United States Chess League 2011
The United States Chess League 2011 was the seventh edition of the United States Chess League , the US team championship in chess.
The champions became the team of the New York Knights , while the defending champions New England Nor'easters missed the qualification for the playoff. As in the previous year, the competition was held with 16 teams.
For the reported team roster, see the 2011 United States Chess League team roster .
Game dates
The competitions of the preliminary round ( Regular Season ) took place on 29./31. August 6/7, 12/14, 19/21 and 26./28. September, 3rd / 5th, 11th / 12th and 24./26. October and October 31/2. November 2011, with four competitions being played on the first and second date (except in the first round, in which three competitions were held on August 29 and five on August 31). Two competitions of the quarter-finals were played on November 7th and 9th, the semifinals took place on November 14th, and the final on November 20th. All competitions were played on the Internet Chess Club server .
mode
The 16 participating teams were divided into two groups of eight ( Eastern Division and Western Division ). Each team played twice against two other members of the same group and once against the five other teams in the same group and against one team 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 16 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 | St. Louis Arch Bishops |
| Manhattan apple sauce | Arizona Scorpions |
| Carolina Cobras | Chicago Blaze |
| New England Nor'easters | Los Angeles vibe |
Eastern Division
While Philadelphia and New York qualified early for the playoff, the decision on the other two playoff participants was not made until the last round between Boston, Manhattan and New England.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Philadelphia Inventors | 10 | 7th | 2 | 1 | 8.0: 2.0 | 25.5: 14.5 |
| 2. | New York Knights | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6.0: 4.0 | 22.0: 18.0 |
| 3. | Boston Blitz | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6.0: 4.0 | 20.0: 20.0 |
| 4th | Manhattan apple sauce | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5.5: 4.5 | 22.5: 17.5 |
| 5. | New England Nor'easters (M, D) | 10 | 4th | 3 | 3 | 5.5: 4.5 | 20.5: 19.5 |
| 6th | Baltimore Kingfishers | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6th | 3.0: 7.0 | 16.5: 23.5 |
| 7th | Carolina Cobras | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6th | 3.0: 7.0 | 15.5: 24.5 |
| 8th. | New Jersey knockouts | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6th | 2.5: 7.5 | 16.5: 23.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Philadelphia Inventors , New York Knights , Boston Blitz , Manhattan Apple Sauce | |
| (M) | Last year's champion |
|---|---|
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
Western Division
Before the last round, Chicago and Los Angeles were already qualified for the playoffs, the decision on the other two playoff places fell between San Francisco, Dallas, Arizona and Miami.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Chicago Blaze | 10 | 8th | 1 | 1 | 8.5: 1.5 | 28.0: 12.0 |
| 2. | Los Angeles vibe | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6.5: 3.5 | 22.5: 17.5 |
| 3. | San Francisco Mechanics | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5.5: 4.5 | 21.0: 19.0 |
| 4th | Dallas Destiny | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5.5: 4.5 | 20.5: 19.5 |
| 5. | Arizona Scorpions (D) | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 6th | Miami Sharks | 10 | 4th | 1 | 5 | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 7th | Seattle Sluggers | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4th | 3.5: 6.5 | 16.0: 24.0 |
| 8th. | St. Louis Arch Bishops | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7th | 2.0: 8.0 | 14.5: 25.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Chicago Blaze , Los Angeles Vibe , San Francisco Mechanics , Dallas Destiny | |
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
|---|
Finals
Overview
| Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | ||||||||
| Philadelphia Inventors | 1 | |||||||||
| Manhattan apple sauce | 3 | |||||||||
| Manhattan apple sauce | 1½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 2½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 2 | |||||||||
| Boston Blitz | 2 | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 2½ | |||||||||
| Chicago Blaze | 1½ | |||||||||
| Chicago Blaze | 2 | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 2 | |||||||||
| Chicago Blaze | 2½ | |||||||||
| Los Angeles vibe | 1½ | |||||||||
| Los Angeles vibe | 2½ | |||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 1½ | |||||||||
decisions
| American team champion: New York Knights |
Quarter finals
All competitions saw tight decisions, with New York and Chicago the later finalists even only reached the semifinals thanks to the better preliminary round placement after a 2-2 draw against Boston and Dallas respectively.
Semifinals
The decisions in the semi-finals were also tight.
final
With a 2.5: 1.5 win, New York won the second title after 2009.
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. Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York) won the title with 25 points, followed by Conrad Holt (Dallas) and Ben Finegold with 23 points each. Due to the better individual result, Holt took second place.
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 William Fisher (Philadelphia), who achieved 9.5 points from 10 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 Mackenzie Molner (Arizona).
All star teams
Three All Star Teams were nominated. The first team consisted of Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston), Conrad Holt (Dallas), Jay Bonin and William Fisher (both Philadelphia), the second Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York), Levon Altounian (Arizona), Tatev Abrahamyan (Los Angeles) and Sam Schmakel (Chicago) and the third Ben Finegold (St. Louis), Jesse Kraai (San Francisco), Angelo Young (Chicago) and Roland Feng (Seattle).
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 the winning game of Melikset Khachiyan (Los Angeles) against Ioan-Cristian Chirilă (Dallas) from the fifth round, in places 2 and 3 followed the winning games of Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (Boston) against Lev Milman (Manhattan) the second and against Giorgi Katscheishvili (New York) from the third round.
The championship team
| 1. | New York Knights |
 |
Giorgi Katscheischwili , Pascal Charbonneau , Irina Krush , John Fedorowicz , Matthew Herman , Leif Pressman, Michael Bodek , Justus Williams, John Fernandez, Ben Gershenov. |
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