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Chess Life Online 2007 August USCL Kicks off on Monday
Chess Life Online 2007 August USCL Kicks off on Monday | USCL Kicks off on Monday |
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| By Jennifer Shahade | |
| August 24, 2007 | |
 The third season of the U.S. Chess League (August 27-November 28) begins on Monday at 7 PM EST with a match-up between the two new teams, the Queens Pioneers and the NJ Knockouts. GMs Alexander Stripunsky and Ildar Ibragimov lead the Pioneers while Joel Benjamin heads up the NJ Knockouts. Also adding to the excitement this year is Hikaru Nakamura, who joined the New York Knights. The match-ups for this week are posted below WEEK 1 Monday August 27th 1. New Jersey Knockouts vs Queens Pioneers 7:00 ET Wednesday August 29th 2. Baltimore Kingfishers vs New York Knights 7:15 ET 3. Philadelphia Inventors vs Miami Sharks 7:30 ET 4. Dallas Destiny vs Tennessee Tempo 8:00 ET 5. San Francisco Mechanics vs Carolina Cobras 8:30 ET 6. Seattle Sluggers vs Boston Blitz 9:00 ET  Hikaru Nakamura joins the New York Knights. Photo Betsy Dynako. The Monday individual board line-ups will be announced on Friday night, and the Wednesday lineups will be announced Sunday night. League comissioner Greg Shahade says: " One thing that's great about the league is you really never know whats going to happen. Most of the teams are relatively evenly matched, so it's going to be the intangibles that determine the winner....such as who prepares harder, who performs better under pressure and so on. In 2005 the Baltimore Kingfishers won, when no one considered them to be a serious threat before the season. In 2006 the San Francisco Mechanics won despite being one of only three teams to not have a single GM on the roster." You can also read USCL writer, Arun Sharma's funny and in-depth predictions. Tune in to ICC's live radio coverage of U.S. Chess League. On Monday, August 27, Robby Adamson and Jennifer Shahade (yours truly!) will be commenting live starting at 7 PM EST. On Wednesday, August 29, Robby Adamson and Jonathan Hilton (of the popular "How Wojo Won Series" ) will be covering the event. |