The 2008 USCL season kicks off on Monday, August 25, with a clash between the two new franchises in the league, the Arizona Scorpions and the Chicago Blaze.  The 4th year of the USCL has a lot of expectations to live up to given the exciting divisional battles and USCL Championship game that graced us last year.

With the two new additions comes a whole new play-off format where the top 4 teams from each division will qualify.  Considering there are only 7 teams in each division it means more than half of the 14 teams will participate in the play-off action.  This is a better (worse?) ratio than the NHL and NBA where about only half the teams qualify for the post-season.

Although it puts less emphasis on the regular season, it is important to finish as high as possible in your division as a higher seed gives you the advantage of having draw odds and potentially picking which boards you have the white pieces (or black pieces) on.  Thus your road to the Championship game should theoretically be easier.

This year also sees the rating for higher level players increased to 2590 from 2580 in the previous year.  This has the effect of raising the average for your team if you use stronger players.  I consider this a strange amendment, albeit a small one, for the league to have made considering last year’s Champions, Dallas Destiny, used a more balanced lineup where this did not come into effect.

Other than the two new teams coming into the league, there is also some rather big news on the “transfer” and new player scene.  GM Hikaru Nakamura, who admittedly had a sub-par season for the New York Knights last year, at least comparing it to expectations, has now moved over to the Western Division to represent the Seattle Sluggers.

The New York Knights have recruited two new GMs to replace Nakamura in 2007 US Champion Alex Shabalov and John “The Fed” Fedorowicz.  Other new big signings include Tennessee’s recruitment of GM Jaan Ehlvest, Chicago’s Nikola Mitkov (although originally they had planned on having 2008 US Champion Yury Shulman and GM Dmitry Gurevich) and New Jersey’s capture of GM Boris Gulko.

Let’s have a look at the teams in their respective divisions, starting with the Eastern Division.

Boston Blitz

I will write a separate article on the new look Blitz but will just mention here that 3 of their All-Stars (all of them if you count Chris Williams as an alternate) are back along with 2006 near All-Star Charles Riordan.  IM Dave Vigorito and the up and coming Marc Esserman should add to an already existing strong line-up.

Philadelphia Inventors

The Inventors have been fairly quiet in the off-season adding FM Thomas Bartell to their ranks from New Jersey.  Also returning to the team after a year’s absence from the main squad is WGM Jennifer Shahade.  The Inventors finished 2nd in the Eastern Division last year and they obviously feel that they have the nucleus of a team that can handle themselves well.  Whether they have kept pace with the additions made by teams around them remains to be seen.

New York Knights

As mentioned the New York Knights have a 3 GM line-up to front their options this year.  GMs Alex Shabalov and John Fedorowicz should add some excitement to the matches from a fans perspective although it is hard to compete with the audience attracted to a Nakamura game.  They have managed to retain the majority of their strong squad from the previous year and with the addition of 2005 All-Star Gregory Braylovsky on paper they look like a force to be reckoned with.  Of course it is impossible to play all 3 GMs at once but watch out for them to at least have 2 in just about every game this year.

New Jersey Knockouts

The Knockouts performed admirably in their first season in the USCL, finishing a creditable 4th and narrowly missing the play-offs.  This year’s team sees the addition of GM Boris Gulko to their line-up, which can only improve their squad, giving them options on the top boards.  It will be interesting to see if they try playing both GMs on the top boards in any games, obviously leaving them with limited options on the bottom boards.

Queens Pioneers

Queens have their only GM returning in Alexander Stripunsky and have strengthened their squad with the addition of IMs Dmitry Schneider and Alex Lenderman.  This gives them some really good options at the top of their roster although they will probably only be able to use 2 of the 4, along with IM Eli Vovsha, at the top of each team.  A lot could rest on the increasing form of Parker Zhao who has been hurtling up the rating lists recently, even scoring himself an IM norm at the recent New England Masters.  At a mere 2227 on the rating list they are using it is a shame they don’t have a 2300 range player to throw on board 3 leaving Zhao down on board 4.

Baltimore Kingfishers

Baltimore has rung in the changes with FM Ray Kaufman joining his IM father in the squad.  They also have two new players, Aaron Kahn and Jared Defibaugh manning the bottom boards.  Last year’s GMs, Sergey Erenburg and Pawel Blehm, are back but there is no place in the line-up for the women of the team, Tsagaan Battsetseg and Katerina Rohonyan, which is surprising given the average bonus when using females.  Depending on how often they put Erenburg into the team may be the deciding factor for how well Baltimore does this season.

Carolina Cobras

Carolina is now back in the Eastern Division since both of the new teams were moved into the West.  Having originally started off in the East I guess the league just cannot decide geographically where Carolina fits in.  With no GMs in the line-up it will once again be up to IM Lev Milman to put up some brave resistance on board 1.  With only 2 players above 2400 it could be a tough season for the Cobras although they should be looking at a balanced line-up for every match.  It will be surprising if their bottom 2 boards get a look in as they could easily make the allowed average by using their top 6 players every week.

The Western Division sees the two new teams although let’s have a look at the teams in the order of their finish from last year, starting with the USCL Champions, Dallas Destiny.

Dallas Destiny

Dallas’ success last year was based on their balanced line-up they were able to roll out on the top 3 boards.  This year will be a similar story as they have 4 players rated between 2488-2520.  The addition of IM Marko Zivanic just adds to the confusion of which of the 4 will try to hold down the board 1 spot although most are predicting IM Drasko Boskovic who did ok at the task last year.  All 3 of their All-Stars from last year are back, IMs Davorin Kuljasevic and Jacek Stopa and WFM Bayaraa Zorigt and so Dallas will start the season as the team to beat.

San Francisco Mechanics

The Mechanics will have, come the end of the USCL season, a 3 GM line-up once IMs Josh Friedel and Vinay Bhat get their titles confirmed by FIDE later in the year.  Returning at the top of their line-up is GM Patrick Wolff and he will be assisted on the bottom boards by two of the countries up and coming youngsters, FMs Sam Shankland and Daniel Naroditsky.  IMs David Pruess and John Donaldson will provide some invaluable experience to the squad, mainly on board 3, and so look for San Francisco to be fighting to recapture their title they won in 2006.

Miami Sharks

The Sharks produced the biggest come back of any team last year to make the play-offs.  This year’s squad probably has one of biggest shake ups of any in the league with no fewer than 4 new faces and a couple of the returning players from last year only starting a handful of games.  However, the top of their line-up will look familiar with the return of GM Julio Becerra and FM Marcel Martinez.  IM Blas Lugo and FMs Bruci Lopez and Osmany Perea make it 5 players all over the 2400 mark and so they could easily have a squad with some strength on the middle boards.  New guy Robert Perez, rated just 1860, could sadly become a whipping boy at the bottom as they try to load up the top 3 boards.

Seattle Sluggers

With the addition of GM Hikaru Nakamura to their team the Sluggers will be a much tougher proposition for the entire Western Division.  With GM Gregory Serper now potentially able to compete on board 2 it opens up a whole host of options for the Seattle team.  The Sluggers also have some strength in depth with many faces from last year returning.  Along with the teams mentioned above, it appears that the new boys could be in for a rude welcoming to the USCL.

Tennessee Tempo

Tennessee has had a rough ride of things in the USCL without a GM in their line-up but this year that has been rectified with the surprising addition of GM Jaan Ehlvest.  It will be interesting to see just how many games Ehlvest plays for the Tempo and obviously this will be key to any chances they have of making the play-offs this year.  Obviously when a top player comes in, it means other key players get to move down a board and the increased chances for IM Ron Burnett and FM Todd Andrews to perform on boards 2 and 3 will reap great rewards, if it can be achieved consistently.  With Ehlvest playing they become a decent team but without him, especially given the other teams in their division, I’m afraid it could be another year of struggling for the nice guys from Tennessee.

Arizona Scorpions

Arizona make their appearance in the USCL and are clearly using Dallas’ strategy for their first roster, although it would be debatable as to whether they could get a GM in Arizona, even if they wanted one.  IMs Rogelio Barcenilla, Levon Altounian and Dionisio Aldama all sport a 2500+ rating and with IM Mark Ginsburg and FMs Danny Rensch and Robby Adamson they have some players that are used to meeting their opponents on the American chess circuit.  Youth will be the key to their bottom boards with the ever improving Warren Harper likely to see most of the action.

Chicago Blaze

Excitement was ripe in Chicagoland when they announced that 2008 US Champion Yury Shulman and local legend GM Dmitry Gurevich had both accepted places to play on the Blaze team.  However things suddenly changed and they will no longer be participating but they still managed to attract one GM by quickly recruiting Nikola Mitkov.  Now they will have to go with a more balanced line-up and with IMs Jan van de Mortel and the ever exciting Emory Tate, they should be able to achieve this.  If Chicago are to have success though it will be because of the middle boards picking up points and Mitkov holding down board 1 as they look potentially shaky towards the bottom.  Of course if they ever needed an incentive to reverse that fortune I guess they only have to read this!

Overall I think the 2008 season has the potential to be a thrilling one.  To me the Eastern Division seems a lot more balanced and only Carolina seem to have the potential to struggle while the Western Division seems to have four main powerhouses and it will be up to the new boys (and Tennessee) to see what they can get out of those matches.