by Dana Mackenzie, staff writer
Because I was in the midst of playing in the U.S. Amateur Team West tournament on Monday, I wasn’t able to write my usual timely coverage of the PRO Chess League. For any California Unicorn fans out there wh...
by David Pruess, manager
Just looking at the lineups for the Eastern and Central divisions this week got me pretty excited, so I wanted to share the perspective of an avid PCL fan (and manager) seeing them.
Eastern Division
Bulldogs-Eagles
...
by Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
In week six of the PRO Chess League, the California Unicorns picked the right time to play their best match of the season. Against the heavily favored New York Marshalls, who were led by Hikaru Nakamura on board o...
by David Pruess, manager
The most exciting clash of the Central Division's regular season is probably tomorrow's match between the Germany Bears and the France Roosters. The two teams are currently tied for first in the standings:
And I hav...
by NM Dana Mackenzie, staff writer
Today, in the PRO Chess League, the California Unicorns faced almost inconceivable odds in their match against the St. Louis Arch Bishops. The magnitude of the difficulty becomes quite apparent when you look at...
by David Pruess, manager
Last year, GM Daniel Naroditsky played all 10 regular season matches for the team. And in addition to scoring well, he was famous for some really exciting games, such as this, earning him game of the week nominations wee...
by Dana Mackenzie, staff writer
Welcome to the first blog post written on my new laptop! I don’t have a chess program on my laptop yet, so I will have to do with some makeshift diagrams and no computer analysis. Maybe that will be a refres...
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For historical purposes, this post shows our previous year's home page and roster:
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A New Taste
by David Pruess, Manager
What is this new taste? So delectable, so different from any I have tasted before? A playoff victory?? The San Francisco Mechanics have won a playoff match??
Yes, it is a franchise first PCL postseason wi...
by David Pruess, manager
Following the same methodology as in this first post on the Pacific, here is my analysis of the top lineups in the Central Division and their playoff prospects. This post also includes Final Four picks!!
This analysis ...
by David Pruess, manager
Following the same methodology as in this first post on the Pacific, here is my analysis of the top lineups in the Central Division and their playoff prospects.
I'll note that throughout the season, I had some misgivin...
by David Pruess, manager
Following the same methodology as in this first post on the Pacific, here is my analysis of the top lineups in the Atlantic Division and their playoff prospects.
1. St Louis Archbishops
St Louis
Official
Accu...
by David Pruess, Manager
I've looked over the 4 pacific playoff teams, looking for lineups that best utilize the players with the strongest performances so far this year-- although in some cases there are still some potentially strong players on...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
Tonight was the final night of the regular season for half of the teams in the PRO Chess League. For the San Francisco Mechanics, it was our last chance to make an improbable comeback and qualify for the playoffs....
Here are my predictions for this week's final Battle Royale. I expect things to be very close, especially between 3rd-5th places. I don't have time to explain my method in detail, but the "accurate" rating weighs the player's real rating and their...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
Someone get David Pruess an ice-cold Yoo-Hoo, because he’s gonna need it.
The San Francisco Mechanics’ manager was speechless after our unbelievable last-round meltdown last night. He looked like She...
Hey fans, manager David here. I just wanted to share some chess analysis and highlights from our match. Every week I want to do this, but the task of analyzing these crazy GM-games ends up taking too much time. Here, for once, for your pleasure, s...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
When the San Francisco Mechanics started out the season with three losses in three matches, there was some understandable consternation in the City by the Bay. Tears were shed. Bad rap lyrics were written. Hope was...
We are 2/3 of the way through the season, and I took a hard look at the top performers in the league, thinking about which individual players were the most valuable so far this season.
The first stat that one could look at would either be points...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
When I wrote my last post I couldn’t tell yet how much the San Francisco Mechanics had moved up in our division of the PRO Chess League. Now Thursday's two Battle Royales are in the books, and the league sta...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
There are only three words to describe the San Francisco Mechanics’ performance in the PRO Chess League last night:
Danya! Danya! Danya!
But if I were allowed three more words, they would be:
Epic. Unb...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
Last week I wrote that the San Francisco Mechanics’ PRO Chess League match this week was one that we “really have to win to achieve our team goals.” Hm, perhaps that was a bit of exaggeration. In...
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer
First, let’s get one thing straight. Avalanches never happen in Berkeley. Reason one: There’s no snow.
But yesterday, for the first time since 2011, there was snow in the mountains to the east of San...