Caruana, So Pack One-Two Punch In Atlantic Division
Atlantic Division
- Saint Louis Arch Bishops vs. London Lions: 10.5-5.5
- New York Marshalls vs. Montclair Sopranos: 9-7
- Webster Windmills vs. Miami Champions: 9.5-6.5
- Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers vs. Montreal Chessbrahs: 5.5-10.5
Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So Cheerlead Arch Bishops to Victory
With Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So on boards one and two, the Saint Louis Arch Bishops need only solid production on boards three and four to win their matches. The got more than that this week as both Hans Niemann and Nicholas Rosenthal scored 2/4. Niemann even upset the Lions board one.
The Liions can be happy with their 9-year-old board, Shreyas Royal, four who scored a point in his opener.
In addition to playing well, Caruana and So were active in chat, supporting their team. IM Daniel Rensch observed that they were both great team leaders and team cheerleaders. Twitter user clawell69 provided photographic support for this visual.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Saint Louis Arch Bishops vs. London Lions
| Lions | Arch Bishops | Fabiano Caruana | Wesley So | Hans Niemann | Nicholas Rosenthal | 10.5 |
| Romain Edouard | 2.5 | |||||
| Sergei Movsesian | 2 | |||||
| Justin Tan | 0 | |||||
| Shreyas Royal | 1 | |||||
| 5.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||
Marshalls Debut with Crosstown Win
The New York Marshalls came out ahead in a tight match against their crosstown rivals, the Montclair Sopranos. Both teams demonstrated depth in their lineup, with good scores on their lower boards. In fact, the Sopranos got their best score on board four from Carissa Yip.
However, the Sopranos were not able to score on board one as GM Alexander Lenderman, a star in 2018, was only able to score 1.5.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | New York Marshalls vs. Montclair Sopranos
| Sopranos | Marshalls | Anton Demchenko | Sergei Azarov | Khamrakulov Djurabek | Grant Xu | 9 |
| Aleksandr Lenderman | 1.5 | |||||
| Firouzja Alireza | 2 | |||||
| Oliver Barbosa | 1.5 | |||||
| Carissa Yip | 2 | |||||
| 7 | 2.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 1 | ||
Webster Windmills Blow Miami Champions Away
Both the Webster Windmills and the Miami Champions got their best scores on board two. Unfortunately for the Champions, the Windmills Nyzhnyk scored the first 4/4, outscoring Iturrizaga by a point. Here's his exciting victory against his counterpart.
The Champions also suffered on board one as SP Sethuraman only scored one point. He both suffered from a poor internet connection and a late hour as it was quite early in the morning in India while he was playing.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Webster Windmills vs. Miami Champions
| Champions | Windmills | Le Quang Liem | Illia Nyzhnyk | Aleksandr Shimanov | Joshua Grabinsky | 9.5 |
| S P Sethuraman | 1 | |||||
| Eduardo Iturrizaga | 3 | |||||
| Alexander Katz | 1.5 | |||||
| Yan Miellier | 1 | |||||
| 6.5 | 2.5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
Montreal Chessbrahs Enact Vengeance Against Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers
The Montreal Chessbrahs are back with a vengeance! After getting relegated last year, they requalified and defeated the Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers with a round to spare. Ivan Saric scored big on board one, getting the second perfect score in the division, but perhaps even more exciting for Chessbrah fans was the 3.5/4 that Hansen scored on board three. Seeing the original "brah" in great form must inspire their supporters.
Here is Hansen's exciting win against GM Alex Shabalov.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers vs. Montreal Chessbrahs
| Chessbrahs | Pawngrabbers | Awonder Liang | Alexander Shabalov | Levan Bregadze | Atulya Shetty | 5.5 |
| Ivan Saric | 4 | |||||
| Robin van Kampen | 2.5 | |||||
| Eric Hansen | 3.5 | |||||
| Brandon Eshleman | 0.5 | |||||
| 10.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
