United States Chess League 2012
The United States Chess League 2012 was the eighth edition of the United States Chess League , the US team championship in chess.
Champion was the team of the Seattle Sluggers , while the defending champions New York Knights failed in the quarterfinals of the playoff. The team of the Connecticut Dreadnoughts (based in Norwalk (Connecticut) ) took part for the first time, while Chicago Blaze had withdrawn from the USCL, so that the competition was held again with 16 teams.
For the reported team roster, see the 2012 United States Chess League team roster .
Game dates
The competitions of the preliminary round ( Regular Season ) took place on 4th / 5th, 10th / 12th, 17th / 19th and 24./26. September, 1st / 3rd, 9th / 10th, 15th / 17th, 22nd / 24th and 29./30. October as well as on 6./7. November 2012, with four competitions being played on the first and second dates (except in the fourth round, in which five competitions were held on September 24th and three on September 26th). Two competitions of the quarter-finals were played on November 12th and 14th, the semifinals took place on November 19th, and the final on December 1st. 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 once against the other members of the same group and three 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 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 |
| Connecticut dreadnoughts | Carolina Cobras |
| New England Nor'easters | Los Angeles vibe |
Eastern Division
While Philadelphia qualified early for the playoff and New England missed the qualification prematurely, the decision on the three other playoff participants was made in the last round between the other six teams.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Philadelphia Inventors (D) | 10 | 6th | 3 | 1 | 7.5: 2.5 | 23.5: 16.5 |
| 2. | Manhattan apple sauce | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6.5: 3.5 | 23.0: 17.0 |
| 3. | New York Knights (M) | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5.5: 4.5 | 21.0: 19.0 |
| 4th | Baltimore Kingfishers | 10 | 4th | 3 | 2 | 5.5: 4.5 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 5. | New Jersey knockouts | 10 | 3 | 4th | 3 | 5.0: 5.0 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 6th | Connecticut Dreadnoughts (N) | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 7th | Boston Blitz | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4.0: 6.0 | 20.0: 20.0 |
| 8th. | New England Nor'easters | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6th | 3.0: 7.0 | 17.5: 22.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Philadelphia Inventors , Manhattan Applesauce , New York Knights , Baltimore Kingfishers | |
| (M) | Last year's champion |
|---|---|
| (D) | Last year's division winner |
| (N) | first time participating team |
Western Division
Before the last round, all decisions were made.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dallas Destiny | 10 | 6th | 2 | 2 | 7.0: 3.0 | 24.0: 16.0 |
| 2. | St. Louis Arch Bishops | 10 | 6th | 1 | 3 | 6.5: 3.5 | 24.5: 15.5 |
| 3. | Arizona Scorpions | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4th | 5.5: 4.5 | 22.0: 18.0 |
| 4th | Seattle Sluggers | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4th | 5.5: 4.5 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 5. | San Francisco Mechanics | 10 | 2 | 4th | 4th | 4.0: 6.0 | 19.0: 21.0 |
| 6th | Los Angeles vibe | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4th | 3.5: 6.5 | 16.5: 23.5 |
| 7th | Miami Sharks | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6th | 3.5: 6.5 | 15.0: 25.0 |
| 8th. | Carolina Cobras | 10 | 1 | 4th | 5 | 3.0: 7.0 | 17.5: 22.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the playoff: Dallas Destiny , St. Louis Arch Bishops , Arizona Scorpions , Seattle Sluggers |
Finals
Overview
| Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | ||||||||
| Philadelphia Inventors | 3½ | |||||||||
| Baltimore Kingfishers | ½ | |||||||||
| Philadelphia Inventors | 3 | |||||||||
| Manhattan apple sauce | 1 | |||||||||
| Manhattan apple sauce | 2½ | |||||||||
| New York Knights | 1½ | |||||||||
| Philadelphia Inventors | 1 | |||||||||
| Seattle Sluggers | 3 | |||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 1½ | |||||||||
| Seattle Sluggers | 2½ | |||||||||
| Seattle Sluggers | 2½ | |||||||||
| Arizona Scorpions | 1½ | |||||||||
| St. Louis Arch Bishops | 1½ | |||||||||
| Arizona Scorpions | 2½ | |||||||||
decisions
| American team champion: Seattle Sluggers |
Quarter finals
While in the Eastern Division the teams with better preliminary round placements prevailed, the underdogs reached the semifinals in the Western Division.
Semifinals
In the Eastern Division, the group winners Philadelphia prevailed, while in the Western Division with Seattle, fourth in the preliminary round reached the final.
final
Seattle won the title for the first time with a 3-1 win.
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, 3.5 plus or minus points were awarded analogously, on the third board three and fourth board 2.5. In addition, one point was credited for each winning and drawing game achieved with the black pieces. K. Priyadharshan (St. Louis) won the title with 29.5 points, followed by Dov Gorman (Philadelphia) with 22 and Lewan Bregadze (St. Louis) with 21 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 K. Priyadharshan (St. Louis), who achieved 8.5 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 Shaun Smith (Manhattan).
All star teams
Three All Star Teams were nominated. The first team consisted of Sergey Erenburg (Philadelphia), K. Priyadharshan (St. Louis), Dov Gorman (Philadelphia) and Shaun Smith (Manhattan), the second Varuzhan Akobian , Georgi Orlov , Joshua Sinanan (all Seattle) and Alexander King ( Manhattan) and the third Julio Catalino Sadorra (Dallas), Levon Altounian (Arizona), Lewan Bregadse (St. Louis) and Alexander Katz (New York).
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 Matthew Herman (New York) winning game against Eli Vovsha (Manhattan) in the quarterfinals. In second place was Tamas Gelashvili's (New York) winning game against Alex Stripunsky (New Jersey) from the tenth round (game of the week in the tenth round was the winning game by Kazim Gulamali (Boston) against Larry Kaufman (Baltimore ), who took 10th place in the annual ranking), in third place the winning game of Alex Stripunsky (New Jersey) against Vladimir Romanenko (Manhattan) from the fifth round.
The championship team
| 1. | Seattle Sluggers |
 |
Varuzhan Akobian , Georgi Orlov , Costin Cozianu, Slava Mikhailuk, Marcel Milat, Curt Collyer, Joshua Sinanan, Michael Omori, Roland Feng, Peter Lessler. |
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
- ↑ Information on the homepage of the Chess Club of Fairfield County (English)