United States Chess League 2014
The United States Chess League 2014 was the tenth edition of the United States Chess League , the US team championship in chess.
Champion was the team of the St. Louis Arch Bishops , while the defending champion Miami Sharks failed in the playoff semi-finals. With the Atlanta Kings and the (in Brownsville (Texas) resident) Rio Grande Ospreys were two new teams at the start, so that the competition was held with 18 teams.
For the reported team roster, see the 2014 United States Chess League team roster .
Game dates
The competitions of the preliminary round ( Regular Season ) took place on 26./27. August, 2nd / 3rd, 9th / 10th, 16th / 17th and 23./24. September 30th / September 1st October, 7/8, 14/15, 21/22 and 28./29. October 2014, with four competitions being played on one date and five competitions on the other. The Wildcard Round took place on November 5th, the quarter-finals on November 12th, the semi-finals on November 19th, and the final on December 3rd. All competitions were played on the Internet Chess Club server .
mode
The 18 participating teams were divided into three groups of six ( Eastern Division , Southern Division and Western Division ). Each team played twice against a member of the same group and once against the other four members of the same group as well as against two teams from the other two groups. 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, as well as the fourth of the group, whose teams were most successful against the other groups, qualified for the final round ( playoff ), which was played in the knockout system . The first two in each group qualified directly for the quarter-finals, while the remaining four playoff participants played the last two places in the quarter-finals in the wildcard round.
Preliminary round
Grouping
The 18 teams were divided into the preliminary rounds as follows:
| Eastern Division | Southern Division | Western Division |
|---|---|---|
| New York Knights | Miami Sharks | San Francisco Mechanics |
| Philadelphia Inventors | Baltimore Kingfishers | Dallas Destiny |
| New Jersey knockouts | St. Louis Arch Bishops | Arizona Scorpions |
| Manhattan apple sauce | Carolina Cobras | Rio Grande Ospreys |
| Boston Blitz | Connecticut dreadnoughts | Seattle Sluggers |
| New England Nor'easters | Atlanta Kings | Los Angeles vibe |
Eastern Division
Before the last round, Manhattan, New York and New Jersey had already qualified for the playoffs, but the decision on which teams qualified for the quarter-finals and which had to contest the wildcard round was not made until the last round.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Manhattan Apple Sauce (C) | 10 | 7th | 1 | 2 | 7.5: 2.5 | 22.5: 17.5 |
| 2. | New York Knights | 10 | 5 | 4th | 1 | 7.0: 3.0 | 22.0: 18.0 |
| 3. | New Jersey knockouts | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6.5: 3.5 | 21.5: 18.5 |
| 4th | Philadelphia Inventors | 10 | 4th | 2 | 4th | 5.0: 5.0 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 5. | Boston Blitz | 10 | 1 | 4th | 6th | 3.0: 7.0 | 17.0: 23.0 |
| 6th | New England Nor'easters (C) | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0.5: 9.5 | 13.5: 26.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the quarterfinals: Manhattan Applesauce , New York Knights | |
| qualified for the Wildcard Round: New Jersey Knockouts | |
| (C) | Conference winner of the previous year |
|---|
Southern Division
Before the last round, St. Louis was already the group winner, while the decision about places 2 and 3 in the direct comparisons between Connecticut and Baltimore as well as Miami and Atlanta was made.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | St. Louis Arch Bishops | 10 | 7th | 1 | 2 | 7.5: 2.5 | 25.0: 15.0 |
| 2. | Miami Sharks (M, C) | 10 | 4th | 2 | 4th | 5.0: 5.0 | 18.5: 21.5 |
| 3. | Connecticut dreadnoughts | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4th | 4.5: 5.5 | 20.5: 19.5 |
| 4th | Baltimore Kingfishers | 10 | 4th | 1 | 5 | 4.5: 5.5 | 19.5: 20.5 |
| 5. | Atlanta Kings (N) | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4.0: 6.0 | 20.0: 20.0 |
| 6th | Carolina Cobras | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6th | 3.5: 6.5 | 17.0: 23.0 |
decisions
| qualified for the quarterfinals: St. Louis Arch Bishops , Miami Sharks | |
| qualified for the Wildcard Round: Connecticut Dreadnoughts | |
| (M) | Champion of the previous year |
|---|---|
| (C) | Conference winner of the previous year |
| (N) | first time participating team |
Western Division
Before the last round, Dallas was already group winners, while the decision on 2nd and 4th place (which qualified for participation in the Wildcard Round, since the Western Division was the most successful in a cross-comparison) was only made in the last round.
Closing table
| Pl. | society | Sp | G | U | V | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dallas Destiny | 10 | 7th | 2 | 1 | 8.0: 2.0 | 26.5: 13.5 |
| 2. | Rio Grande Ospreys (N) | 10 | 6th | 1 | 3 | 6.5: 3.5 | 20.5: 19.5 |
| 3. | San Francisco Mechanics (C) | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6.0: 4.0 | 22.5: 17.5 |
| 4th | Seattle Sluggers | 10 | 4th | 1 | 5 | 4.5: 5.5 | 22.0: 18.0 |
| 5. | Arizona Scorpions | 10 | 2 | 4th | 4th | 4.0: 6.0 | 17.5: 22.5 |
| 6th | Los Angeles vibe | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6th | 2.5: 7.5 | 14.5: 25.5 |
decisions
| qualified for the quarterfinals: Dallas Destiny , Rio Grande Ospreys | |
| qualified for the Wildcard Round: San Francisco Mechanics , Seattle Sluggers | |
| (C) | Conference winner of the previous year |
|---|---|
| (N) | first time participating team |
Cross comparison of the divisions
In comparison, the Western Division was clearly ahead.
| Pl. | division | Sp | MP | Board P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Western Division | 24 | 13.5: 10.5 | 51.5: 44.5 |
| 2. | Eastern Division | 24 | 11.5: 12.5 | 44.0: 54.0 |
| 3. | Southern Division | 24 | 11.0: 13.0 | 48.5: 47.5 |
decisions
| additional starting place in the Wildcard Round: Western Division |
Finals
Overview
To determine the pairings in the playoff, an entire seeding list was set. First of all, the placement in the preliminary round was decisive, then the number of team points. This resulted in the following seeding list:
| No. | team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas Destiny |
| 2 | St. Louis Arch Bishops |
| 3 | Manhattan apple sauce |
| 4th | New York Knights |
| 5 | Rio Grande Ospreys |
| 6th | Miami Sharks |
| 7th | New Jersey knockouts |
| 8th | San Francisco Mechanics |
| 9 | Connecticut dreadnoughts |
| 10 | Seattle Sluggers |
| Wildcard Round | Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | |||||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | ||||||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 3 | |||||||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 1 | |||||||||||||
| San Francisco Mechanics | 2½ | |||||||||||||
| Connecticut dreadnoughts | 1½ | |||||||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 2½ | |||||||||||||
| New York Knights | 1½ | |||||||||||||
| New York Knights | ||||||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||||||
| New York Knights | 2½ | |||||||||||||
| Rio Grande Ospreys | 1½ | |||||||||||||
| Rio Grande Ospreys | ||||||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||||||
| Dallas Destiny | 2 | |||||||||||||
| St. Louis Arch Bishops | 2 | |||||||||||||
| St. Louis Arch Bishops | ||||||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||||||
| St. Louis Arch Bishops | 2½ | |||||||||||||
| New Jersey knockouts | 1½ | |||||||||||||
| New Jersey Knockout | 2½ | |||||||||||||
| Seattle Sluggers | 1½ | |||||||||||||
| St. Louis Arch Bishops | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Manhattan apple sauce | ||||||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||||||
| Manhattan apple sauce | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Miami Sharks | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Miami Sharks | ||||||||||||||
| bye | ||||||||||||||
decisions
| American team champion: St. Louis Arch Bishops |
Wildcard Round
In both competitions, the team favored according to the seeding list just managed to prevail.
Quarter finals
The quarterfinals saw three favorite wins and an outsider win for the Miami Sharks.
Semifinals
Two tight decisions were made in the semifinals. The match between St. Louis and Miami 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spencer Finegold (St. Louis) | Gaston Andretta (Miami) | 0: 1 |
| Gaston Andretta (Miami) | Matthew Larson (St. Louis) | 1-0 |
| Lê Quang Liêm (St. Louis) | Gaston Andretta (Miami) | 1-0 |
| Federico Gonzalez (Miami) | Lê Quang Liêm (St. Louis) | 0: 1 |
| Lê Quang Liêm (St. Louis) | Renier González (Miami) | 0.5: 0.5 |
| Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami) | Wesley So (St. Louis) | 0: 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spencer Finegold (St. Louis) | Karthik Ramachandran (Dallas) | 1-0 |
| Francisco Guadalupe (Dallas) | Spencer Finegold (St. Louis) | 0.5: 0.5 |
| Matthew Larson (St. Louis) | Jeffery Xiong (Dallas) | 0: 1 |
| Jeffery Xiong (Dallas) | Varuzhan Akobian (St. Louis) | 0: 1 |
| Varuzhan Akobian (St. Louis) | Conrad Holt (Dallas) | 1-0 |
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. Wesley So (St. Louis) won the title with 28 points, followed by Andrei Stukopin (Rio Grande) and Joel Benjamin (New Jersey) with 22 and 21.5 points respectively.
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 Wesley So (St. Louis), who achieved 10 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 Kevin Mo (Carolina).
All star teams
Three All Star Teams were nominated. The first team consisted of Wesley So, Lê Quang Liêm (both St. Louis), Francisco Guadalupe (Dallas) and David Golub (Seattle), the second Gata Kamsky (New York), Joel Benjamin (New Jersey), Richard Francisco (Atlanta) ) and Karthik Ramachandran (Dallas) and the third Georgi Orlov (Dallas), Andrei Stukopin (Rio Grande), Cameron Wheeler (San Francisco) and Levy Rozman (Manhattan).
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 draw game by Daniel Naroditsky (San Francisco) against Conrad Holt (Dallas) from the eighth round, followed by Joel Benjamin (New Jersey) against Holden Hernández Carmenates (Rio Grande) from the 2nd and 3rd round seventh round and by Wesley So (St. Louis) against Julio Becerra Rivero (Miami) from the semifinals.
The championship team
| 1. | St. Louis Arch Bishops |
 |
Lê Quang Liêm , Wesley So , Varuzhan Akobian , Ben Finegold , Anna Scharewitsch , Doug Eckert, Spencer Finegold, Matthew Larson, Jacob Wilkins, Julian Proleiko. |
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 at the USCL (English)