Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers

Pittsburgh Clinches Playoff Berth with Super Saturday Win

February 24th, 2018

The Pawngrabbers are in! With 19.5 points and a 4th place finish the Pawngrabbers are guaranteed a spot in the 2018 PRO Chess League Playoffs! The Pawngrabbers unit clinched the win half way through Round 7 with 5 games remaining in the competition.

Special ChessOpeningsExplained.com Giveaway

February 23rd, 2018

Don't miss out on your chance to win a free membership to ChessOpeningsExplained.com! Join the Booster's Club by 11:59PM EST tomorrow to claim your free membership!

Pittsburgh Storms Past Montclair, 10.5–5.5

February 15th, 2018

The Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers left no room for the Montclair Sopranos on Wednesday night, winning 10.5-5.5 for their largest single-match margin. Unlike previous matches, Pittsburgh edged out Montclair in every round.

Pittsburgh Upset Defending Champs St. Louis

February 8th, 2018

Pittsburgh couldn't have had a more exciting win last night, toppling none other than the St. Louis Archbishops, last year's champion team, 8.5-7.5. Chess.com gave Pittsburgh only an 11% chance of winning the match (and even worse at halftime)!

GM Eugene Perelshteyn Breaks Down Awonder's Performance

February 5th, 2018

GM Awonder Liang scored an impressive 4.5/8 against much stronger competition in last weekend's Super Saturday performance, beating players like GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Lenier Dominguez!

GM Eugene Perelshteyn from ChessOpeningsExplained.com and team manager CM Isaac Steincamp break down all 8 of Awonder's openings from Super Saturday.

Pittsburgh Achieves Needed "Draw" in Super Saturday

February 4th, 2018

Three days after a narrow loss to the Minnesota Blizzard, Pittsburgh has eked out a half point from PRO Chess League Super Saturday, after a four-hour battle against their toughest opposition yet. Look no further than GM Awonder Liang, who had been undefeated but faced a daunting lineup that included Shakriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, and other world-class grandmasters.

Massive Comeback Can't Stop Minnesota

January 31st, 2018

The Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers responded to an early 3-point deficit the only way they know how, staging a late comeback to force the Minnesota Blizzard back into business. Unfortunately, there are a few things you can't do in a PRO Chess League match, and going down 3.5-0.5 early is one of them. Minnesota held its ground for a well-deserved 8.5-7.5 victory, emerging clear first in the Atlantic Division for the first time.

Pittsburgh Tied for Division Lead After Defeating Montreal

January 26th, 2018

The Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers are just one of two undefeated teams in the Atlantic Division after tonight's win over the Montreal Chessbrahs. The Pawngrabbers were solid throughout the match, increasing their margin over the Chessbrahs every round to finish 9.5-6.5. The other undefeated team is the Minnesota Blizzard, who edge us out in game points after pummeling Buenos Aires 11.5-4.5. We'll have to fix that when we face off next week!

Pittsburgh Opens Season with Resounding Win over Buenos Aires

January 19th, 2018

The Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers couldn't have asked for a better start to the 2018 PRO Chess League season, emerging clear 2nd in the Atlantic Division after defeating the Buenos Aires Krakens by a higher-than-expected 10-6 margin.