Super-Grandmasters Difference Makers In Pacific Division
Pacific Division
- San Francisco Mechanics vs. San Jose Hackers: 7.5-8.5
- Seattle Sluggers vs. San Diego Surfers: 9-7
- Australia Kangaroos vs. Dallas Destiny: 8.5-7.5
- Chengdu Pandas vs. Minnesota Blizzard: 9.5-6.5
America's Newest IM Leads Hackers To Victory
The decisive factor for the San Jose Hackers came in the form of 12-year-old Christopher Yoo. America's newest IM won his first three games before faltering in the final round.
Perhaps his most impressive win was his victory against Daniel Naroditsky, but his win against Yannick Gozzoli was even more fun.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | San Francisco Mechanics vs. San Jose Hackers
| Hackers | Mechanics | Daniel Naroditsky | Yannick Gozzoli | Vinay Bhat | Ezra Chambers | 7.5 |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 3 | |||||
| Zviad Izoria | 2 | |||||
| Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3 | |||||
| Ivan Ke | 0.5 | |||||
| 8.5 | 2 | 2 | 2.5 | 1 | ||
Nakamura's Sluggers Find Winning Lineup
GM Hikaru Nakamura has played each season in the PRO Chess League, but he's never seemed to have quite strong enough teammates around him for his team to make a playoff run.
This year, things look great for the Sluggers as they got great scores on boards two and three. Even a 0 on board four did not slow them.
Here is Nakamura's opening win.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Seattle Sluggers vs. San Diego Surfers
| Surfers | Sluggers | Hikaru Nakamura | Victor Mikhalevski | Giorgi Margvelashvili | Naomi Bashkansky | 9 |
| Alexey Dreev | 2.5 | |||||
| Michael Brown | 2 | |||||
| Craig Hilby | 1.5 | |||||
| Keaton Kiewra | 1 | |||||
| 7 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2 | 0 | ||
Mature Australia Kangaroos Defeat Dallas Destiny
The Australia Kangaroos surprised many in 2018 with strong play from two juniors on boards one and two. A year later, Sarana and Smirnov are much better known, and we can no longer be as surprised by their impressive performances.
The best performance this week came from GM Alexey Sarana who scored 3.5/4, only drawing this game against GM Zhou Jianchou.
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Australia Kangaroos vs. Dallas Destiny
| Destiny | Kangaroos | Aleksey Sarana | Anton Smirnov | Temur Kuybokarov | Laurence Matheson | 8.5 |
| Zhou Jianchao | 3 | |||||
| Conrad Holt | 2 | |||||
| Zurab Javakhadze | 2 | |||||
| Zhu Jiner | 0.5 | |||||
| 7.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 0.5 | ||
Ding Liren Good At Chess; Chengdu Defeats Minnesota
2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Chengdu Pandas vs. Minnesota Blizzard
| Blizzard | Pandas | Ding Liren | Wang Yue | Zhao Jun | Zhang Di | 9.5 |
| Fidel Corrales | 2.5 | |||||
| Mauricio Flores | 1 | |||||
| Andrew Tang | 2 | |||||
| John Bartholomew | 1 | |||||
| 6.5 | 4 | 2.5 | 3 | 0 | ||
