Blog

  • Jane Street Capital Wins Season 10!

    Overview

    The tenth season of the North American Corporate Chess League came to an end this past Thursday, as Jane Street Capital put the final touches on a tremendous, dominant championship season. Jane Street scored a combined 58 out of a possible 72, a whopping ten points ahead of the rest of the field, with FMs Jacob Furfine and David Peng finishing as the top two players individually in the entire competition. Congratulations to Jane Street Capital for winning the tenth season of the North American Corporate Chess League!

    Team Standings

    Jane Street Capital very nearly led this competition wire-to-wire, with only Capital One enjoying a brief moment atop the standings following the second week of play. By the Halloween break, it was already clear a Herculean effort would be needed to catch Jane Street, and the team’s lead only increased as the competition went on. That’s for very obvious reasons: the four counted scores on the Jane Street team all came from titled players, each finishing within the top thirteen of the overall individual standings. To put this performance into perspective, the distance between second place and the two teams tying for tenth was 6.5 points, much less than the ten points separating second from first!

    Heading into the final week, the race for second place was much more hotly-contested, with at least four teams having a legitimate chance. By the slimmest of margins, Google (48 points) finished ahead of Ernst & Young (47.5 points), while DRW Holdings and Susquehanna finished fourth and fifth with 45.5 and 44.5 respectively. Databricks, Jump Trading, IBM, Capital One, NVIDIA, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers rounded out the top ten, with the latter two teams tying at 41.5 points for the tenth place plaque. 

    In addition to plaques to each team in the top ten, NACCL also awards prizes to the top two small companies (defined as under 250 employees). FPS Libations LLC finished as the top small company with 30 points, placing 26th overall, and not far behind was Flume Water with 28 points, winning the “second place small company” plaque. 

    See Team Standings Here

    Individual Standings

    In this author’s opinion, the biggest NACCL storyline heading into the competition’s final week was perhaps FM Jacob Furfine’s quest for perfection. Through five weeks of play, and fifteen total games, Furfine hadn’t even conceded so much as a draw, giving himself a commanding lead in the individual standings while also helping Jane Street take an equally commanding lead in the team standings. 

    It wasn’t quite meant to be, as on the first round on Thursday, Furfine was paired as black against another of the competition’s very strongest players: IM Craig Hilby of Capital One. The game is included below with light annotations. Each side had various chances, and perhaps black was winning for a moment, but ultimately it petered out to a solid draw which ended the streak at fifteen. Furfine won his final two games against experts Ravi Khanna and Ganesh Murugappan to finish with an incredible 17.5/18, easily winning the first place plaque for the individual standings. 

    Second place was again a much closer race than first, but it was Furfine’s teammate, FM David Peng, who won all three of his games on Thursday and emerged as the clear runner-up. Peng’s win against Joel Jaffe of Ernst & Young helped him pass FM Richard Chen of Databricks, who previously held second place but lost to Yury Volvovskiy of Google in the first round this past week. Both games are included below. 

    Peng’s final total was 15 points, just ahead of Chen at 14 in third place, as well as NM Andrew Lu of DRW Holdings and WIM Emily Nguyen of Jane Street who tied for fourth and fifth with 13.5 each. Places six-through-ten were the aforementioned Yury Volvovskiy, NM Sameer Mujumdar, IM Craig Hilby, Derek Jia, and Ganesh Murugappan, while Joel Jaffe, NM Quentin Moore, NM Christopher Yang, Shaktiprasad Shimpi, and Freddy Santos finished out the top fifteen, all receiving plaques for their impressive performances. 

    Our class prize winners:

    Experts: Yury Volvovskiy, Derek Jia, and Ganesh Murugappan

    Class A: Saikat Nath, Teddy Katz, and Bret Bryan

    Class B: Shaktiprasad Shimpi, Freddy Santos, and Akhil Goel

    Class C: Mark Morrison, Emma Sevastian, and Lucas Baker

    Class D: Ira McCray, Matthew Kent, and Aubrey Francisco

    Class E: Dan Reusz, James Gough, and Nicholas Lamping

    U1000: Samuel Johnson, Peter Edin, and Mynhardt Burger

    Unrated: Kyle Liu, Dulhan Waduge, and Saikishore Thiyyagura

    One final congratulations to the winning teams and individual competitors, and we hope it was a great experience for all who participated in season ten of the North American Corporate Chess League!

    See Individual Standings Here

    Game Analysis

    NM Dennis Norman annotates fun league games.

    Commentary and Lectures

    A special thanks to GMs Naroditsky and Troff for leading lectures and commentary!

    Season 11

    We hope to make season 11 bigger and better! More details to be annouced soon!

    Season 10 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 10, W5 – Jane Street Cruising

    Overview

    The North American Corporate Chess League season resumed this past Thursday after our Halloween break the previous week. Having led the event nearly wire-to-wire, Jane Street Capital currently has a commanding 6.5 point lead over second place Google heading into our final week of play.

    Team Standings

    A quick glance over Jane Street’s roster and individual results leaves no doubt about the secrets to the team’s success. Only five players in the entire competition (out of 474!) have scored at least 11.5 points, and three of them play for Jane Street. All four of Jane Street’s counted scores come from titled players, giving the team a whopping 48.5 points out of a possible 60. The distance between Jane Street and second place Google (6.5 points) is the same as the distance between Google and twelfth place Roblox (35.5 points).

    Although it might be tough for most teams to compete for first place with only one week left, the race for second is very tight. Google has perhaps the deepest lineup in the whole tournament, with a whopping eleven players on 9 points or more, and six on 10+. With somewhat different rules, such that more than just the top four individual scores counted for a team’s total, Google might have a great shot at first place overall. As it is, both Ernst & Young (41 points) and DRW Holdings (40 points) are within shouting distance of Google’s spot in second.

    Spots five through nine are held by Susquehanna, Jump Trading, Capital One, NVIDIA, PricewaterhouseCoopers, while Databricks and FINRA are tied for tenth with 36.5. With only 5.5 points separating tenth from second, these standings could look very different at the conclusion of play next week! Remember that the top ten teams in the final standings will receive plaques, as well as the top two small companies and the top law company.

    See Team Standings Here

    Individual Standings

    With one week left, FM Jacob Furfine of Jane Street remains the only player in the entire field with wins in every round of NACCL play. Furfine hasn’t missed a round and has a perfect 15/15, making him the overwhelming favorite for the top individual prize. Only FM Richard Chen of Databricks (12.5 points) and Furfine’s teammate FM David Peng (12 points) are even theoretically in reach. 

    The remaining players in the top five are NM Andrew Lu of DRW Holdings and WIM Emily Nguyen of Jane Street, each on 11.5. Yury Volvovskiy of Google is currently at 11 points, in clear sixth individually, while six players are tied behind him with 10.5 and another twelve have 10. All players finishing in the top fifteen individually will receive plaques, as well as the top three players in each rating class (i.e. 2000-2199, 1800-1999, etc.), the top three players under 1000, and the top three unrated players. 

    See Individual Standings Here

    Game Analysis

    NM Dennis Norman annotates fun league games.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Dennis a link to the game via lichess.

    Commentary and Lectures

    GM Kayden Troff commentated live, which you can replay here. GM Troff and GM Naroditsky will alternate the weekly Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    League Note

    This week October 28 – November 3 is a bye week as Thursday falls on Halloween. There will be no lecture or league games played this week.

    Season 10 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 10, W4 – Jane Street Maintains Lead

    Overview

    Four weeks into the North American Corporate Chess League season, Jane Street Capital reigns supreme. With 38.5 team points out of a possible 48, Jane Street currently stands four points ahead of second place as we near the midway point of the NACCL schedule. 

    Team Standings

    Jane Street has held the overall lead at the end of three of our four weeks of play, trailing briefly to Capital One at the end of Week Two. A team’s total score is comprised of the top four individual scores on the team across all weeks of play, so it’s no wonder Jane Street is in the lead, as all four of the top scorers on the team are titled players! FM Jacob Furfine, FM David Peng, WIM Emily Nguyen, and NM Christopher Yang have each contributed at least eight points for Jane Street, with Leonardo DiPerna also on eight points individually.

    Google currently sits in second place with 34.5 points, led by Bret Bryan with 9 out of a possible 12 (and a perfect score in his three games this past Thursday). Jump Trading, with 33 points, had a strong week and climbed from fifth last week to third place in the current standings. Ernst & Young and Susquehanna are currently tied for fourth and fifth place with 32 points each.

    Tied for sixth place are PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM, with 31.5 each, while Capital One, having led the overall standings two weeks ago, is now in clear eighth at 31 points. Five teams are tied for ninth-through-thirteenth place at 30.5 points: DRW Holdings, Databricks, Stripe, Roblox, and NVIDIA

    See Team Standings Here

    Individual Standings

    FM Jacob Furfine is still perfect, having won all twelve games so far in the NACCL season. No other player has over ten points, with Furfine’s teammate FM David Peng on 10 flat (also having scored a perfect 3/3 this past week). FM Richard Chen of Databricks, NM Andrew Lu of DRW Holdings, and Freddy Santos of AFS are each on 9.5 points.

    Five players have 9 points to round out the top ten: GM Andrey Baryshpolets of PWC, Daniel Prado of Ernst & Young, Bret Bryan of Google, Venkatasai Peram of Capital One, and Brian McCabe of HPE. All except for Peram won all three games on Thursday.  

    See Individual Standings Here

    Game Analysis

    NM Dennis Norman annotates fun league games.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Dennis a link to the game via lichess.

    Commentary and Lectures

    GM Kayden Troff commentated live, which you can replay here. GM Troff and GM Naroditsky will alternate the weekly Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    League Note

    This week October 28 – November 3 is a bye week as Thursday falls on Halloween. There will be no lecture or league games played this week.

    Season 10 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 10, W3 – Jane Street Back on Top

    Overview

    Through three weeks of NACCL play, the team that led after week one, Jane Street Capital, has retaken sole possession of first place! Entering this past round of play one point behind Capital One, Jane Street scored ten points out of a possible twelve this week to jump back to the top of the standings.

    Team Standings

    Jane Street’s resurgence was due to several individual star performances. In addition to FM Jacob Furfine (more on him below), Jane Street also benefited from the great results of FM David Peng and WIM Emily Nguyen, who combined for five wins in the six games this past week. With 30 points on the season, Jane Street has three points up on the rest of the field, as Google and IBM are currently tied for second place with 27 points each.

    NACCL Team standings are calculated by combining the scores of the top four players on a given team. Players who miss a week are credited with three half-point byes for their total, which may or may not remove them from the top four of their team’s roster. For instance, Capital One entered this past round with a narrow lead over Jane Street, thanks in part to a perfect score last week by IM Craig Hilby and a perfect overall score by Marco Flores. With both Hilby and Flores absent this week, each player only added 1.5 out of a possible three points to his respective total, with each remaining within the team’s top four. As a result, Capital One fell to fourth place with a still-impressive 26.5 points on the season.

    Jump Trading ranks fifth with 26 points, while Susquehanna and Stripe are tied for sixth at 25.5. DRW Holdings, headlined by NM Andrew Lu (8/9 individually) is currently in clear eighth with 24.5, and three teams are tied for ninth at 24: Ernst & Young, NVIDIA, and Accenture Federal Services.

    See Team Standings Here

    Individual Standings

    FM Jacob Furfine is the only player in the entire field with a perfect score, having won all nine rounds of the NACCL thus far. Meanwhile, the aforementioned NM Andrew Lu has 8/9, with a loss to Furfine last week but wins in all eight of his other games, including one annotated in the Game Analysis section below. 

    Marco Flores of Capital One was on 6/6 entering the week, but did not participate in Thursday’s games and credited with three half-point byes. Still, Flores has 7.5/9 individually, tied with FM Richard Chen of Databricks and Vladimir Gramigin of Jump Trading for third. The latter has also gone 6/6 in games played, receiving half-point byes in week two. Eleven other players currently have seven points, tying for sixth-through-sixteenth in the individual standings. 

    See Individual Standings Here

    Game Analysis

    NM Dennis Norman annotates fun league games.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Dennis a link to the game via lichess.

    Commentary and Lectures

    GM Kayden Troff commentated live, which you can replay here. GM Troff and GM Naroditsky will alternate the weekly Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    Season 10 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 10, W2 – Capital One Takes the Lead

    Overview

    With two weeks of play now in the books in the NACCL’s tenth season, Capital One reigns supreme! Team “CAP1” was among the group of teams tied for second following week one, but turned in a fantastic performance this week to jump to the top of the standings, narrowly ahead of second place Jane Street.

    Team Standings

    Jane Street was the only team with 12 points after last week’s games, putting themselves atop the standings, but now trail Capital One by a single point. In clear third place is NVIDIA, with 19.5, featuring three players on 5/6 through two weeks. Stripe and IBM each have 19 points, tying for fourth and fifth, while Google, Jump Trading, DRW Holdings, Databricks, and Susquehanna finish out the top ten. 

    Since a team’s score is taken from only the top four players, it may change over time whose scores are counted for a given team. This is true of Capital One, as IM Craig Hilby entered this week with 1.5/3 individually (having not played our first night, thus receiving three half-point byes) but went a perfect 3/3 in his games this week to give his team 4.5 points for the season. One of his games is included with annotations below.

    See Team Standings Here

    Individual Standings

    The only other individual 6/6 in the entire event so far, for any team, has been FM Jacob Furfine of Jane Street. In other words, only two out of the thirty players who posted perfect scores last week were able to duplicate their feat again this week! FM Richard Chen of Databricks and the aforementioned Matthew Kent of Capital One are next, with 5.5 points, while thirteen players have scored 5/6. 

    Also scoring 4.5 out of a possible 6 for CAP1 so far is Venkatasai Peram. Justin Li and Matthew Kent have 5 and 5.5 respectively, but the brightest star for the Capital One team has been Marco Flores, who has a perfect 6/6 individually, lifting CAP1 to 21 total on the season.

    See Individual Standings Here

    Game Analysis

    NM Dennis Norman annotates fun league games.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Dennis a link to the game via lichess.

    Commentary and Lectures

    GM Kayden Troff commentated live, which you can replay here. GM Troff and GM Naroditsky will alternate the weekly Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    Season 10 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 10 – Jane Street Capital Starts Strong

    Overview

    The tenth season of the North American Corporate Chess League kicked off this past Thursday evening, with a total of 468 players participating in three rounds of online rapid chess, representing 37 teams!

    The NACCL is an online recreational chess league for North American companies, with teams including at least four and as many as 15 players. Each Thursday night, players engage in three rounds of 10+2 rapid chess online, and each company team’s top four scores count towards the total. This season runs from October 3 all the way to the final games on November 14, with six weeks of play consisting of three rounds each (skipping Halloween Thursday!). Three Grandmasters, four IMs, five FMs, and numerous NMs and experts participated in the action this week.

    Team Standings

    Only one team had a perfect score across all four top boards on Thursday. That was Jane Street, led by FMs Jacob Furfine and David Peng, with identical ratings of 2418. Each scored a perfect 3/3, alongside Jesse Sun and Leonardo DiPerna. 

    Four teams finished Thursday’s rounds just behind Jane Street, scoring 11.5 out of a possible 12: Capital One, Stripe, Jump Trading, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. DRW Holdings is in clear sixth place with 11 points, while Roblox in seventh with 10.5, and IBM, Hewlett Packard, and NVIDIA rounding out the top ten with 10. 

    See Team Standings Here

    Individual Standings

    Thirty out of the 400+ participants are currently on 3/3 individually, with players vying for individual prizes as well as team titles. GM Andrey Baryshpolets of Pricewaterhouse Coopers was the only Grandmaster to finish with a perfect score, with many titled players dropping half or even full points to lower-rated opponents. Competition was fierce! Below you can find annotations for six of the top games from this past week, featuring players on top teams such as Jane Street, DRW Holdings, and Jump Trading. 

    See Individual Standings Here

    Game Analysis

    NM Dennis Norman annotates fun league games.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Dennis a link to the game via lichess.

    Commentary and Lectures

    GM Kayden Troff commentated live, which you can replay here. GM Troff and GM Naroditsky will alternate the weekly Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    Season 10 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 9 – Symetra Wins!

    Overview

    In championship week of the North American Corporate Chess League’s season 9, Symetra held onto their sturdy lead to secure their second consecutive title.  Former NACCL champions Capital One, Deloitte, Google, and the Susquehanna International Group also competed this year.

    Symetra tied their own record from last season, achieving 57.5 team points.  They were bolstered by four very strong titled players: GM Andrey Stukopin, GM Vladimir Belous, IM Yannick Kambrath, and IM Irakli Beradze.

    In second place was Jane Street, and Google finished in third place.  Rounding out the top 5 are PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young.
    Plaques are awarded to the top 10 teams (including those tied for 10th place), as well as the top two small companies (Major League Rugby and Arthur AI).  The full team standings and awards can be seen here.

    Individual Standings

    Symetra also dominated the individual standings, taking the top 3 spots (IM Irakli Beradze – 16 points, GM Andrey Stukopin – 15 points, GM Vladimir Belous – 14 points).  In a tie for fourth place were GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PwC) and FM David Peng (Jane Street).

    Plaques are engraved and mailed to the top 15 players overall, as well as top 3 in each rating category: Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, Class E, Under 1000, and Unrated.  Here are the top players in each rating category:

    • Top Expert: Yury Volvovskiy (Google)
    • Top Class A: Saikat Nath (Ernst & Young)
    • Top Class B: Adam Muhs (Jump Trading)
    • Top Class C: John Fashek (PwC)
    • Top Class D: Connor Watts (Databricks)
    • Top Class E: Dan Reusz (Segal)
    • Top Under 1000: Samuel Tournoff (DRW Holdings)
    • Top Unrated: Tyler Monbleau (Segal)

    See full individual standings and awards here.

    Game Analysis

    IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Kyron a link to the game via lichess. His account is @kyrongriffith

    Commentary and Lectures

    FM Peter Giannatos had the call on week 6 commentary, which can be replayed here.

    Season 9 Partners

    Season 10

    Season 10 promises to be even bigger and better. We plan on mixing up the format a bit to make the finals more exciting. Stay tuned for season 10 coming up in Fall 2024.

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 9, Week 5 – Symetra, Jane Street, Google vie for NACCL Title

    Overview

    After five weeks of the North American Corporate Chess League’s eighth season, Symetra maintains a sturdy lead in an otherwise competitive league leaderboard.

    With 48.5 team points, Symetra leads ahead of second place – Jane Street with 43 points.  In third place are previous champions Google (42 points), while PricewaterhouseCoopers (41.5) and Ernst & Young (40) round out the top 5.

    Symetra will vie for its second consecutive title, while PwC and Jane Street can all become brand NACCL champions.  Other previous NACCL champions include Google, Deloitte, Capital One, and the Susquehanna International Group.

    Check out the full team standings here.  The top four scores for each company make up the team score.

    Individual Standings

    At the sole lead of the individual standings is IM Irakli Beradze of Symetra with 14.5 points out of 15, just taking one bye on Thursday night but emerging victorious from his other games.In second place is GM Andrey Stukopin (Symetra) with 12.5 points, while GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PwC) and FM David Peng (Jane Street) are in third place with 11.5 points

    Game Analysis

    IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Kyron a link to the game via lichess. His account is @kyrongriffith

    Commentary and Lectures

    FM Gauri Shankar commentated live, which you can replay here. Don’t miss our final weekly improvement seminar with GM Ashwin Jayaram’s Monday at 8:00pm Eastern!

    Season 9 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 9, Week 4 – Symetra Maintains Lead above Jane Street, EY, PwC, Google

    Overview

    Week 4 of the North American Corporate Chess League’s Season 9 is in the books, with Symetra (41.5 points) maintaining a solid lead over Jane Street (36), Ernst & Young (35), Google (33.5), PricewaterhouseCoopers (32.5), and many other strong teams in the team standings.

    Symetra’s lead is not insurmountable, but they are certainly the team to beat in the final 2 weeks.

    Individual Standings

    In the individual standings, IM Irakli Beradze of Symetra maintained his winning ways, blazing to a perfect 12/12 score.  GM Andrey Stukopin (11 points) is in second place, followed by GM Vladimir Belous (Symetra) and Saikat Nath (EY) at 10 points.  In fifth place by himself is NM Matias Shundi (Jane Street) with 9.5 points.

    Game Analysis

    IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Kyron a link to the game via lichess. His account is @kyrongriffith

    League Puzzles

    SEE PUZZLES FROM WEEK 4 HERE

    Play a nice tactic in the league? Send it to Grant Oen @go2006

    Commentary and Lectures

    FM Gauri Shankar commentated live, which you can replay here. Don’t miss GM Daniel Naroditsky’s Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    Season 9 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]

  • Season 9, Week 3 – Symetra Maintains Lead above Jane Street, EY, PwC, Google

    Overview

    At the halfway mark of the North American Corporate Chess League’s ninth season, Symetra stands atop the leaderboard at an impressive 31.5 points.  This is an amazing score, bolstered by four very strong players on the Symetra team: GM Andrey Stukopin, GM Vladimir Belous, IM Irakli Beradze, and IM Yannick Kambrath.

    The star of the show is IM Beradze, who was the only player to start Thursday with a 6-0 score, and he was able to maintain perfection with wins over IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft), GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PricewaterhouseCooper), and NM Matias Shundi (Jane Street).  With a 9/9 score and having already faced many of the titled players in the league, Beradze seems to be an unstoppable force for Symetra.

    Many other top companies are by no means out of the race for first place.  There are many other strong players competing in season 9, who will be certain to make their presence remembered in the second half of the season.In second place is Jane Street, with 27.5 points.  With multiple titled players on their team, they will be the ones to watch to catch up to first place.  Tied for third place are Ernst & Young and PwC with 26 points, while Google rounds out the top 5 with 25 points.  The full team standings at “half time” can be seen here.

    Individual Standings

    In the individual standings, besides the aforementioned incredible performance by Irakli Beradze, GM Andrey Stukopin (Symetra) maintains an excellent score of 8.5/9, good for second place, while Saikat Nath (EY) is by himself in third place at 8 points.  There are many players with great performances just behind on 7.5 and 7 points.

    With so much to play for in the final three weeks, we expect the NACCL to continue producing very high-level games and results!

    Replay your games, your teammates’ games, or any other NACCL games here.

    Game Analysis

    IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

    If you feel as though you played an interesting game, please feel free to send Kyron a link to the game via lichess. His account is @kyrongriffith

    League Puzzles

    Play a nice tactic in the league? Send it to Grant Oen @go2006

    Commentary and Lectures

    FM Gauri Shankar commentated live, which you can replay here. Don’t miss GM Ashwin Jayaram’s Monday Chess Improvement lecture at 8:00pm Eastern!

    Season 9 Partners

    Follow the League

    Keep up with updates via this blog, our LinkedIn group, and Facebook page.

    Note: The NACCL does not spam its members via Linkedin messaging nor do we share personal contact information with any external companies. Should players, companies, or other entities wish to read out to us, please contact us at [email protected]