United States Chess League 2007
The United States Chess League 2007 was the third edition of the United States Chess League , the US team championship in chess.
The champions were the Dallas Destiny team , while the defending champions San Francisco Mechanics failed in the wildcard round of the playoff. With New Jersey Knockouts (located in Lincoln Park (New Jersey) ) and Queens Pioneers two new teams were at the start, so that the competition was held with twelve teams.
For the reported team roster, see the 2007 United States Chess League team roster .
Game dates
The competitions of the preliminary round ( Regular Season ) took place on August 29th, 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th September, 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st October 2007, with the exception of the second , sixth and tenth round, a competition was played two days beforehand. The Wildcard Round was played on November 7th, the semi-finals on November 14th and 19th, and the final on November 28th. All competitions were played on the Internet Chess Club server .
mode
The twelve participating teams were divided into two groups of six ( Eastern Division and Western Division ). Each team played twice against three other members of the same group and once against the other two teams in the same group and against two teams from the other group. The number of team points (one point for a win, half a point for a draw, no point for a defeat), then the number of board points (one point for a win, half a point for a draw, no Point for defeat). The first three of each group qualified for the final round ( playoff ), which was played in the knockout system . The two group winners were directly qualified for the semifinals, while the second and third placed in the wildcard round played the other two semifinal places.
Preliminary round
Grouping
The twelve teams were divided into the two preliminary rounds as follows:
| Eastern Division | Western Division |
|---|---|
| New York Knights | San Francisco Mechanics |
| Baltimore Kingfishers | Miami Sharks |
| Boston Blitz | Dallas Destiny |
| Philadelphia Inventors | Seattle Sluggers |
| New Jersey knockouts | Tennessee pace |
| Queens Pioneers | Carolina Cobras |
Eastern Division
In the last round both the decision about the direct semi-final qualification between Boston and Philadelphia and the decision about third place between New York, New Jersey and Baltimore were made.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Boston Blitz (D) | 10 | 5 | 4th | 1 | 7.0: 3.0 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 2. | Philadelphia Inventors | 10 | 6th | 0 | 4th | 6.0: 4.0 | 20.5: 19.5 |
| 3. | New York Knights | 10 | 4th | 2 | 4th | 5.0: 5.0 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 4th | New Jersey Knockouts (N) | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 5. | Queens Pioneers (N) | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 6th | Baltimore Kingfishers | 10 | 2 | 4th | 4th | 4.0: 6.0 | 18.5: 21.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the semifinals: Boston Blitz | |
| qualified for the Wildcard Round: Philadelphia Inventors , New York Knights | |
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
|---|---|
| (N) | first time participating team |
Western Division
Before the last round, Dallas was the semi-finalist and San Francisco was the participant in the Wildcard Round, while the decision on third place was made in the last round between Miami and Seattle.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dallas Destiny | 10 | 6th | 2 | 2 | 7.0: 3.0 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 2. | San Francisco Mechanics (M, D) | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6.0: 4.0 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 3. | Miami Sharks | 10 | 4th | 2 | 4th | 5.0: 5.0 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 4th | Seattle Sluggers | 10 | 4th | 1 | 5 | 4.5: 5.5 | 20.5: 19.5 |
| 5. | Carolina Cobras | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 6th | Tennessee pace | 10 | 0 | 4th | 6th | 2.0: 8.0 | 14.0: 26.0 |
decisions
| qualified for the semifinals: Dallas Destiny | |
| qualified for the Wildcard Round: San Francisco Mechanics , Miami Sharks | |
| (M) | Last year's champion |
|---|---|
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
Finals
Overview
| Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | ||||||||
| Boston Blitz | ||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 2½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 1½ | |||||||||
| Philadelphia Investors | ½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 3½ | |||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 2 | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 2 | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | ||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 3½ | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | ½ | |||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 1½ | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 2½ | |||||||||
decisions
| American team champion: Dallas Destiny |
Wildcard Round
The two thirds in the group qualified for the semifinals. While Miami was already victorious against San Francisco, New York had lost both preliminary rounds to Philadelphia.
Semifinals
While Boston only narrowly won against New York, Dallas landed a clear win against Miami.
final
The final ended 2: 2, so the decision had to be made in a tie-break in blitz chess (with a time limit of 3 minutes for the entire game plus a 3-second premium per move). The regulations stipulated that the players lined up on the fourth board had to play against each other. The loser was eliminated while the winner faced the player on the next higher board. In a draw, both players failed, except when a player from the first board was involved. In this case the game was rescheduled with exchanged colors. The tie-break was decided as soon as all players on one team were eliminated. The results of the tie-break were:
| White | black | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Christopher Williams (Boston) | Bayaraa Zorigt (Dallas) | 1-0 |
| Jacek Stopa (Dallas) | Christopher Williams (Boston) | 1-0 |
| Denis Shmeliov (Boston) | Jacek Stopa (Dallas) | 0: 1 |
| Jacek Stopa (Dallas) | Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston) | 0.5: 0.5 |
| Larry Christiansen (Boston) | Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) | 0.5: 0.5 |
| Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) | Larry Christiansen (Boston) | 0: 1 |
| Larry Christiansen (Boston) | Drasko Bošković (Dallas) | 0: 1 |
Awards
Most Valuable Player
The title of Most Valuable Player (MVP) was awarded on the basis of the preliminary round results. A player received four points for a winning game on the first board, four points were deducted for a defeat. On the second board, three plus or minus points were awarded, on the third board 2.5 and fourth board two. In addition, one point was credited for each winning and drawing game achieved with the black pieces. Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami) won the title with 23 points, followed by Vinay Bhat (San Francisco) with 20 points and Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) with 18 points.
Rookie of the Year
For the first time, the title of Rookie of the Year was awarded to the most successful debutant in the USCL. The title went to Jorge Sammour-Hasburn (Boston), who achieved 6.5 points from 7 games.
Most Improved Player
Also for the first time, the title of Most Improved Player was awarded to the player who was able to increase his tournament performance the most compared to the previous year. The title went to Todd Andrews (Tennessee), who was able to increase his performance by more than 400 points (from 2064 to 2487).
All star teams
Three All Star Teams were nominated. The first team included Julio Becerra Rivero, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, Jacek Stopa (Dallas) and Irina Zenyuk (New York), the second Joel Benjamin (New York), Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas), Denis Shmeliov and Christopher Williams (both Boston ) and the third Larry Christiansen (Boston), Vinay Bhat (San Francisco), Jay Bonin (Philadelphia) and Bayaraa Zorigt (Dallas).
Game of the Year
After each round, a game of the week (was Game of the Week ) chosen from the 13 games of the week as well as seven other games, the game of the year (was Game of the Year ) selected. The title went to the winning game of Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston) against Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) in the final, followed by the winning games of Drasko Bošković (Dallas) against Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami) in the semifinals and Marcel Martinez (Miami) against Dmitry Zilberstein (San Francisco) from the Wildcard Round.
The championship team
| 1. | Dallas Destiny |
 |
Drasko Bošković , Davorin Kuljašević , John Bartholomew , Jacek Stopa , Andrei Zaremba, Ryan Milisits, Francisco Guadalupe, Bayaraa Zorigt, Keaton Kiewra , Lilia Doibani. |
Web links
- Schedule on the USCL homepage
- Preliminary round tables on the USCL homepage (English)
- Final round results on the USCL homepage
- Player statistics on the homepage of the USCL (English)
- Games of the Week on the USCL homepage
Individual evidence
- ↑ Announcement on the New Jersey Knockouts blog
- ↑ Todd Andrews' Profile at USCL