The quantitative trading firm Jane Street won the North American Corporate Chess League’s 13th season on May 28, winning three rounds of playoff matches, including an exciting final against JPMorgan Chase. The NACCL is the largest corporate chess competition in the world, including many major companies and small businesses.Â
Playoff Bracket
Jane Street was the top scoring team in the regular season and continued their success in the eight-team knockout. In the first round, they defeated Meta, one of last season’s finalists. Jane Street advanced 3-2 behind wins by Matias Shundi, NM Christopher Yang, and FM David Peng. They then won the next round against PWC in a brilliant 5-0 sweep. Can you spot the move that FM Jacob Furfine used to knock out GM Andrey Baryshpolets?
That win set up a final-round showdown with JP Morgan Chase, led by IM Edward Song, FM Alex Bian, FM Maggie Feng, and NM Asuka Nakamura. Song and Furfine played a balanced draw. Yang and Nakamrua drew as well, but in a much more eventful game.
Shundi drew with Feng, while Jane Street’s Max Vaysburd scored a key win over Calvin Yang. That gave Jane Street a one-point lead, and Yang then clinched the match with a well-played victory over Bian.Â
The North American Corporate Chess League is the biggest corporate chess league in the world. The league will return for its 14th season. 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.