The 2010 USCL season is about to begin! Week 1 lineups have been announced for both Monday and Wednesday matches.

The Arizona Scorpions will face off against the Miami Sharks on Wednesday night. The team will play at Abstrax in Mesa. All games will be played on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) starting at 6:00 local time (9:00 Eastern Time).

Arizona will have the black pieces on boards 1 and 3. We will have the white pieces on boards 2 and 4. All games will be Game in 60 minutes with a 30 second increment per move.

Fans across the country have started weighing in on their predictions for the new season.

Ron Young
Ryan Polsky
Arun Sharma

Wear your red and come out to support your Arizona Scorpions!!

Hello Everyone!

The 2010 United States Chess League is almost upon us. The teams (including 3 new ones) are gathering for another great season of Internet chess. Just as the league is making some changes, so are the Arizona Scorpions.

The 2010 Scorpions were announced today. Here is the official roster. The ratings in parenthesis are the official league ratings based on the September 2009 USCF supplement. Current USCF ratings are different.

IM Rogelio Barcenilla (2583)
IM Levon Altounian (2536)
IM Dionisio Aldama (2489)
IM Danny Rensch (2432)
FM Warren Harper (2357)
FM Robby Adamson (2346)
NM David Adelberg (2196)
NM Nick Thompson (2098)
Expert John Gurczak (2098)
Expert Amanda Mateer (1993)

One other change to announce. Leo Martinez has stepped down as manager of the Scorpions. Sources close to the organization, who wish to remain anonymous, say that “wanting to spend more time with his family, to work on his studies, and to focus on his health” were major factors in his decision. There were some rumors last season that Leo’s wild, partying nightlife and many female fans were a distraction to the team during their playoff run. When asked if “Leo’s Legion of Ladies” was the cause for the early playoff exit, Scorpion veteran Robby Adamson replied, “Everyone loves Leo. Women want to be with him, men want to be him. But that doesn’t matter now. The 2010 team is only focused on the 2010 season.” EJ will take over as manager of the team.

The first match of the year will be on Wednesday, August 25 at 6:00 PM (local time) against the Miami Sharks. A line-up and location will be announced prior to the match. Once again, the Scorpions will play matches in either Mesa (Abstrax) or Tucson (University of Arizona). All matches are viewable on the Internet Chess Club (ICC).

We look forward to another great season!

If you can’t make it to the Scorpions match tonight in person. You can still watch all the games live on ICC. When you get connected, type in the command for the game(s) you wish to observe. The times listed are Eastern Time, the Scorpions match starts at 6:00 PM.

 1: USCL Week 1: New York Knights vs New Jersey Knockouts - Wed 7:00
  : Kacheishvili-NY vs Benjamin-NJ    "observe 1"
  : Charbonneau-NY vs Ippolito-NJ     "observe 2"
 2: Herman-NY vs VShen-NJ             "observe 3"
  : Norowitz-NY vs AShen-NJ           "observe 4"
 3: Carolina Cobras vs Baltimore Kingfishers - Wed 7:15
  : Schroer-CAR vs Kritz-BAL          "observe 5"
  : Zaikov-CAR vs Enkhbat-BAL         "observe 6"
 4: Simpson-CAR vs LKaufman-BAL       "observe 7"
  : CraigJones-CAR vs Defibaugh-BAL   "observe 8"
 5: Philadelphia Inventors vs Tennessee Tempo - Wed 8:00
  : Kudrin-PHI vs Shabalov-TEN        "observe 9"
  : Lenderman-PHI vs Burnett-TEN      "observe 10"
 6: BryanSmith-PHI vs Bereolos-TEN    "observe 11"
  : Swaminathan-PHI vs Bick-TEN       "observe 12"
 7: Arizona Scorpions vs Chicago Blaze - Wed 9:00
  : ARamirez-ARZ vs Mitkov-CHC        "observe 13"
  : Altounian-ARZ vs Felecan-CHC      "observe 14"
 8: Adamson-ARZ vs Pasalic-CHC        "observe 15"
  : Adelberg-ARZ vs Magness-CHC       "observe 16"

Joins us in cheering on the Scorpions!