PRO Chess League Atlantic Division Power Rankings: Week 9

PRO Chess League Power Rankings

Week 9: Atlantic Division

The final head-to-head matches are in the books now as the PRO Chess League season nears its end, end we still don’t know how the Atlantic Division will shake out! The Marshalls and Arch Bishops are still fighting for the top spot in the division, and since the Bishops lost and the Marshalls won, the Marshalls made up some ground. The 3rd and fourth seeds are also very much up for grabs with the Windmills drawing the Pawngrabbers and the Chessbrahs beating the Sopranos. Lastly, we still don’t know which two teams will get relegated, though Miami sure has been good as of late. Speaking of good, check out this beautiful finishing move from Saric!

.@IvanSaricGM wins in style again with Qxg6+! as the @chessbrahTV
take a big lead with one round to go!#prochess

➡ https://t.co/IYwQdErbAr pic.twitter.com/1C2eT8MbT9

— PROChessLeague (@PROChessLeague) March 7, 2019

PRO Chess League Overview

This year, we will be doing a weekly power rankings list for teams in the Atlantic division. For those of you who don’t know, The regular season of the PRO Chess League (PCL) is ten weeks long. Each week, teams will have to pick 4 players from their roster with an average standard rating (not blitz or rapid) of 2500 FIDE or less for each match. Every match consists of 16 games (aside from the Battle Royales) meaning every player plays 4 games, on rapid time control (15 minutes with a 2-second increment). At the end of the match, the winner of the match receives ten points for the win. Each will also earn as many points as points they earned in the match (i.e. If team A defeats team B 10.5-5.5, team A receives 20.5 points and team B receives 5.5 points). This means that every game matters, so even if a team has already lost, there is still reason to keep playing. If anything that I wrote was unclear, you can always see the PRO Chess League Official Rules for further explanation. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the season, and hope you are too!

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Note: "PR" means previous rank (from last week)

1. Saint Louis Arch Bishops             (PR: 1)   Points: 174

The Bishops performance this week raises some red flags for Arch Bishops fans everywhere. Caruana and So managed to score a combined 6 points, which is business as usual for the dynamic duo, but 3rd and 4th boards Ramirez and Bloomer only combined for 1 point. The Arch Bishops are going to need much better play from their bottom 2 in the playoffs if they want to win, particularly from Josh Bloomer—who was held scoreless this week—who plays in nearly every match for the Bishops. They are still undoubtedly a great team, but they need to clean things up if they want to win in the playoffs.

2. New York Marshalls                     (PR: 2)   Points: 169

I really just assumed that the Marshalls would dominate the Lions this week, figuring that the Lions didn’t have much to play for (their relegation fate is all but sealed) and the Marshalls could jump the Arch Bishops with a win and an Arch Bishops loss. Instead, the Marshalls 4th board was shut out, and even though Moranda produced an impressive 3.5 out of 4, they weren’t able to win. Still, a tie is better than a loss, and since the Bishops lost, the Marshalls have a real chance at grabbing the first seed in the division. At least now they know not to play Samadashvili in the playoffs.

3. Montreal Chessbrahs                  (PR: 5)   Points: 149.5

The Chessbrahs have responded to adversity in a big way these past 2 weeks, beating both the Marshalls and the Sopranos back-to-back and are looking like the playoff team we thought we saw at the beginning of the season. Saric scored 3 out of 4, showing week after week just how he is. Now the Chessbrahs are only 9 points ahead of the Sopranos, but they are also only 1.5 points behind the Windmills, so it’s very likely that the Chessbrahs will make it as at least a 4 seed, if not higher. The way this team is playing right now, no one will want to face them in the playoffs. If the Chessbrahs stay hot, they could make a deep run in the playoffs. They are as talented as almost any team in the league.

4. Webster Windmills                      (PR: 3)   Points: 151

The Windmills tied a Pawngrabbers team that was desperate to keep pace with the surging Champions to avoid relegation, but this puts the Windmills in an uncomfortable situation. Though they currently sit in third place in the division, the final week gives out more points than any other week, so if they don’t perform better than either the Sopranos or Chessbrahs, they could miss the playoffs. They are still in fine position, holding an 11 point lead over Montclair, but the Windmills aren’t playing their best chess right now, and that is a reason for concern, even if they make the playoffs.

5. Montclair Sopranos                     (PR: 4)   Points: 140

The Sopranos looked completely outmatched by the Chessbrahs. This was the one match that they had to win. If they had won, they would be in third place in the standings with an almost guaranteed playoff spot, but none of their top 3 boards looked like they could compete with the top 3 of the Chessbrahs. Now, they need a huge performance in the divisional Battle Royale just to jump either Webster or Montreal for the final playoff spot. This was the pivotal game in their season, and they fell well short of the mark. Looks like they will finish a second straight season just shy of a playoff spot.

6. Miami Champions                       (PR: 7)   Points: 114

The Champions are finally playing good chess, upsetting the Arch Bishops and putting themselves ahead of the Pawngrabbers, and out of relegation position. I can’t help but wonder where this kind of play was earlier in the season. When I look at the Champions’ performances over the past 3 weeks, they look like a potential playoff team, especially with how Eljanov and Iturrizaga have been playing lately. Iturrizaga has been playing phenomenally all season, but now he has Eljanov, which makes this team seem like a playoff-caliber team. They could still easily get relegated, but they are playing very well right now, and it would take a mighty great effort from the Pawngrabbers to put the Champions back into the red.

7. Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers            (PR: 6)   Points: 110.5

I was impressed by the Pawngrabbers ability to draw a good Windmills team, but I was depressed to see the Champions upset the top team in maybe the whole PRO Chess League and jump the Pawngrabbers. The Pawngrabbers now trail the Champions by what feels like the largest 3.5 point margin of all time. The Champions are on fire right now, and although I’m happy about the improvement the Pawngrabbers have made since the start of the season, I don’t think it will be enough to save them from relegation. Pittsburgh is going to need a very strong showing in the Battle Royale to save their season.

8. London Lions                              (PR: 8)   Points: 95.5

The Lions achieved their second straight tie in what once again had the feeling of a win. Unfortunately, neither of them were wins, and unless the Lions get first in the Battle Royale, they are going to get relegated. The Lions have some pretty good players (Eduoard, Movsesian) but never seemed to find that perfect lineup to lead them to consistent victories. This team still has the potential to be pretty good in the future, and for that reason, I think they’ll be back next year. It’s been a long and hard season, Lions fans, but it’s finally coming to an end.

Do you agree with our rankings? Let us know what you think in the comments below or tweet at us (@pghpawngrabbers)!