United States Chess League 2009
The United States Chess League 2009 was the fifth edition of the United States Chess League , the US team championship in chess.
Champion was the team of the New York Knights , while defending champion Dallas Destiny missed the playoff. As in the previous year, the competition was held with 14 teams.
For the reported team roster, see the 2009 United States Chess League team roster .
Game dates
The competitions of the preliminary round ( Regular Season ) took place on August 31/2. September, 8/9, 14/16, 21/23 and 28./30. September 5/7, 12/14, 19/21 and 26./28. October and November 4, 2009, whereby in the first nine rounds generally three competitions were played on the first date (deviating from this in the third round two, in the fifth and seventh four each time) and the rest on the second date. Two competitions of the quarterfinals were played on November 9th and 11th, the semi-finals on November 16th and 18th, and the final on December 7th. 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 New Jersey, Boston and New York qualified early for the playoff, the decision for fourth place was only made in the last round between Baltimore, Philadelphia and Queens.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | New Jersey knockouts | 10 | 8th | 0 | 2 | 8.0: 2.0 | 26.0: 14.0 |
| 2. | Boston Blitz | 10 | 7th | 1 | 2 | 7.5: 2.5 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 3. | New York Knights | 10 | 3 | 4th | 3 | 5.0: 5.0 | 22.0: 18.0 |
| 4th | Baltimore Kingfishers | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 18.5: 21.5 |
| 5. | Philadelphia Inventors | 10 | 2 | 4th | 4th | 4.0: 6.0 | 17.5: 22.5 |
| 6th | Queens Pioneers | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3.5: 6.5 | 17.0: 23.0 |
| 7th | Carolina Cobras (D) | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7th | 2.0: 8.0 | 13.5: 26.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: New Jersey Knockouts , Boston Blitz , New York Knights , Baltimore Kingfishers | |
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
|---|
Western Division
Before the last round, the playoff places were already taken, only the order was still open.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Seattle Sluggers | 10 | 6th | 3 | 1 | 7.5: 2.5 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 2. | San Francisco Mechanics | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6.5: 3.5 | 22.5: 17.5 |
| 3. | Arizona Scorpions | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6.5: 3.5 | 22.5: 17.5 |
| 4th | Miami Sharks (D) | 10 | 4th | 4th | 2 | 6.0: 4.0 | 22.0: 18.0 |
| 5. | Chicago Blaze | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4.0: 6.0 | 18.5: 21.5 |
| 6th | Dallas Destiny (M) | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3.5: 6.5 | 17.0: 23.0 |
| 7th | Tennessee pace | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7th | 2.0: 8.0 | 16.0: 24.0 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Seattle Sluggers , San Francisco Mechanics , Arizona Scorpions , Miami Sharks | |
| (M) | Last year's champion |
|---|---|
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
Finals
Overview
| Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | ||||||||
| New Jersey knockouts | 3 | |||||||||
| Baltimore Kingfishers | 1 | |||||||||
| New Jersey knockouts | 1½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 2½ | |||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 1½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 2½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 2 | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 2 | |||||||||
| Seattle Sluggers | ½ | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 3½ | |||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 2½ | |||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 1½ | |||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 3½ | |||||||||
| Arizona Scorpions | ½ | |||||||||
decisions
| American team champion: New York Knights |
Quarter finals
While tight decisions were made in the Eastern Division, Miami and San Francisco clearly set themselves apart in the Western Division.
Semifinals
In both competitions, the team with the worse preliminary round placement prevailed.
final
The final ended 2: 2, so that the decision had to be made for the fourth time in a row 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Eric Rodriguez (Miami) | Yaacov Norowitz (New York) | 0: 1 |
| Yaacov Norowitz (New York) | Alejandro Moreno Roman (Miami) | 0: 1 |
| Alejandro Moreno Roman (Miami) | Matthew Herman (New York) | 1-0 |
| Pascal Charbonneau (New York) | Alejandro Moreno Roman (Miami) | 0: 1 |
| Alejandro Moreno Roman (Miami) | Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York) | 0: 1 |
| Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York) | Blas Lugo (Miami) | 1-0 |
| Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami) | Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York) | 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. Hikaru Nakamura (Seattle) won the title with 23 points, followed by Boris Gulko (New Jersey) with 17 points and Angelo Young (Chicago) with 14.5 points.
Rookie of the Year
The title of Rookie of the Year was given to the most successful debutant in the USCL. The title went to Yaacov Norowitz (New York), who achieved 8 points from 11 games.
Most Improved Player
The title of Most Improved Player was awarded to the player who was able to increase his tournament performance the most compared to his previous participation in the USCL. The title went to Bryan Smith (Philadelphia), who was able to increase his performance by almost 300 points (from 2338 to 2616).
All star teams
Three All Star Teams were nominated. The first team consisted of Hikaru Nakamura (Seattle), Boris Gulko (New Jersey), Angelo Young (Chicago) and Eric Rodriguez (Miami), the second Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami), Dean Ippolito (New Jersey), Andrei Zaremba (Queens ) and Yaacov Norowitz (New York) and the third Alexander Stripunsky (Queens), Pascal Charbonneau (New York), Marc Esserman (Boston) and Yian Liou (San Francisco).
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 ( wildcards ) the game of the year (was Game of the Year ) selected. The title went to Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York) 's win against Joshua Friedel (San Francisco) in the fifth round, followed by two wildcards in places 2 and 3. The winning game of Matthew Herman (New York) against Daniel Naroditsky (San Francisco) was also played in the fifth round, the winning game of Marc Esserman (Boston) against Ronald Simpson (Carolina) came from the second round (Game of the Week the second Round was Joshua Friedel's winning game against Marko Zivanic (Dallas), who only ended up in 20th place in the Game of the Year election).
The championship team
| 1. | New York Knights |
 |
Giorgi Katscheischwili , Pascal Charbonneau , John Fedorowicz , Irina Krush , Jay Bonin , Matthew Herman , Evan Rosenberg, Yaacov Norowitz , Raven Sturt, Gregory Braylovsky. |
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