Capital One and Databricks Atop NACCL Standings: Week 2 Recap!
Through two weeks of the North American Corporate Chess League's twelfth season, not much is decided, but much has happened! Two frontrunners have emerged in the form of Capital One and Databricks, each posting 20 out of a possible 24 points, but only a 2.5 point difference separates first place from tenth. Meanwhile, with several matchups between top players this past week, only three competitors still boast perfect scores in the individual standings.
The North American Corporate Chess League is an online recreational chess association featuring a six-game regular season followed by a "knockout" playoff. Players representing North American companies form teams of up to thirty players, with the top four scorers for each team counting towards the overall standings. A team's score is based on the sum of the top four player scores across the whole season, meaning that the players who make up a team's "top four" (and therefore the team's overall score) might change week-to-week. Games are held right here on chess.com at a time control of 10 minutes plus 2 seconds of increment. See the NACCL's format page for more information.
At the end of the six-week regular season, the top eight teams qualify for a knockout playoff on November 13. As of right now, there's quite a logjam at the top, with six teams on 17, 17.5, or 18 points, making up numbers 6-11 in the current team standings.
Atop those standings are Capital One and Databricks, each with 20 points across their respective top four boards. They arrive at that score a bit differently, as the Databricks lineup includes two of the three individual perfect scorers remaining. GM Parimarjan Negi and FM Richard Chen both have 6/6 despite stiff competition, with the latter winning against another of the NACCL's top players, IM Kyron Griffith of Lyft:
Capital One, currently listed in first place on tiebreaks, has no perfect scorers, but has received contributions from three untitled players: Yash Telang and Marco Flores, each on 5/6, and Neha Pattanaik on 4.5.
Flores in particular scored a big upset on Thursday with his takedown of NM Praveen Sanjay. Sanjay's team, Meta, was tied for first after last week but now ranks fourth with 19 points, still very much among the early favorites.
Our third and final individual perfect scorer through three weeks is GM Andrey Baryshpolets of PWC, whose team stands all alone in third place with 19.5. In the last round on Thursday, Baryshpolets defeated the previously unbeaten NM Kevin Bu of Gelber Group:
Tied for fifth with Meta is Anduril Industries, headlined by NM Francisco Guadalupe and FM Roland Feng. Readers of these reports have seen those names often, but the team also received contributions from the untitled Stuart Abrams and Karim Arabi, sporting 5 and 4.5 points respectively.
Abrams' only defeat so far in the NACCL has come at the hands of the aforementioned IM Griffith. He's otherwise been perfect, and currently has the lowest listed rating of any player with at least 5/6 in the individual standings. Abrams employed the Alekhine's Defense against Yash Shah of Meta, quickly undermining his opponent's big center:
IBM and Jane Street are tied in the sixth and seventh spots with 18 points each, while the teams on 17.5 are Lyft, Susquehanna, and Jump Trading, rounding out the top ten. With such little distance separating the top teams, it's worth noting that there won't be enough playoff spots to go around, as only the top eight will qualify at season's end!
Although he no longer has a perfect score, having drawn Capital One's IM Craig Hilby in the second round on Thursday, FM Jacob Furfine remains Jane Street's top contributor.
With only a third of the regular season complete, there's no question the standings will change quite a lot over the coming weeks, so make sure to check here for weekly updates on the twelfth season of the North American Corporate Chess League!
-------------------------------------------------------------
For upcoming tournaments, bookmark our Events Schedule. The CCC hosts nearly 8 events a week at our facilities in North and South Charlotte, along with bi-monthly major events!
Not a member of the CCC? Join over 1000 members today!
NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
