Category: Season 7

In a nail-biting finish of championship week of the North American Corporate Chess League’s season 7, Capital One held onto their narrow lead to secure the S7 title.  This is Capital One’s first title, and they join Deloitte, Google,and the Susquehanna International Group as NACCL champions.

Team Standings

Finishing with 51.5 points, Capital One’s team was led by IM Craig Hilby (15 points), Philip Yu (13 points), and a trio of players at 11.5 points: Nishanth Rajasekaran, Ryan Keiper, and Thao Nguyen.

With the top four players from each company constituting their team score, the team from Ernst & Young was just half a point behind at 51 points.  The EY team was led by valiant efforts from NM Mike Zaloznyy, NM Sameer Mujumdar, and Joel Jaffe (13 points) as well as Chandan Kumar (12 points).

Tied for third place were Google-A, Deloitte, and Jump Trading with 47 points.  Sixth place went to DRW Holdings, seventh place went to Accenture Federal Services, and three teams tied for eighth place: FINRA, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Google-B.

Plaques are awarded to the top 10 teams overall, as well as the top two small companies (Bedoukian Research Inc and Flume Water).  The full team standings and awards can be seen here.

Individual Standings

Finishing his wire-to-wire victory atop the individual standings was IM Craig Hilby, certainly the most integral part to Capital One’s victory.  While Craig’s individual gold was relatively secure in the final week, finishing in first place with 15.5 points out of 18, a last round loss to NM Sameer Majumdar of EY almost led to team disaster:

In the end, this upset wasn’t enough for EY to overtake Capital One, as IM Kyron Griffith (Lyft) swindled an important game against EY’s Krishnan Warrier which could have shifted the balance:

In second place was season 7’s sole Grandmaster – Andrey Baryshpolets, a recent candidate for FIDE President who works for PricewaterhouseCoopers.  GM Baryshpolets scored a sturdy 15 points for his team.

In a tie for third place with 13 points were: NM Mike Zaloznyy (EY), NM Sameer Mujumdar (EY), Philip Yu (Capital One), Joel Jaffe (EY), NM Andrew Lu (DRW Holdings), and Alan Surman (Hewlett Packard Enterprise).

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.  See full individual standings and awards 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

FIDE Master Gauri Shankar had the call on week 6 commentary, which can be replayed here Monday marked our final weekly improvement seminar with GM Daniel Naroditsky.

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

Season 8

Stay tuned for season 8 coming up in the fall of 2023! Dates to be published soon!

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]

Team Standings

After five weeks of the North American Corporate Chess League’s seventh season, Capital One maintains a narrow lead in a very competitive league leaderboard.

With 44 team points, Capital One is just ahead of second place Ernst & Young (42.5) and Google’s competitive squads – Google-A has 41 points, while Google-B has 40.5.  Rounding out the top 5 is Deloitte, with 39.5 points.

Capital One and EY would both be brand new NACCL champions, while Google, Deloitte, and the Susquehanna International Group have all tasted victory in previous seasons.

EY was helped in a big way when NM Mike Zaloznyy defeated GM Andrey Baryshpolets of PricewaterhouseCoopers on board 2 of round 15.

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 Craig Hilby of Capital One with 14 points out of 15, with 14 wins and a single loss against GM Baryshpolets, who is in second place at 12 points.  The aforementioned NM Mike Zaloznyy is in clear third place with 11.5 points, and there are many players tied for fourth place with 11 points, including titled players NM Francisco Guadalupe (Anduril Industries) and NM Andrew Lu (DRW Holdings).

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

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

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.

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]

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]