024 | 250 | 19 | 179 | 52 | 141.5 - 108.5 |
| CCC 22 Bullet Final (1+1) | May 2024 | 1000 | 105 | 649 | 246 | 570.5 - 429.5 |
| CCC 23 Blitz Final (3+2) | Jul 2024 | 500 | 100 | 213 | 187 | 293.5 - 206.5 |
| CCC 23 Rapid Alt Final (10+3) | Sep 2024 | 250 | 48 | 110 | 92 | 147 - 103 |
| CCC 23 Bullet Final (1+1) | Dec 2024 | 1000 | 163 | 488 | 349 | 593 - 407 |
| CCC 24 Blitz Final (3+2) | Jan 2025 | 500 | 94 | 212 | 194 | 300 - 200 |
| CCC 24 Rapid Alt Final (10+3) | Mar 2025 | 250 | 46 | 120 | 84 | 144 - 106 |
| CCC 24 Bullet Final (1+1) | May 2025 | 1000 | 184 | 497 | 319 | 567.5 - 432.5 |
| CCC 25 Blitz Final (3+2) | Oct 2025 | 500 | 103 | 241 | 156 | 276.5 - 223.5 |
| CCC 25 Rapid Final (10+3) | Jan 2026 | 250 | 55 | 109 | 86 | 140.5 - 109.5 |
| CCC 25 Bullet Final (1+1) | Feb 2026 | 1000 | 159 | 502 | 339 | 590 - 410 |
| CCC 26 Bullet Final (1+1) | Sep 2026 | 1000 | 219 | 467 | 314 | 547.5 - 452.5 |
| CCC 26 Blitz Final (3+2) | Oct 2026 | 500 | 120 | 238 | 142 | 261 - 239 |
| All 18 matches | 2023-2026 | 11250 | 1684 | 6075 | 3491 | 6528.5 - 4721.5 |
Counted from the official Chess.com CCC game files of each event. Rapid "Alt Final" = the extra 250-game match CCC held between Stockfish and Torch in seasons 21-24, while the main rapid final was Stockfish vs Leela.
Most games are draws, which is normal at this level. When a game is decisive, Stockfish wins about two out of three. In the newest matches the gap is smaller: in the CCC 26 Blitz final (October 2026) Torch won 120 games and Stockfish 142.
Torch joined the Top Chess Engine Championship (TCEC) in Season 29. TCEC games are much slower than CCC games, so every move is deeper. These are the official events where the two met (see TCEC explained):
| TCEC event | Date | Time control | Games | Torch wins | Draws | Stockfish wins | Score (Stockfish - Torch) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup 16 semifinal | Jan 2026 | 30 min + 3 s | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 6.5 - 3.5 |
| Season 29, Division P (games between the two) | Mar 2026 | 60 min + 6 s | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5.5 - 2.5 |
| FRD 5 final (Fischer Random) | May 2026 | 30 min + 3 s | 50 | 8 | 21 | 21 | 31.5 - 18.5 |
From the official TCEC game archive. Test games against handicapped Stockfish builds are left out.
Stockfish won Cup 16 and the Season 29 Superfinal (against Reckless, not Torch). In the Fischer Random FRD 5 event, Torch reached the final and lost to Stockfish.
Engine rating lists like CCRL let every engine play thousands of games on the same computer. Here are the facts side by side:
| Stockfish | Torch | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Open-source team (stockfishchess.org) | Chess.com team led by Andrew Grant |
| Source code | Open (GPL), free download | Closed; you use it on Chess.com |
| First version | 2008 | Torch 1.0, 17 July 2023 |
| Newest version | Stockfish 19 (September 2026) | Torch v4 / v4d on the CCRL lists |
| CCRL 40/15 rating (30 Oct 2026, 4 CPU) | Stockfish 18: 3649 (+/-12) | Torch v4d: 3639 (+/-12) |
| CCC finals vs each other (2023-2026) | 18 match wins | 0 match wins |
| TCEC titles | Season 29 champion (its 19th title) | Debut in Season 29; runner-up in FRD 5 |
CCRL numbers are from the CCRL 40/15 list "computed on October 30, 2026", best version of each engine. A rating gap of 10 points is inside the +/-12 error margin.
So on CCRL the two are very close. In direct matches with the newest builds, Stockfish has kept winning. Note that engine Elo is not the same as human FIDE Elo: see chess engine ratings explained. Our own Torch page in the engine gallery shows its games on a board.
Stockfish 19 came out in September 2026. The Stockfish team says it is up to 44 Elo stronger than Stockfish 18 in their tests. On the CCRL lists Torch is named Torch v4 and Torch v4d. In the CCRL broadcast games we have up to 30 October 2026 there is only one game between Torch v4d and Stockfish 19 (13 September 2026), and it was a draw. That is far too few games to measure anything.
TCEC plays development builds (for example "Stockfish dev-20260228"), and CCC lists the engines without version numbers. So the CCC 26 finals above (September and October 2026) are the best guide to how Torch does against a 2026 Stockfish.
Many people search for "Torch Human". It is not a separate engine that plays Stockfish in tournaments. On 5 March 2026 Chess.com changed its Game Review: it replaced Stockfish with Torch Human, "a modified version of Chess.com's Torch". Among the strongest moves, Torch Human picks the one that is most like what a human would play. Chess.com also wrote that, for now, you cannot choose between Torch Human and Stockfish in Game Review.
Torch Human or Stockfish, which should you use?
Not yet. Stockfish has won all 18 CCC finals against Torch since 2023. In TCEC it beat Torch in the Cup 16 semifinal and in the FRD 5 final, and it scored more in their Division P games. But Torch is the closest rival: on CCRL 40/15 it is only 10 points behind Stockfish 18, and in the newest CCC matches it wins more games than before.
For you as a player, both are far stronger than any human. You can play Stockfish 19 right here: play Stockfish 19 online, or study how people try to beat Stockfish.
No. Stockfish has won all 18 Chess.com CCC finals against Torch (2023-2026) and beat it in the TCEC Cup 16 semifinal. Torch is the closest rival.
Torch is Chess.com's own engine, built by a team led by Andrew Grant. Version 1.0 came out on 17 July 2023. It is closed source and you can use it on Chess.com.
On the CCRL 40/15 list of 30 October 2026, Torch v4d (4 CPU) is rated 3639 and Stockfish 18 (4 CPU) 3649, both +/-12.
Torch Human is a modified Torch that Chess.com uses in Game Review since March 2026. It suggests strong moves that look like human moves.
Torch Human is easier to learn from because its moves feel human. Stockfish shows the objectively best move. Use both for different jobs.
It has won many single games, for example 120 games in the CCC 26 Blitz final, but it has not won a CCC final or a TCEC knockout match against Stockfish.
Torch lives on Chess.com. Stockfish 19 is free right here: play it, or analyse your own games with it.
