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In Praise of Finishing Third

In Praise of Finishing Third

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 19, 2020
| 1,222
| 3

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...

What the Week 6 East+Central Lineups Mean

What the Week 6 East+Central Lineups Mean

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 11, 2020
| 1,527
| 1

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 ...

Huge Upset for Unicorns

Huge Upset for Unicorns

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 10, 2020
| 1,667
| 3

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...

Bears and Roosters clash!

Bears and Roosters clash!

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 6, 2020
| 1,078
| 8

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...

Monster Mash

Monster Mash

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Jan 28, 2020
| 1,847
| 3

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...

Electrifying!

Electrifying!

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Jan 22, 2020
| 1,367
| 4

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...

Bagelization

Bagelization

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Jan 21, 2020
| 1,605
| 1

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...

Results 2020

Results 2020

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Jan 10, 2020
| 1,460
| 3

            Home               Schedule               Support Us            Contact us Team Results Cur...

2019 Roster

2019 Roster

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Jan 2, 2020
| 880
| 0

For historical purposes, this post shows our previous year's home page and roster:   Schedule               Results            Support us!      &...

A New Taste

A New Taste

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Aug 19, 2019
| 2,091
| 7

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...

PCL Eastern Division Playoff Predictions

PCL Eastern Division Playoff Predictions

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 19, 2019
| 1,884
| 3

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 ...

PCL Central Division Playoff Predictions

PCL Central Division Playoff Predictions

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 19, 2019
| 1,510
| 0

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...

PCL Atlantic Playoffs Preview

PCL Atlantic Playoffs Preview

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 18, 2019
| 1,508
| 0

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...

PCL Pacific Playoff Preview

PCL Pacific Playoff Preview

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 18, 2019
| 1,598
| 0

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...

End of Season Blues

End of Season Blues

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 12, 2019
| 1,000
| 3

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....

Pruess Predicts Final Battle Royale

Pruess Predicts Final Battle Royale

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 12, 2019
| 2,191
| 1

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...

Brutal. Epic. Fail.

Brutal. Epic. Fail.

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 7, 2019
| 2,114
| 8

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...

The PCL Combination of the Year

The PCL Combination of the Year

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Mar 5, 2019
| 1,833
| 1

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...

Closer to Fine

Closer to Fine

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 26, 2019
| 1,996
| 6

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...

PCL Top Performers

PCL Top Performers

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 25, 2019
| 1,997
| 0

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...

Quick PRO Chess Standings Update

Quick PRO Chess Standings Update

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 22, 2019
| 906
| 1

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...

When Second Feels Like First

When Second Feels Like First

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 20, 2019
| 975
| 2

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...

Mission (Half) Accomplished

Mission (Half) Accomplished

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 13, 2019
| 2,013
| 1

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...

Avalanche in Berkeley!

Avalanche in Berkeley!

CaliforniaUnicorns
| Feb 7, 2019
| 1,838
| 7

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...

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