After five weeks of the North American Corporate Chess League’s second season, longtime frontrunners Google seem to have amassed a decisive lead with 32.5 points, though their lead is certainly not insurmountable.
With only 2.5 points separating second and tenth place, there is a lot to play for in the final week. Prizes are not only awarded to the top 10 teams, but also the top 2 small companies (<50 employees), top financial service company, top IT company, and top law company.
In addition to the team prizes, there are 45 individual prizes up for grabs!
- Top 15 Overall
- Top 10 Under 1700
- Top 10 Under 1100
- Top 10 Unrated
As we prepare for the NACCL’s final two games, there is still so much to play for, as both the team and individual standings are subject to major changes in week 6. Although Google has a commanding lead, surprises are still very possible.
Standings
Team Standings after Week 5
| Rank | Team | Team Points | Top Scorer |
| 1 | 32.5 | Benjamin Stern (9.0 points) | |
| 2 | Deloitte | 29.0 | NM Saumil Padhya (8.0) |
| 3 | Qualcomm | 28.5 | Peter Bisgaard (8.0) |
| 4 | DRW | 28.5 | NM Nicholas Desmarais (8.0) |
| 5 | Jump Trading | 28.0 | FM Andrey Krasnov (7.5) |
| 6 | AirBnb | 28.0 | Janusz Kudelka (7.5) |
| 7 | SIG | 28.0 | Andy Lee (7.5) Kenny He (7.5) |
| 8 | Wells Fargo | 27.5 | GM Ashwin Jayaram (7.5) David Stamper (7.5) |
| 9 | Lyft | 27.5 | FM Kyron Griffith (8.5) |
| 10 | Uber | 26.5 | Punit Agrawal (7.5) |
At the top of the individual standings is Google’s Benjamin Stern (9 points), who has won all 8 of his games in addition to two “half point byes” for missing week 1. Stern upset the top-rated player (GM Ashwin Jayaram) in round 10, but will surely face two very strong opponents in week 6.
Just behind Stern are NM Sameer Mujumdar of Ernst & Young and FM Kyron Griffith of Lyft with 8.5 points, and they are followed by a pack of five players at 8 points. See the individual standings here.
*New Feature* – Check out our new “Head to Head” feature which compiles the scores and games of company matchups.
Games
In a critical round 10 game, the top rated players from Lyft and Google faced off, with Lyft’s FM Kyron Griffith winning in an up-and-down game over Google’s Chuanqi Shen (2303) which proved important for Lyft’s chances to reach the leaderboard.
In addition to games between Masters, the NACCL has plenty of entertaining games in the middle of the pack, where due to the rapid time control of 15+5, blunders happen all the time. In this game between Vikram Raja (Torchlight Investors) vs Sean Yu (Jump Trading), the game was never quite over until it was over:
Commentary and Lectures
With just one week left, the NACCL standings could not be more exciting – re-watch FM Peter Giannatos’ commentary here.
Coming up on Monday is the last weekly improvement seminar, featuring GM Daniel Naroditsky.
The last “Chess and Business” Seminar with GM Mauricio Flores Rios was well received by all.
See weekly newsletter for video replay links (NACCL Participants Only).
Weekly Tactics Test
Special Thanks
A very special thanks goes to New In Chess Magazine for sponsoring a free digital copy of their two most recent editions to all of players in the league.
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