Category: Season 6

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]