Saint Louis Arch Bishops win 2019 PRO Chess League

The Saint Louis Arch Bishops are the 2019 PRO Chess League Champions, defeating the Baden-Baden Snowballs in Sunday’s PCL final in San Francisco. The final score was 10-6. The Chengdu Pandas narrowly won the third-place match against the Armenia Eagles 8.5-7.5. The Arch Bishops’ victory on Sunday was due in no small part to the efforts of two team members: World #2 Fabiano Caruana and World #13169 (as of the May list) Julian Proleiko. Caruana scored 3.5/4 in the Finals and 7.5/8 on the weekend to pace the team, while fourth board Proleiko took two key points in the Finals, including a final round win that clinched the team victory. TEAM ROSTERS ROUND BY ROUND RECAP ROUND 1 The Arch Bishops jumped out to a 2.5-1.5 lead after round one. Inna Agrest flagged against Fabiano Caruana, although Caruana was winning on the board as well.

[pgn]

[Event "PCL Final"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.05.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Agrest, Inna"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2283"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Arch Bishops"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Be7 7. O-O d6 8. a4
Nf6 9. Na3 O-O 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Nc4 e5 12. Nb6 Rb8 13. f3 Be6 14. c4 Nd7 15. Nd5
Bg5 16. Bf2 b6 17. Qe2 Nc5 18. Bc2 a5 19. Rfd1 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Qe7 21. Nc1 Ne6
22. Qd1 Nb4 23. Rb5 Qc7 24. Nd3 Nc6 25. Rd5 Rfd8 26. b3 Nc5 27. h4 Bh6 28. Nxc5
bxc5 29. Qe2 Re8 30. Rad1 Re6 31. g4 Bf4 32. Re1 Qe7 33. Kg2 h5 34. g5 Rg6 35.
Rg1 f6 36. Kf1 fxg5 37. hxg5 Rf8 38. Ke1 Bxg5 39. Kd1 Nb4 0-1

[/pgn]

Nikolas Theodoru found a brilliant finish in his win over Alexander Donchenko.

[pgn]

[Event "PCL Final"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.05.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Theodorou, Nikolas"]
[Black "Donchenko, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2535"]
[BlackElo "2614"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r4r/4qpk1/3np1p1/3pN1P1/3P1QP1/2p5/1P4K1/R4R2 w - - 0 36"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Arch Bishops"]
[BlackTeam "Snowballs"]

36. Ra6 $1 {Threatening 37.Rxd6 Qxd6 38.Qxf7 mate!} (36. bxc3 Rxc3 $11)
36... Rcd8 37. Ra7 $3 Qxa7 38. Qf6+ Kg8 39. Qxd8+ Kg7 40. Qf6+ Kg8 41. Nxg6
fxg6 42. Qf8+ (42. Qf8+ Kh7 43. Rh1#) 1-0

[/pgn]

Score: Arch Bishops 2.5, Snowballs 1.5 ROUND 2 The Arch Bishops extended their lead in the second round, taking three out of the four possible game points. Caruana’s kingside pressure extracted two key mistakes from Kollars, giving him the win.

[pgn]

[Event "PCL Final"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.05.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Kollars, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2536"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Arch Bishops"]
[BlackTeam "Snowballs"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. d3 Rb8 11. Re1 b4 12. Nbd2 Na5 13. Bc2 O-O 14. g4 Bg6 15. Nf1
Re8 16. Ng3 d5 17. Qe2 bxc3 18. bxc3 Nb3 19. Bxb3 Rxb3 20. Qc2 Rb8 21. Kg2 Qd7
22. Bg5 Qc6 23. Bxf6 dxe4 24. Nxe4 gxf6 25. Nh4 Rbd8 26. Qe2 Re6 27. Qf3 Bxe4
28. Rxe4 Bf8 29. c4 Red6 30. Rd1 Qd7 31. Re3 Bh6 32. c5 Bxe3 $6 (32... Re6 $11)
33. cxd6 Bf4 34. dxc7 Qxc7 35. Nf5 Qc2 36. d4 e4 $2 37. Qxf4 $1 Qxd1 38. Qh6
Qf3+ 39. Kg1 1-0

[/pgn]

Score: Arch Bishops 5.5, Snowballs 2.5 ROUND 3 The wins kept piling up for the Arch Bishops in the third round, and they increased their lead with a 2.5-1.5 round victory. Donchenko held Caruana and Meier drew Bok, but the combination of Theodorou’s win over Agrest and Proleiko’s rollercoaster draw against Kollars gave the round to Saint Louis. Perhaps Julian should have studied the Foisor-Krush ending?

[pgn]

[Event "PCL Final"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.05.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Theodorou, Nikolas"]
[Black "Agrest, Inna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2535"]
[BlackElo "2283"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Arch Bishops"]
[BlackTeam "Snowballs"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6 5. g4 a6 6. Bc4 b5 7. Bb3 b4 8. g5
bxc3 9. gxf6 Qxf6 10. dxc3 h6 11. Be3 a5 12. Bc4 Rb8 13. b3 Ba3 14. Rb1 Be7 15.
Rg1 Bb7 16. Nd2 Nd8 17. Qg4 g6 18. f4 d6 19. Ke2 Bc8 20. Qf3 Ne6 21. fxe5 dxe5
22. Rgf1 Qxf3+ 23. Nxf3 Bd6 24. Rbd1 Ke7 25. a4 Bb7 26. Nd2 f6 27. Bd5 h5 28.
Bxb7 Rxb7 29. Nc4 Ra8 30. Rd5 g5 31. Nxa5 Rbb8 32. Nc6+ Kf7 33. Nxb8 Rxb8 34.
a5 Ra8 35. b4 Kg6 36. Ra1 g4 37. b5 Nf4+ 38. Bxf4 exf4 39. Rxd6 cxd6 40. a6 g3
41. hxg3 fxg3 42. Kf3 h4 43. a7 f5 44. exf5+ Kxf5 45. b6 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "PCL Final"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.05.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Proleiko, Julian"]
[Black "Kollars, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2093"]
[BlackElo "2536"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/6Q1/6P1/r7/2n1P3/p4PK1/2k5 b - - 0 67"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Arch Bishops"]
[BlackTeam "Snowballs"]

67... a1=Q {Let's pick the game up here. Black has just played 67. ...
a1Q, and is completely winning. But with both players in immense time trouble,
the randomizing factor of zeitnot comes into play.} 68. Qc6 Rg4+ 69. Kf3 Rxg5
70. Qc7 Qa8+ 71. Kf4 Rb5 $4 {Ruh-roh, Dmitrij!} 72. Qxc3+ $1 Kd1 73. Qd3+ Ke1
74. Qxb5 Kxf2 {How things have changed. Now White has a won game according to
the tablebases, but as we have seen here at CLO, queen and pawn endgames are
difficult even at slow time controls. Can Proleiko wrangle the full point?} 75.
Qe5 (75. e4 $1 $18) (75. Qb2+ $1 $18) 75... Ke2 (75... Qf3+ $11) (75... Qa3 $11
) (75... Qf8+ $11) (75... Qd8 $11) 76. e4 Qf8+ 77. Qf5 Qd6+ 78. Kg5 Qe7+ 79.
Kg6 Qe8+ 80. Kf6 Qf8+ 81. Ke6 Qe8+ 82. Kd5 Qd8+ 83. Ke5 Qe8+ 84. Qe6 Qb5+ 85.
Kf6 Qh5 86. e5 Qh6+ 87. Ke7 Qg7+ 88. Kd6 Qf8+ 89. Qe7 Qb8+ 90. Ke6 Qb3+ 91. Kf6
Qf3+ 92. Kg7 Qg4+ 93. Kf8 Qf5+ 94. Qf6 Qc8+ 95. Kg7 Qg4+ 96. Kf7 Qd7+ 97. Kg6
Qg4+ 98. Qg5 Qe6+ 99. Qf6 Qg4+ 100. Kf7 Qd7+ 101. Qe7 Qf5+ 102. Ke8 Qc8+ 103.
Kf7 Qf5+ 104. Qf6 Qd7+ 105. Kg6 Qg4+ 106. Qg5 Qe6+ 107. Kh5 Qh3+ 108. Kg6 Qe6+
{White is still winning in the final position, but short of time, Prolieko
decides to call it a day.} 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Score: Arch Bishops 8, Snowballs 4 ROUND 4 With only a draw needed to clinch the match, the Arch Bishops looked to be invincible. But after Donchenko beat Bok in 28 moves, it was Julian Prolenko who won the key game that gave Saint Louis the title.

[pgn]

[Event "PCL Final"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.05.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Agrest, Inna"]
[Black "Proleiko, Julian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2283"]
[BlackElo "2093"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3Q4/5pb1/p3p1k1/1p2P1pp/3P2qP/1P4B1/P5PK/8 w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Arch Bishops"]

41. d5 $2 {Low on the clock, Agrest blunders a pawn.} (41. Bf2 gxh4 42.
Bxh4 Qf4+ 43. Bg3 $11) (41. Qxg5+ Qxg5 42. hxg5 Kxg5 43. Kh3 $11) 41... gxh4 {
Suddenly the bishop is in trouble.} 42. Qxh4 {The best of a bad situation.} (
42. Bf2 Qf4+) (42. Be1 Bxe5+ $19) (42. Bxh4 Bxe5+ $19) (42. Bf4 Qxf4+) 42...
Qxh4+ 43. Bxh4 Bxe5+ 44. Kg1 exd5 {Black is easily winning.} 45. Kf2 Kf5 46.
Ke3 Bc3 47. Kd3 d4 48. Bf2 Kg4 49. a4 f5 50. Ke2 f4 51. Kd3 h4 52. Ke2 Bb2 53.
axb5 axb5 54. Be1 h3 55. gxh3+ Kxh3 56. Kf3 Bc1 57. Bf2 Be3 58. Be1 d3 59. b4
d2 60. Bxd2 Bxd2 61. Kf2 Kg4 62. Kg2 Be3 63. Kf1 Kf3 64. Ke1 Kg2 0-1

[/pgn]

After Caruana defeated Meier and Kollars ground down Theodorou, the fourth and final round of the 2019 PRO League Finals was split 2-2, giving the crown and glory to the Arch Bishops. Final Score: Arch Bishops 10, Snowballs 6. SCENES FROM SAN FRANCISCO Eric Rosen was on hand in San Francisco to take photos, and he generously provided CLO with some excellent shots. AND... With the PRO Chess League season now completed, some fans may wonder how they will pass the hours until the 2020 season kicks off early next year. Wonder no more. The PRO Chess League, in conjunction with chess.com, has announced a 2019 Summer Series to kick off next month. And fans can get in on the action, competing in Live Club Matches to help boost their favorite teams in the standings. Check out the announcement at chess.com and sign up today!