Chess Bundesliga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Chess Bundesliga (German: Schach Bundesliga), normally refers to the premier league of team chess in Germany. It is arguably the strongest and longest running league of its kind, attracting many top grandmasters from Europe and beyond.
Austria also has a Bundesliga for chess, usually described as the Bundesliga OST (OST=Osterreich), but for the purposes of this article, reference is made only to the German league.
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[edit] Format
16 teams are made up of squads of up to 16 players, from which the manager selects a match-day team of 8, depending on rating, form and of course, availability. Team members may be male or female, but there is also a separate Bundesliga for women's chess.
The season starts in October and ends in April. Venues for matches alternate between the participating clubs to minimise or equalise travel commitments for players. Many of the titled professionals are paid an appearance fee and/or travel expenses.
Each playing weekend normally comprises 2 matches for each team, played on consecutive days. Hence, four venues play host to 2 matches on each of the 2 days. Over the course of the season there are 15 rounds, in order that all teams play each other once.
[edit] Season 2006/7
Prior to the commencement of the new season, it seems likely that the reigning champions OSC Baden-Baden will start as runaway favourites - their impressive squad is topped by 8 players averaging a hefty Elo rating of 2709.
The 8 players in question are: Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, Alexei Shirov, Etienne Bacrot, Magnus Carlsen, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Pentala Harikrishna and Francisco Vallejo Pons. The remaining squad players will ensure that absent team members are not missed too much. Top quality GMs Peter Heine Nielsen, Sergei Movsesian and Michal Krasenkow are just three of the players standing by.
If the contest is not to be a foregone conclusion, nearest competitors SG Porz, TSV Bindlach-Aktionar and Werder Bremen will need to play very well.
[edit] Recent seasons
The top 4 finishing teams in the last 3 seasons were as follows:
2005/6 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. SG Porz | 4. SG Solingen
2004/5 - 1. SV Werder Bremen | 2. SG Porz | 3. OSC Baden-Baden | 4. TV Tegernsee
2003/4 - 1. SG Porz | 2. SC Baden-Oos | 3. TV Tegernsee | 4. SV Werder Bremen
[edit] See also
4NCL - the British based Four Nations Chess League.
