Category: NACCL News

Week 4 of the North American Corporate Chess League’s Season 7 is in the books, with Capital One capturing a small lead over Ernst & Young and 40+ other companies in the team standings.

Team Standings

The Capital One team is off to a great four weeks in the NACCL, taking a two-point lead into week 5.  They are led by IM Craig Hilby (11 points), Philip Yu (9.5), and several players with 8 points.  The top four scores are totaled to form the team score of 36.5 points for Capital One, but with Ernst & Young (34.5 points), Google-B (34), PricewaterhouseCoopers (33.5), and FINRA (33) just behind them.

There is all to play for in the final two weeks!  Check out the team standings here.

Individual Standings

In the individual standings, GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PwC) tops the leaderboard with 11.5 points out of 12, only eschewing a draw to IM Michael Bodek of Lyft.  In clear second place is IM Craig Hilby (Capital One) with 11 points (only losing in week 2 to GM Baryshpolets).  Tied for third place are Philip Yu (Capital One) and Noah Isaksen of Bloomberg Games with 9.5 points.

Game Analysis

IM Michael Bodek (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

If you feel as though you played an interesting game. Please feel free to send Michael a link to the game via lichess. His account is @mbodek

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

FM Gauri Shankar had the call on week 4 commentary, which can be replayed here.

GM Naroditsky and FM Shankar will alternative the Monday improvement lectures which are open to all players. Details sent via email.

Special Note – Fair Play

Unfortunately, the NACCL has already had to make a few fair play decisions with the support of lichess.  While we are a competitive league with team and individual prizes, please be reminded that any form of external assistance while playing is strictly against the spirit of this competition and will not be tolerated.

Although we only require Zoom for the top 10 boards, there is robust fair play detection at all levels of the league.  Do not risk your professional reputation by cheating in the NACCL.

Season 7 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]

At the halfway mark of the North American Corporate Chess League’s seventh season, major accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young stand atop the leaderboardat 28 team points.

While about 40% of Thursday’s first games (round 7) were affected by lichess server instability issues, the NACCL tournament directors and system operators have adjusted player scores in an equitable way.  Fortunately, lichess service returned in time for rounds 8 and 9 to be played perfectly fine.  We apologize for any inconvenience!

Team Standings

PwC is led by the sole Grandmaster in NACCL season 7 – GM Andrey Baryshpolets – with a perfect 9 points, as well as Will Larson (7), Michael Giampa (6), and Kyle Tebelman (6).

EY is led by Samuel Huff (8 points), Krishnan Warrier (7), Joel Jaffe (6.5), and Jamal Nusrallah (6.5).

In third place are Capital One, just a point behind the leaders at 27 points.  Tied for 4th place at 26 points are Google-B, Airbnb, and Lyft.  The full team standings at “half time” can be seen here.

Individual Standings

In the individual standings, the aforementioned GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PwC) retains his perfect score of 9/9.  Tied for second place with 8 points are IM Craig Hilby (Capital One) and Samuel Huff (Ernst & Young).  Rounding out the top places with 7.5 points are IM Michael Bodek (Lyft), Zijun Zhou (Airbnb), Haoyang Yu (Citadel Securities), and Elias Mera (Airbnb).

In addition to team prizes, there are plenty of individual prizes to play for in every season of the NACCL, including rating-based prizes which allow players of any skill level to win a plaque!

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

Game Analysis

IM Michael Bodek (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

If you feel as though you played an interesting game. Please feel free to send Michael a link to the game via lichess. His account is @mbodek

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

FM Gauri Shankar commentated live on week 3, which you can replay here.

GM Naroditsky and FM Shankar will alternative the Monday improvement lectures which are open to all players. Details sent via email.

Season 7 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]

After 2 weeks of the North American Corporate Chess League’s seventh season, we have a trio of teams at the top of the leaderboard.  This is particularly exciting as this is the NACCL’s largest season with 43 teams and 550+ players.  The NACCL has maintained itself as the largest corporate chess league in the world.

With a simple online check-in process and no downloads, roster submissions, memberships, or powerhouse chess teams from within the industry, the NACCL is very accessible and straightforward, meanwhile emphasizing engagement, team building, and the popularization of chess.

Team Standings

At the top of the team standings are Capital One, Deloitte (Season 4 Champions), and Ernst & Young, each with 19 team points out of a maximum score of 24, indicating the strong level of competition.

Capital One is led by three players at 5 points out of 6: IM Craig Hilby, Chris Yarger, and Weston Wright.  Deloitte similarly has two players with 5 points in Cristhian Ortiz and Alexander Williams, while EY is led by Samuel Huff, Jamal Nusrallah, and Chandan Kumar (5.0/6).

A reminder that the NACCL format gathers the top four individual scores within a company’s team to form the team score.  Accelerated pairings are used in the early rounds to promote close game matchups.

The teams tied for first place are not the only story!

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Red Ventures, and the Susquehanna International Group are on their tails at 18.5 points, just half a point behind.  Rounding out the top 11 spots are Citadel Securities, Jump Trading, IBM, Anduril Industries, and DoorDash with 18 points.  The only thing that is clear is that there’s plenty of competition coming in future weeks!

Individual Standings

In the individual standings, two players are out to a perfect 6/6 start – GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Haoyang Yu (Citadel Securities).  They are slated to play against each other this week, as are the two players on a 5.5/6 score – NM Andrew Lu (DRW Holdings) and Deepak Nair (IBM).

There are many players on a very respectable 5/6 score, including titled players IM Craig Hilby (Capital One) and NM Francisco Guadalupe (Anduril Industries).  In addition to team prizes, there are plenty of individual prizes to play for in every season of the NACCL, including rating-based prizes which allow players of any skill level to win a plaque!

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

Game Analysis

IM Michael Bodek (Lyft) annotates 4 games every week.

If you feel as though you played an interesting game. Please feel free to send Michael a link to the game via lichess. His account is @mbodek

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

FM Gauri Shankar commentated live on week 2, which you can replay here.

GM Naroditsky and FM Shankar will alternative the Monday improvement lectures which are open to all players. Details sent via email.

Season 7 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]

Welcome to season 7 of the North American Corporate Chess League!

While the NACCL continues to be the largest corporate chess league in the world, season 7 has broken all previous records with an amazing turnout.  As of week 1, 43 teams and 548 players are signed up – a record by both counts.

There are many returning teams including previous champions Susquehanna International Group (SIG) (Season 1 Champions), Google (Seasons 2, 3, 5, 6 Champions) and Deloitte (Season 4 Champions).  There are also many new teams and hundreds of new players.

The NACCL features an inclusive and easy-to-understand format.  With a median rating in the 1300s, an overwhelming number of the players in the league are casual players, but they are joined by GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PricewaterhouseCoopers), IM Michael Bodek (Lyft), IM Craig Hilby (Capital One), IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft), as well as many FIDE Masters and National Masters.

The top four scores from each company comprise a team’s score, so recreational players can compete without the fear that they are “bringing down” their colleagues.  There are also individual standings and prizes, plus weekly chess improvement seminars for all participants.

With a simple online check-in process and no downloads, roster submissions, memberships, or powerhouse chess teams from within the industry, the NACCL is very accessible and straightforward, meanwhile emphasizing engagement, team building, and the popularization of chess.

On Thursday night, 404 of the 548 players checked in for week 1, which for the first time featured 3 rapid games (10 minutes plus 2 second increment per move).  400+ players is also the NACCL record for players competing in a given week!

As is the nature of rapid games, there were a few upsets up and down the crosstable.  Many strong players did not get through 3 rounds unscathed.

Team Standings

In the team standings, just one team scored the maximum 12 points out of 12 – IBM!  They are in clear first place after four players scored the maximum 3 points on opening night – Billy Vidar, Karthik Palaniappan, Deepak Nair, and Ilyas Essouriani.

Google-A, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Airbnb, and Auduril Industries are just behind with 11 team points, while FINRA, Accenture Federal Services, and Deloitte have 10.5 points.  This is certainly the most competitive season yet.

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

Individual Standings

In addition to team prizes, the NA Corporate Chess League offers individual prizes for the top performers.  39 players move to 3-0 on the individual standings, but with an accelerated pairing system and closer matchups coming up in week 2, the number of perfect scores will be whittled down quickly.  Players who skip an early week earn half point “byes” so as to help their team a bit even if they must miss a few weeks.

Game Analysis

IM Michael Bodek (Lyft) annotates 4 games.

If you feel as though you played an interesting game. Please feel free to send Michael a link to the game via lichess. His account is @mbodek

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

Coming soon!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

FM Gauri Shankar commentated live on week 1’s games, which you can replay here.

GM Naroditsky and FM Shankar will alternative the Monday improvement lectures which are open to all players. Details sent via email.

Season 7 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]

In championship week of the North American Corporate Chess League’s season 6, Google held onto their narrow lead to secure the S6 title.  This is Google’s fourth title, having also won in seasons 2, 3, and 5.

Team Standings

Finishing with 34 points, Google’s team was led by FM Richard Chen (9 points), Lambert Liu / Lasha Lakirbaia (8.5), and a trio of players at 8 points: Michael Quist, Joseph Arasin, and Yash Shah.  With the top four players from each company constituting their team score, season 4 champions, Deloitte were only a point back at 33 points.  Deloitte’s players surely outperformed their ratings, as they were the only top team without a titled player – Benjamin Blium was their top scorer with 9 points.

Tied for third place with 32 points are DRW Holdings and Jump Trading, led by NM Nicholas Desmarais (9 points) and Sam Kater (8.5 points), respectively.  Rounding out the top 5 teams was Jane Street (31.5 points), topped by Srisa Changolkar and NM Christopher Yang at 8.5 points.

Plaques are awarded to the top 10 teams overall, as well as the top IT company (Google), top Financial Services company (DRW Holdings), top law company (Sullivan & Cromwell), top small companies (under 250 employees – Zelus Analytics and Cibo Technologies).  The full team standings and awards can be seen here.

Individual Standings

Finishing his wire-to-wire victory atop the individual standings was IM Michael Bodek of Lyft, who scored 10 points out of 12 games.  In addition to 2 half-point byes for a skipped week, Michael drew top seed GM Andrey Baryshpolets and Lasha Lakirbaia, but won his other 8 games to clinch first place.

In second place was GM Andrey Baryshpolets of PricewaterhouseCoopers with 9.5 points – who won all his games except for a round 9 draw with IM Bodek, but as he needed to skip two weeks, Baryshpolets ends up with the second-place plaque.

Tied for third place with 9 points are:

• NM Nicholas Desmarais (DRW Holdings)
• FM Richard Chen (Google)
• Max Hofmann (Sullivan & Cromwell)
• Benjamin Blium (Deloitte)
• NM Atulya Vaidya (Capital One)

The top 9 players in the individual standings represent different companies, a true testament to how diverse the NACCL is, and how many teams and players were in contention for both the individual and team awards.

Plaques are engraved and mailed to the top 10 players overall, as well as top 5 in the Under 2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, U1200, and Unrated categories.  See full individual standings and awards here.

Kyron’s Corner

IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games each week of the NACCL. See those games with his comments below:

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

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

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

Season 6 Partners

Season 7

Season 7 will be scheduled to start in Q1 of 2023. Stay tuned for more details!

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]

After 5 weeks of the North American Corporate Chess League’s sixth season, Google leapfrogged previous frontrunners Deloitte to top the leaderboard with 31 points.  The Google squad is led by NM Richard Chen and Lasha Lakirbaia (8 points) plus Kathan Shukla and Justin Kunkel at 7.5 points.  Google won the NACCL in season 2, 3, and 5, and will look to close out season 6 in the final week.

Season 4 Champions, Deloitte, are in second place with 29 points.  Rounding out the top 10 teams are:

• 3rd Place: Lyft – 28 points
• 4th-5th Place: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Prometheus Group – 27.5
• 6th-7th Place: Jump Trading and DRW Holdings – 27
• 8th Place: Jane Street – 26.5
• 9th Place: Accenture Federal Services – 26
• 10th Place: FINRA – 25.5

None of the teams ranked 3rd through 10th place have taken down a NACCL title, and undoubtedly that will be the goal for these strong players and teams in week 6.

Check out the full team standings here.

Individual Standings

At the sole lead of the individual standings is IM Michael Bodek of Lyft with 8.5 points out of 10 – his only “blemishes” are two skipped rounds (half-point byes) and a hard-fought draw against GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PWC).  Putting up a strong performances and entering week 6 tied for 2nd-6th places are NM Richard Chen (Google), Benjamin Blium (Deloitte), Max Hofmann (Sullivan & Cromwell), Artem Beer (Deloitte), and Lasha Lakirbaia (Google).

With many team and individual prizes and such tight competition, there is everything to play for in the final week!

Kyron’s Corner

IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games each week of the NACCL. See those games with his comments below:

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

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

FIDE Master Gauri Shankar had the call on week 5 commentary, which can be replayed here.  Monday is our final weekly improvement seminar with GM Daniel Naroditsky.

Season 6 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]

Week 4 of the North American Corporate Chess League’s Season 6 is in the books, with Deloitte maintaining a small lead over Google and Prometheus Group in the team standings.

The season 4 champions, Deloitte, are led by Benjamin Blium (7 points), Eddie Szmigielski (7), Surabhi S (6), Sudheer Katukuri (6), and Artem Beer (6).  The top 4 scores are totaled to form the team score of 26 points for Deloitte, but with Google (24 points), the Prometheus Group (24), Lyft (23.5), and Jump Trading (23) just behind them, there is all to play for in the final weeks.

Check out the team standings here.

Individual Standings

In the individual standings, six players top the leaderboard with 7 points out of 8:

• IM Michael Bodek (Lyft)
• Sam Kater (Jump Trading)
• Benjamin Blium (Deloitte)
• Justin Conran (Prometheus Group)
• Eddie Szmigielski (Deloitte)
• Max Hoffman (Sullivan & Cromwell)

In seventh place by himself is IM Kyron Griffith of Lyft, with 6.5 points, and there is a huge contingent of players on 6 points, topped by GM Andrey Baryshpolets of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Kyron’s Corner

IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games each week of the NACCL. See those games with his comments below:

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

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

NACCL Director FM Peter Giannatos had the call on week 4 commentary, which can be replayed here. 

Each Monday is our weekly improvement seminar with GM Daniel Naroditsky which is free for all NACCL participants and is well-received by players of all levels.

Season 6 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]

At the halfway mark of the North American Corporate Chess League’s sixth season, Deloitte overtook Google’s early lead.

Deloitte is a familiar face in the NACCL, finishing 3rd place in season 1, 2nd place in season 2, and 3rd place in season 3 before clinching their first title in season 4.  They lead the team standings with 21 points, with Eddie Szmigielski (6 points), Benjamin Blium (5), Surabhi S (5), and Patrick Szymkowicz (5) contributing to the team score as the company’s top 4 players.

Tied for second place are Google and the Prometheus Group at 19.5 points.  Rounding out the top five are Jump Trading (19 points) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (18.5 points).

Individual Standings

In the individual standings, just three players remain at a perfect 6 points – Sam Kater of Jump Trading, Brian McCabe of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Eddie Szmigielski of Deloitte.  They are followed by a huge pack of players at 5 points, most notably GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PricewaterhouseCoopers), IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft), IM Michael Bodek (Lyft), FM Ethan Li (Susquehanna International Group), and FM Andrey Krasnov (Jump Trading).

Kyron’s Corner

IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games each week of the NACCL. See those games with his comments below:

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

NACCL Director FM Gauri Shankar had the call on week 3 commentary, which can be replayed here. 

Each Monday is our weekly improvement seminar with GM Daniel Naroditsky which is free for all NACCL participants and is well-received by players of all levels.

Bye Week

Next week will be a break week for our players and teams to enjoy Thanksgiving, but we will resume with the second half of NACCL’s season 6 on Thursday, December 1.

Season 6 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]

In week 2 of the North American Corporate Chess League’s sixth season, Google overtook the sole lead with 16 points out of 16.  Google is a familiar face to long-time NACCL fans and players, as they are the only repeat champions, having won Season 2, Season 3, and Season 5.

“Checking in” for a week means that you be paired for 2 rapid games played at a time control of 15 minutes + 5 second increment.  Players skipping rounds will receive up half point “byes” for games they miss throughout the season.

What sets the NACCL apart from other leagues is that all players must work for their company, so there are no professional chess players.  However, the competition is always quite strong, with many titled players (Grandmasters, International Masters, FIDE Masters, and National Masters) at the top of the list.

Individual Standings

In the individual standings, 12 players from 9 companies move to a perfect 4-0 start, including IM Michael Bodek of Lyft and FM Ethan Li (SIG).  In addition to players from Lyft, SIG, Google, Deloitte, and the Prometheus Group, Sam Kater (Jump Trading), Brian McCabe (Hewlett Packard Enterprise), Sutter Hill (Milliman), and Seth Wacks (Sullivan & Cromwell) are also perfect through week 2.

With 3.5 points and tied for 13th place are FM Andrey Krasnov (Jump Trading), NM Andrew Lu (DRW Holdings), and Ozan Adiguzel (Zelus Analytics).  With accelerated pairings still in effect, lots of movement is expected in future weeks.

Team Standings

After four rounds, only Google remains at a perfect team score of 16 points.  The top 4 players per company form the team score, and their squad of Lambert Liu (rated 2021), Michael Quist (1673), Harshil Patel (1435), and Joseph Arasin (1323)started off with perfect 4-0 scores.

Tied for second place is the season 4 NACCL Champions, Deloitte, with 13 points.  Eddie Szmigielski (1371) tops the Deloitte squad with a perfect 4 points, while several players with 3 points are right behind him.  Also tied for second place with 13 points are newcomers in the Prometheus Group, with Haston Guess (952) as their headliner with 4 points.

In a tie for 4th-6th place are DRW Holdings, Susquehanna International Group (inaugural champions), and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, each with 12.5 points.  Full team standings can be found here.

Kyron’s Corner

IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games each week of the NACCL. See those games with his comments below:

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

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

NACCL Director FM Peter Giannatos had the call on week 2 commentary, which can be replayed here. 

Each Monday is our weekly improvement seminar with GM Daniel Naroditsky which is free for all NACCL participants and is well-received by players of all levels.

Season 6 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]

Thursday evening, the North American Corporate Chess League returned for season 6.  With 422 players representing 37 company teams, the NACCL continues to be the largest corporate chess league in the world!

All three of the previous NACCL champions have returned to seek another title: Susquehanna International Group (SIG) (Season 1 Champions), Google (Seasons 2, 3, and 5) and Deloitte (Season 4).  As always, there are many new teams and hundreds of new players.

The league features an inclusive and easy-to-understand format.  An overwhelming number of the players in the league are casual hobbyists, but they are joined by a strong internationally titled players who have a professional job: GM Andrey Baryshpolets (PricewaterhouseCoopers), GM Andrew Tang (SIG), IM Michael Bodek (Lyft), IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft), FM Ethan Li (SIG), FM Andrey Krasnov (Jump Trading), FM Igor Tsyganov (DRW Holdings) as well as many National Masters.

The top four scores from each company comprise a team’s score, so amateur players can compete and contribute to their team’s score just as much as masters.  There are also individual standings and prizes, plus weekly chess improvement seminars for all participants.

With a simple online check-in process and no downloads, rosters, memberships, or powerhouse chess teams from within the industry, the NACCL is very accessible and straightforward, meanwhile emphasizing engagement, team building, and the popularization of chess.

Individual Standings

310 of the 422 players checked in for week 1, which consisted of two games of 15+5 (15 minutes plus 5 second increment per move) played on lichess.org.  As always, there were several upsets, including a few masters (2200+) who did not get through 2 rounds unscathed.

66 players move to 2-0, but with an accelerated pairing system and closer matchups coming up in week 2, the number of perfect scores will be reduced quickly.  Players who skip an early week earn half point “byes” to help their team a bit even if they must miss a week or two.  With both Grandmasters (Tang and recent FIDE President candidate Baryshpolets) yet to enter the fray, there is a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Team Standings

Although there are individual awards, the NACCL is primarily a team competition.  In the team standings after round 1, four teams scored the maximum 8 points – Google, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Sullivan & Cromwell.

The Prometheus Group are just behind with 7.5 team points, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Auduril Industries are tied for 6^th place with 7 points.  With just four teams on a perfect score and many right behind them, this looks to be the most competitive season yet.

Kyron’s Corner

IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) annotates 4 games each week of the NACCL. See those games with his comments below:

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

Peter’s Puzzlers

FM Peter Giannatos provides puzzles from games played in the NACCL. These are great tactical warmups and you never know when your game will appear here!

If you had an interesting tactic in your game. Please feel free to send Peter a link to the game via lichess. His account is @Giannatos

Commentary and Lectures

FM Peter Giannatos commentated live on week 1’s games, which can be replayed here.   Each Monday is our weekly improvement seminar with GM Daniel Naroditsky.

Season 6 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]