The North American Corporate Chess League (NACCL) is returning to Chess.com this fall. The NACCL is the largest corporate chess competition in the world and includes some of the world’s best-known companies and small businesses!
What Is The NACCL?
The NACCL has more than a decade-long history as the largest corporate chess league in the world. The league is open to all (non-chess) companies located in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Members represent their companies and compete from the comfort of their home or office. Competitors have the additional benefit of joining a fun free weekly lecture by provided by Grandmasters Daniel Naroditsky and Kayden Troff.
Format
The upcoming season begins on October 2 and features six weeks of competition, culminating in a playoffs on November 13. Each match features teams playing three rapid games, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursdays.
Matches are designed in a custom pairing system in an open section where rating, points scored, and team are considered. Players from the same company will not play each other. Team scores are calculated by combining the top-four scorers from the same company. Tiebreakers are scores of the #5, #6, #7, and #8 players in order, and then the sum of the individual tiebreakers of the top-four players. The top-eight teams at the end of the regular season advance to a one-day knockout tournament, the winner of which is the league champion! That match will be covered with a live broadcast on the Chess.com Twitch channel. Past winners include Jane Street, Capital One, Google, Deloitte, Susquehanna and the defending champions, Symetra.
Symetra won an exciting final match last season against the defending champions from Jane Street. GM Andrey Stukopin helped clinch the match with a beautiful sacrificial attack against NM Christopher Yang. Check out the game with note by FM Jack Rodgers.
Prizes
There are prizes for many of the most accomplished teams and individuals in the league.
Team Prizes
- The top-eight teams overall
- Top-two small companies (under 500 employees)
- Top technology company
- Top insurance company
- Top real estate company
- Top HR firm
- Top non-profit organization
- Top bank/financial firm
Individual Prizes
- Top-ten Individuals
- Top-three rated 2000-2199
- Top-three rated 1800-1999
- Top-three rated 1600-1799
- Top-three rated 1400-1599
- Top-three rated 1200-1399
- Top-three rated 1000-1199
- Top-three under 1000
How To Register
Registration is open now! Check out the NACCL website to join the league. You can register a team, or join your company’s team that’s already in the league. The only restriction is that companies must be headquartered in North America and not be a chess-related business. No prior club membership or rating is necessary to register. If you’re interested, but not from North America, let us know and we may have a league available for your company soon! For updates on the league, join the NACCL club on Chess.com and follow the NACCL on LinkedIn.
Registered players will be upgraded to a 60-day diamond membership on Chess.com for the season. Sign up to join players from beginners through grandmasters and teams like Meta, Airbnb, Capital One, and more!
Will you be competing? Let us know in the comments!
