United States Chess League 2008
The United States Chess League 2008 was the fourth edition of the United States Chess League , the US team championship in chess.
Champion became the defending champion Dallas Destiny , who prevailed like last year in the final against Boston Blitz . With the Arizona Scorpions (which are located in Phoenix (Arizona) and Tucson ) and Chicago Blaze two new teams were at the start, so that the competition was held with 14 teams.
For the reported team roster, see the 2008 United States Chess League team roster .
Game dates
The competitions of the preliminary round ( Regular Season ) took place on August 27, September 3, 10, 17 and 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29, 2008, with the exception of the second and tenth round between one and three competitions were played two days earlier. The quarter-finals were played on November 10th, the semi-finals on November 19th, and the final on December 6th. All competitions were played on the Internet Chess Club server .
mode
The 14 participating teams were divided into two groups of seven ( Eastern Division and Western Division ). Each team played twice against two other members of the same group and once against the four other 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 four of each group qualified for the final round ( playoff ), which was played in the knockout system .
Preliminary round
Grouping
The 14 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 | Arizona Scorpions |
| Carolina Cobras | Chicago Blaze |
Eastern Division
While Carolina, Boston and Queens qualified early for the playoff, the decision about fourth place was only made in the last round in a direct comparison between New York and New Jersey.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Carolina Cobras | 10 | 6th | 2 | 2 | 7.0: 3.0 | 24.0: 16.0 |
| 2. | Queens Pioneers | 10 | 6th | 2 | 2 | 7.0: 3.0 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 3. | Boston Blitz (D) | 10 | 6th | 0 | 4th | 6.0: 4.0 | 23.0: 17.0 |
| 4th | New York Knights | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5.0: 5.0 | 18.0: 22.0 |
| 5. | New Jersey knockouts | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 20.0: 20.0 |
| 6th | Philadelphia Inventors | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8th | 2.0: 8.0 | 15.0: 25.0 |
| 7th | Baltimore Kingfishers | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8th | 1.5: 8.5 | 14.0: 26.0 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Carolina Cobras , Queens Pioneers , Boston Blitz , New York Knights | |
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
|---|
Western Division
While Miami, San Francisco and Dallas had already qualified for the playoff early, the decision on place 4 was made in the last round between Seattle, Arizona and Chicago.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Miami Sharks | 10 | 6th | 2 | 2 | 7.0: 3.0 | 26.5: 13.5 |
| 2. | San Francisco Mechanics | 10 | 6th | 1 | 3 | 6.5: 3.5 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 3. | Dallas Destiny (M, D) | 10 | 6th | 1 | 3 | 6.5: 3.5 | 21.0: 19.0 |
| 4th | Seattle Sluggers | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 18.0: 22.0 |
| 5. | Arizona Scorpions (N) | 10 | 4th | 1 | 5 | 4.5: 5.5 | 17.5: 22.5 |
| 6th | Chicago Blaze (N) | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4.0: 6.0 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 7th | Tennessee pace | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4.0: 6.0 | 16.5: 23.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Miami Sharks , San Francisco Mechanics , Dallas Destiny , Seattle Sluggers | |
| (M) | Last year's champion |
|---|---|
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
| (N) | first time participating team |
Finals
Overview
| Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | ||||||||
| Carolina Cobras | 3½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | ½ | |||||||||
| Carolina Cobras | 1½ | |||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 2½ | |||||||||
| Queens Pioneers | 1½ | |||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 2½ | |||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 2 | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 2 | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 2½ | |||||||||
| Seattle Sluggers | 1½ | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 1 | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 3 | |||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 1½ | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 2½ | |||||||||
decisions
| American team champion: Dallas Destiny |
Quarter finals
While Carolina clearly prevailed against New York, the other competitions had tight decisions, which in the end saw the group winners and the group thirds victorious.
Semifinals
As in the previous year, Boston and Dallas prevailed in the semi-finals.
final
The final ended 2: 2, so that the decision had to be made again in a tiebreak 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ilya Krasik (Boston) | Bayaraa Zorigt (Dallas) | 0: 1 |
| Bayaraa Zorigt (Dallas) | Marc Esserman (Boston) | 0: 1 |
| Marc Esserman (Boston) | Igor Schneider (Dallas) | 1-0 |
| Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) | Marc Esserman (Boston) | 1-0 |
| Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston) | Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) | 0: 1 |
| Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas) | Larry Christiansen (Boston) | 0.5: 0.5 |
| Larry Christiansen (Boston) | Davorin Kuljašević (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. Alex Lenderman (Queens) won the title with 22 points, followed by Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami) with 20 points and Sergey Erenburg (Baltimore) with 16 points.
Rookie of the Year
For the second time, the title of Rookie of the Year was awarded to the most successful debutant in the USCL. The title went to Alex Lenderman, who achieved 7.5 points from 8 games.
Most Improved Player
Also for the second 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 Pascal Charbonneau (New York), who was able to increase his performance by more than 300 points (from 2401 to 2721).
All star teams
Three All Star Teams were nominated. The first team consisted of Julio Becerra Ribero (Miami), Davorin Kuljašević (Dallas), Alex Lenderman (Queens), the second Sergey Erenburg (Baltimore), Slava Mikhailuk (Seattle), Marc Esserman (Boston) and Eric Rodriguez (Miami), the third Jaan Ehlvest (Tennessee), Thomas Bartell (Philadelphia), Samuel Shankland (San Francisco) and Ilya Krasik (Boston).
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 Larry Christiansen (Boston) against Marko Zivanic (Dallas) in the final, followed by Sergey Erenburg (Baltimore) against Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston) in the eighth round and in places 2 and 3 by Jorge Sammour-Hasbun against David Pruess (San Francisco) from the fifth round.
The championship team
| 1. | Dallas Destiny |
 |
Davorin Kuljašević , Drasko Bošković , Marko Zivanic , John Bartholomew , Igor Schneider, Bayaraa Zorigt, Karina Wazirowa , Andrei Zaremba. |
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 in the USCL blog
- ↑ Pascal Charbonneau's profile at USCL (English)