Overview
After week 2 of the North American Corporate Chess League’s eighth season, Symetra established an early lead. The defending champions, Symetra is led by four very strong players who represent the Washington-based insurance subsidiary: GM Andrey Stukopin, GM Vladimir Belous, IM Irakli Beradze, and IM Yannick Kambrath. With 22 points already, Symetra will surely be the team to beat in the final four weeks.
In second place with 19 points are Jane Street, a recent powerhouse team led by FM Jacob Furfine, FM David Peng, NM Christopher Yang, and NM Matias Shundi. As Jane Street have never won an NACCL title, with tough matchups ahead, there is plenty of hope for the strong aspirers.
Also with 19 points are previous champions Google, topped by strong performances by Ravi Khanna and Thanga Manickam. In a tie for 4th place with 18.5 points are three teams who are chasing their first NACCL title: Jump Trading, DRW Holdings, and Lyft. Many other strong teams round out the top ten – see the current team standings here.
The NACCL’s 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.
Individual Standings
In the individual standings, just one player is off to a perfect score of 6/6 – Symetra’s Irakli Beradze, but the cadre of strong titled players with 5.5 and 5 points is no less impressive. 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 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 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]