The US Chess League season two is underway. There are ten teams from eight large cities, one state (Tennessee) and two-state combo, Carolina. (A pro American football team is the Carolina Panthers, also combining North and South.) The games take place on the Internet Chess Club. The teams have eight-player rosters and names like the Baltimore Kingfishers and the Miami Sharks. Each match is of four players who must have an average rating of 2401 USCF or less. Full rules here.
League director Greg Shahade is wearing various hats, as well as his usual fedora, so I'm only a little surprised I wasn't sent anything about the launch of season two. I tipped the league last year in this item, but didn't really pay much attention after that. The quaint homebrew website has all the basics. They have well thought out rules on supervising the games, which are played together at an open site with TD supervision. There are a few new teams this year and you can donate to a specific team or the league in general at the site. Clearly Brooklyn needs its own team next year.
Dear Mig
Who is this Eric Shahade? Has the Shahade family been hiding another progeny from us all these years (presumably under a fedora)?
Best regards
Nigel
Funny, didn't notice that at all. Dunno what part of my brain coughed that up.
Greg Shahade has done a fantastic job and being a sports buff it is fun to follow this league and cheer for personal friends. He has definitely gone to school on American professional sports and has made chess fan-friendly. Stroke of genius.
One thing that interests me about the US Chess League is that its technology model could be applied to plain competitions between chess clubs in cities a thousand miles apart.
The Seattle Chess Club members always play *against* each other. We might enjoy playing together on the same team for a change.
In order to capture the interest of the majority of club members, the teams would need to be comprised of players at each class level (not simply the 5 best players at the club).
There would be some new comradery, and a very sports like inter-city rivalry. Plus, it is nice to play new people for a change.
The main infrastructure needs are laptop computers and a wireless internet. But most people do not have a laptop computer, and few would buy one just for this.
Beyond laptops, the biggest need would be for a mindset open to this new idea.
Gene Milener
http://CastleLong.com/