United States Chess League

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United States Chess League
Sport Chess
Founded 2005
No. of teams 12
Country(ies) Flag of the United States United States
Most recent
champion(s)		 Dallas Destiny
Official website uschessleague.com

The United States Chess League (USCL) is the only nation-wide chess league in the United States. It currently has twelve teams, whose members include some of the highest-rated chess players in the United States.[1] Participants in the 2007 season included Larry Christiansen [2], Hikaru Nakamura [3], Ildar Ibragimov, Sergey Kudrin and other grandmasters. The league was founded in 2005 by the current league commissioner, International Master Greg Shahade [4].

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Origin and first season

On January 30, 2005 the San Francisco Mechanics became the first team to join the U.S. Chess league. The Boston Blitz joined the league on April 25 2005, bringing the league to its full first-season roster of eight teams. The Boston Blitz and the New York Knights played the inaugural match on September 1 2005. The league concluded its first season on November 24 2005 when the Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the Miami Sharks in the USCL Championship.

[edit] Second season

On March 10, 2006 Commissioner Shahade announced that two expansion teams, the Seattle Slugger and the Tennessee Tempo, would join the league for the second season. The 2006 season concluded on November 29 2006 as the San Francisco Mechanics defeated the New York Knights to win the championship[5].

[edit] Third season

In 2007, two further expansion teams, the New Jersey Knockouts and the Queens Pioneers, joined the USCL[6]. The Philadelphia Masterminds also changed their name to the Philadelphia Inventors[7]. In the season-ending championship match, the Dallas Destiny defeated the Boston Blitz[8].

[edit] Fourth season

At the end of 2007, the league announced two additional teams for the upcoming season: the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions.[9] These teams will compete in the Western Division. The Carolina Cobras will move back to the Eastern to balance the divisions.

[edit] Teams (as of 2007 season)

[edit] Eastern division

  • Boston Blitz
  • Baltimore Kingfishers
  • New Jersey Knockouts
  • New York Knights
  • Philadelphia Inventors
  • Queens Pioneers

[edit] Western division

[edit] Format

Teams are made up of rosters of up to eight players and two alternates, from which the manager selects a match-day team of four, depending on rating, form and availability. The average rating for each match-day team is capped at less than 2401, with certain exceptions for highly-rated players. Team members may be male or female, and using female players also allows for a slightly higher average rating cap.

The season starts the last week of August and ends in November. One match is played each week. Matches are normally scheduled for Wednesday nights, but each week (except the final week of the regular season) two teams play on Monday night. All matches are played online at the Internet Chess Club. Team members gather at a common public location where a league-appointed tournament director is present.

If either team in a given match scores 2.5 points or more from the four games, that team wins the match. If the score is split at 2 points apiece, the match is drawn. At the end of the regular season, the three teams in each division with the highest match-point totals qualify for playoffs, which are conducted in knockout format. In the final championship match, a drawn match proceeds to a series of blitz games to determine the ultimate winner.[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ USCF top rating list, December 2007
  2. ^ Boston Blitz team website
  3. ^ US Chess Federation News
  4. ^ Historical notes on USCL in New York Times
  5. ^ "Mechanics Wrench Victory From New York". Accessed Jun. 4th, 2007
  6. ^ "Queens and New Jersey join the USCL". Accessed Apr. 14th, 2007
  7. ^ "Philadelphia Masterminds change name to Inventors" Accessed Apr. 14th, 2007
  8. ^ Coverage in Gambit, the New York Times chess blog
  9. ^ Official USCL announcement
  10. ^ Official rules from USCL site

[edit] External links