fpawn chess blog: Mamedyarov

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Sunday, January 6

San Jose Hackers - PRO Chess League

Photos: GM Mamedyarov (left) and IM-elect Yoo (right, credit Llada).

The Professional Rapid Online (PRO) Chess League returns to action this week on the Chess.com live server. The Bay Area is fortunate to have two strong teams in this worldwide competition. They battle in the Pacific Division against squads from San Diego, Seattle, Minnesota, Dallas, Australia and Chengdu (China). Each week, usually on Tuesday evenings, four team members rated under 2500 average each play four online games with the opposition at G/15 time control. After ten weeks, the top four teams in each Division advance to the league playoffs!

The San Jose Hackers are organized by Bay Area Chess and most team members either coach or participate in local chess classes, camps and tournaments. The star of the Hackers is World #3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. Two countrymen join "Shak" as free agents for San Jose: World #39 Rauf Mamedov and World #63 Eltaj Safarli. The three Azeris will need to split duties on the top board, since league rules permit only one free agent to play each week.

The other Hackers all reside in the Bay Area. Grandmaster coaches Zviad Izoria and Enrico Sevillano expect to platoon on second board. Coach and journalist IM Kostya Kavutskiy, 12 year old newly minted IM-elect Christopher Yoo and rapid specialist NM Faik Aleskerov will play significant roles throughout the season. Four teen masters, all current or former students of Bay Area Chess, share duties on board 4.

San Jose narrowly missed out on the playoffs last season and will seek to improve this year. Perhaps to make a statement, the Hackers rolled out their strongest lineup for the Week 1 showdown against their rivals, the San Francisco Mechanics: GM Mamedyarov, GM Izoria, IM-elect Yoo and FM Ivan Ke. Check out the action on Tuesday evening starting at 5:25PM!

Sunday, July 23

Time odds: Mamedyarov versus Yoo

Time odds: white has 25 seconds and black has 3 minutes
White is GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (#6 in World)
Black is 10 y/o NM Christopher Yoo (youngest master in US history)
White wins
Credit: San Jose Hackers chess camp @ Bay Area Chess

Blitz: Naroditsky versus Mamedyarov

3-minute blitz
White is GM Daniel Naroditsky (#111 in World)
Black is GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (#6 in World)
Black wins
Credit: San Jose Hackers chess camp @ Bay Area Chess

Sunday, January 8

PRO Chess League Kicks Off

After 11 seasons, the internet-based US Chess League has expanded into the PRO Chess League. There are three major differences between the two leagues. While the USCL had teams from all corners of the United States, the PCL will be an international affair with teams from five of the seven continents: North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. To attract greater spectator interest, games will be played at a rapid time control of G/15 + 2 second increment. Players from one team will face all four from the other team, for a total of 16 games. Finally, each team may field one "Free Agent" in their weekly lineup, in addition to three local players, as long as the average rating does not exceed 2500 FIDE.

Perhaps most exciting is that the PRO Chess League promises to showcase several elite chess players of the world! Indeed five of the top 7 on the January 2017 FIDE list will participate.

#1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
#2 Fabiano Caruana (Montreal)
#4 Wesley So (Saint Louis)
#5 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Marseille)
#7 Hikaru Nakamura (Miami)
#13 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (San Jose)
#22 Lenier Dominguez (Miami)
#29 Li Chao (Montreal)

Two Bay Area squads have registered among 48 total entries from around the world. The San Francisco Mechanics, organized by the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club, were one of the founding members of the USCL. Grandmasters Patrick Wolff and Vinay Bhat will lead the way, backed up by International Masters Yian Liou, Cameron Wheeler (IM-elect) and Teddy Coleman. Youth will be served by four high school students: Cameron, FM Rayan Taghizadeh, FM Josiah Stearman and NM Siddharth Banik.

The other local team was formed by Bay Area Chess to represent Silicon Valley. The San Jose Hackers, among the highest rated in the league, feature a quintet of Grandmasters headlined by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, ranked #3 in the world on the rapid rating list. The other GMs are Rauf Mamedov, Daniel Naroditsky, Zviad Izoria and Cristian Chirila. The San Jose roster also includes two IM-elects and a trio of juniors: NM Teemu Virtanen, NM Ivan Ke and 10 year old NM Christopher Yoo.

Both Bay Area squads will compete in the Red Division against other American cities in the Central and Pacific time zones. Indeed the locals square off head-to-head in round 2 on January 18! The competition will be stiff, with the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, Webster Windmills, Rio Grande Ospreys and Dallas Destiny all fielding strong rosters. The other three sections are the Blue Division (Eastern time zone plus Canada and South America), Green Division (Europe, Asia and Africa) and the Orange Division (Europe and Africa). Click here for a list of players for all 48 teams.

Matches take place every Wednesday on Chess.com, starting on January 11. Since the matches consists of four mini rounds and 16 games total, a whopping 384 rapid games will be completed each week. The pairings for the first six weeks have been predetermined. The seventh week (February 22) will be a playoff positioning round. During the playoffs, each division crowns a champion. The division winners will square off in semifinals on Saturday, March 25 and a final on Sunday, March 26. The four division champions are guaranteed at least $3,000 from the prize fund and the league champion wins $20,000!

Good luck to both the San Francisco Mechanics and San Jose Hackers in the inaugural season of the PRO Chess League!

PRO Chess League Links