PCL Super Bingo

Hi everyone,

We’re excited to announce that Masters of the Squares is now part of the Phoenix Chess League Super Bingo (PCL-SB)! 

For those who don’t know:
The PCL-SB is a perpetual inter-club competition inspired by the game of Bingo. Each team gets a unique Bingo card (with squares like A4, D3, F1, etc.). To mark a square, we need to win a match tied to that coordinate. Every square corresponds to a specific type of match, whether by rating range, time control, chess variant (standard, 960), or book opening. (See the image below for the codes.)

How Scoring Works:

• Win a match = 5 points + the square is validated.

• Draw = 2 points.

• Opponent cancels after registering = 1 point.

• Complete a row, column, or diagonal = 10 bonus points.

• Clear the whole card = 30 bonus points (a full card = 150 points total).

Our Bingo card is attached below. As we start winning, you’ll see the squares cross out, our points accumulated, and our name move up the leaderboard. I will keep updating all the information regarding our club's status in this topic from time to time.

Our Goal

Participation has already been excellent! But if you haven’t joined in yet and are available, considering doing so. The more of us who play, the faster we’ll move up the ladder. I can see us securing 12-15 squares by year-end and rack up close to 100 points. Out of 25–30 clubs, this will almost certainly put us in the Top 5, or perhaps even top 3!

Masters of the Squares is steadily growing into one of the stronger clubs on Chess.com, and this event is another step forward. Thanks to each and every one of you for making it possible. Let’s make our mark on the Bingo board!

Does that mean the king is on the coordinate square when checkmated or that the piece that gives the checkmate or provides a crushing blow that forces resignation lands on the coordinate square? Or perhaps both?

Hi @legit_chess411, good question! Just to clarify, the coordinates on the Bingo card (like A4, D3, F1, etc.) don’t refer to chessboard squares or where the pieces/king end up in the game. Instead, they are simply codes that represent different types of matches.

Let me explain with an example. So Masters of the Squares will be facing Daily Tournaments Fan Club tomorrow for the A2 square. From the 'challenge type' chart in comment #1, you would be able to derive that A2 match simply refers to a standard chess team match featuring a minimum of 10 players in the open category and players will have 3 days/move. If we win that match, we will score 5 points and the A2 square in our Bingo card will be validated, meaning it will be crossed out. Our eventual goal will be to win all 24 match-types and cross out all of these challenge types. This will of course take time, hence, I mentioned that our goal would be to win around 15 of these team matches by the end of the year. This is the reason why you would be able to see that we will be competing for various squares like A2, D4, F3 etc. in the coming few days with different clubs. 

So yea in short, it’s not connected to the physical chessboard squares at all. It is just a fun competition to make team games more meaningful and competitive. 

Hope that clears it up! 🙂

Oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!

One last question. If an opponent doesn't reach the required number of players and the other team does, is that seen as a win by default in this league (+5 score and validated square) or would it be considered a draw (+2 score) as chess.com denotes such matches? I'd think it would be the former but you never know.

In case the daily match is scheduled after successful registration (challenge is issued to the opponent and they accept the team match) and the opponent is unable to start the match, or the match is canceled by the opponent, the team is awarded 1 point. I am not sure whether you might have realized this but we had a match scheduled a few days ago against the Stargazers for the A2 square. Now they did accept the challenge. The boards were filling up from our side and reached 9-10 participants in no time, while the opponent still had 0. Seeing this, they canceled the match, which resulted in our club getting 1 point. Same thing would have happened if they had not canceled the match, but would not make the minimum number of boards. 
Also, you can ask any number of questions as you like without any hesitation, I will try my best to answer all of them to the best of my ability.

Oh okay, I understand now. Thanks again!

Total points as on 27th of November, 25: 78

Status of our Bingo Card as on 13th November 2025:

Official points table as on 13th November 2025 (arranged alphabetically):

I was one of the First members (54th ) Animesh, Pls make me admin

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out, and I appreciate your interest in helping the club.

At the moment, we aren’t adding any new admins, as the current structure is working smoothly and there’s no requirement for expansion. Even if it may not always be visible upfront, the club operates with a structured approach, and we follow a defined process, be it for day-to-day functioning or for assigning responsibilities. Typically, admin consideration is given only to long-standing members who have been consistently active, contributed significantly across many club matches and events, and demonstrated reliability over time.

Right now, the team is fully covered, so I’m not looking to expand the admin group. That said, I would definitely encourage you to stay active in events and matches as consistent involvement is one of the key criteria if any roles open up in the future.

Thank you for understanding.

P.S. For similar requests or suggestions, please use the Suggestion Box forum. The PCL Super Bingo forum is reserved exclusively for updates related to that competition.