United States Chess League
Encyclopedia
The United States Chess League (USCL) is the only nation-wide chess
league in the United States
. It currently has sixteen teams, whose members include some of the highest-rated chess players in the United States
. Participants in recent seasons (between 2007 and 2010) have included Hikaru Nakamura
, Yury Shulman
, Varuzhan Akobian
, Larry Christiansen, Sergey Kudrin
, Jaan Ehlvest
, Alexander Shabalov
, and other grandmasters. The league was founded in 2005 by the current League Commissioner, International Master Greg Shahade
. Shahade is now assisted by Arun Sharma, who is the Vice President of the USCL.
became the first team to join the U.S. Chess League. Carolina joined the league on April 30, 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 August 31, 2005.
The league concluded its first season on November 24, 2005 when the Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the Miami Sharks three and a half to a half in the USCL Championship Match.
The league recognized the game between GM Larry Christiansen (Boston Blitz) and IM Pascal Charbonneau (Baltimore Kingfishers), won by Charbonneau in Week 4, as Game of the Year.
The Championship Match for the 2008 season featured the same teams as the previous year, with the Dallas Destiny again beating the Boston Blitz in the blitz tiebreaker to claim the Championship. Game of the Year honors went to GM Larry Christiansen (Boston) for his win in the Championship Match over IM Marko Zivanic (Dallas).
The Championship Match was contested by New York and Miami, with New York winning in the blitz tiebreaker, the fourth season in a row the Championship Match was decided in that fashion. Game of the Year honors went to GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (New York) for his win over GM Josh Friedel (San Francisco) from Week 5.
The expansion team from New England set a new league record with 9.5 points out of 10 matches, drawing only with their local competitors, the Boston Blitz. New England then worked its way through the playoffs, winning the Championship by a score of three to one against the Miami Sharks. The Championship match featured an unusual occurrence as a Miami player was unable to reach the playing site in time, resulting in a forfeit on Board Three. Game of the Year honors went to GM Varuzhan Akobian (Seattle) for his win over GM Yury Shulman (St. Louis) from Week 10.
, form, and availability. The average rating for each match is capped at less than 2401, with certain exceptions for highly rated players.
The season starts the last week of August and ends in late November or early December. Each team plays one match per week, and matches are almost always scheduled for Monday and Wednesday nights. All matches are played online at the Internet Chess Club
. Team members gather at a common public location where a league-approved tournament director is present.
If either team in a given match scores two and a half points or more from the four games, that team wins the match. If the score is split at two points apiece, the match is drawn. At the end of the regular season, the four teams in each division with the highest match point totals qualify for the playoffs, which are conducted in a knockout format. In the Championship match, a drawn match proceeds to a series of blitz games to determine the ultimate winner.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
league in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It currently has sixteen teams, whose members include some of the highest-rated chess players in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Participants in recent seasons (between 2007 and 2010) have included Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster . He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE....
, Yury Shulman
Yury Shulman
Yuri Shulman is a Belarusian American chess grandmaster. He also goes by the alternate spelling of "Yury Shulman."-Chess career:Shulman started formal chess lessons with coach Tamara Golovey when he was six years old. He went on to study under International Master Albert Kapengut at age 12, and...
, Varuzhan Akobian
Varuzhan Akobian
Varuzhan Akobian is an Armenian-American Grandmaster of chess, originally from Armenia, who now resides in Los Angeles.He became an International Master at age 16...
, Larry Christiansen, Sergey Kudrin
Sergey Kudrin
Sergey Kudrin is an American chess Grandmaster who was born in the Soviet Union. He achieved his Grandmaster title in 1984 going on to win chess tournaments at Copenhagen in 1983, and Beer-Sheva in 1984, and Torremolinos in 1985...
, Jaan Ehlvest
Jaan Ehlvest
Jaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest (born 14 October 1962 is a chess player, who was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1987 and was named Estonian sportsman of the year in 1987 and 1989...
, Alexander Shabalov
Alexander Shabalov
Alexander Shabalov is an American chess grandmaster, the multiple winner of the U.S. Chess Championships; he was the 2007 US Champion. He was born in Latvia, and like his fellow Latvians Alexei Shirov and Mikhail Tal he is known for courting complications even at the cost of objective soundness...
, and other grandmasters. The league was founded in 2005 by the current League Commissioner, International Master Greg Shahade
Greg Shahade
Gregory Shahade is an International Master of chess. He founded the New York Masters and the U.S. Chess League. He is a former member of the Executive Board of the United States Chess Federation...
. Shahade is now assisted by Arun Sharma, who is the Vice President of the USCL.
Origin and first season
On January 30, 2005 the San Francisco MechanicsMechanics' Institute Chess Club
The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco is the oldest chess club in the United States. The first meeting of the Mechanics' Institute was held on December 11, 1854, and it was incorporated on April 24, 1855...
became the first team to join the U.S. Chess League. Carolina joined the league on April 30, 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 August 31, 2005.
The league concluded its first season on November 24, 2005 when the Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the Miami Sharks three and a half to a half in the USCL Championship Match.
The league recognized the game between GM Larry Christiansen (Boston Blitz) and IM Pascal Charbonneau (Baltimore Kingfishers), won by Charbonneau in Week 4, as Game of the Year.
Second season
On March 10, 2006 Commissioner Shahade announced that two expansion teams, the Seattle Sluggers 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 in the blitz tiebreaker to win the Championship. Game of the Year honors went to the drawn game between GM Pawel Blehm (Baltimore) and GM Pascal Charbonneau (New York Knights) from Week 2.Third season
In 2007, two further expansion teams, the New Jersey Knockouts and the Queens Pioneers, joined the USCL. The Philadelphia Masterminds also changed their name to the Philadelphia Inventors. In the season ending Championship Match, the Dallas Destiny defeated the Boston Blitz in the blitz tiebreaker. Game of the Year went to SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun's (Boston) defeat of IM Davorin Kuljasevic (Dallas) from the Championship Match.Fourth season
At the end of 2007, the league announced two additional teams for the upcoming season: the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions. These teams competed in the Western Division. The Carolina Cobras moved back to East to balance the Divisions.The Championship Match for the 2008 season featured the same teams as the previous year, with the Dallas Destiny again beating the Boston Blitz in the blitz tiebreaker to claim the Championship. Game of the Year honors went to GM Larry Christiansen (Boston) for his win in the Championship Match over IM Marko Zivanic (Dallas).
Fifth season
For the first time, the participating cities and divisions remained the same in the 2009 season. One key rule change was the elimination of bonus rating points for female players, instead establishing a bonus roster spot for the team if at least one woman was on the roster.The Championship Match was contested by New York and Miami, with New York winning in the blitz tiebreaker, the fourth season in a row the Championship Match was decided in that fashion. Game of the Year honors went to GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (New York) for his win over GM Josh Friedel (San Francisco) from Week 5.
Sixth season
The league expanded from fourteen to sixteen teams this year, with the addition of three new teams (the St. Louis Arch Bishops, the Los Angeles Vibe, and the New England Nor'easters) and the folding of the Tennessee Tempo. Additionally, the Queens Pioneers moved to Manhattan and became known as the Manhattan Applesauce. The rules were also changed to eliminate alternates, favoring instead another permanent roster spot, increasing the size to nine, or ten if at least one woman is on the team.The expansion team from New England set a new league record with 9.5 points out of 10 matches, drawing only with their local competitors, the Boston Blitz. New England then worked its way through the playoffs, winning the Championship by a score of three to one against the Miami Sharks. The Championship match featured an unusual occurrence as a Miami player was unable to reach the playing site in time, resulting in a forfeit on Board Three. Game of the Year honors went to GM Varuzhan Akobian (Seattle) for his win over GM Yury Shulman (St. Louis) from Week 10.
Seventh season
As in the fifth season, the participating teams and divisions remained the same as in the previous season. The only major rule change was the increasing of roster size from nine spots to ten along with the elimination of the bonus roster spot that had previously been given if there was at least one woman on the team.Eastern Division
- Baltimore Kingfishers
- Boston Blitz
- Carolina Cobras
- Manhattan Applesauce (previously the Queens Pioneers)
- New England Nor'easters
- New Jersey Knockouts
- New York Knights
- Philadelphia Inventors
Western Division
- Arizona Scorpions
- Chicago Blaze
- Dallas Destiny
- Los Angeles Vibe
- Miami Sharks
- San Francisco MechanicsMechanics' Institute Chess ClubThe Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco is the oldest chess club in the United States. The first meeting of the Mechanics' Institute was held on December 11, 1854, and it was incorporated on April 24, 1855...
- Seattle Sluggers
- St. Louis Arch Bishops
Format
Teams consist of rosters of ten players, and each week the manager selects a lineup of four, depending on ratingElo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
, form, and availability. The average rating for each match is capped at less than 2401, with certain exceptions for highly rated players.
The season starts the last week of August and ends in late November or early December. Each team plays one match per week, and matches are almost always scheduled for Monday and Wednesday nights. All matches are played online at the Internet Chess Club
Internet Chess Club
The Internet Chess Club is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC currently has over 30,000 subscribing members...
. Team members gather at a common public location where a league-approved tournament director is present.
If either team in a given match scores two and a half points or more from the four games, that team wins the match. If the score is split at two points apiece, the match is drawn. At the end of the regular season, the four teams in each division with the highest match point totals qualify for the playoffs, which are conducted in a knockout format. In the Championship match, a drawn match proceeds to a series of blitz games to determine the ultimate winner.