The 2011 USCL season is upon us! Last year the Scorpions finished the regular season in first place and made it all the way to the division championships of the playoffs. This year we plan to return to the the top, to show the league that 2010 wasn’t a fluke and to work towards the championship title!

And with that, I’m proud to announce this year’s squad. Returning to the Scorpions from last season:

GM Rogelio Barcenilla
IM Levon Altounian
IM Dionisio Aldama
IM-elect Robby Adamson
NM David Adelberg
NM Nick Thompson
NM Amanda Mateer

And after a season off, the Scorpions welcome the return of IM Mark Ginsburg!

In addition we welcome two new players to the Scorpions family.

IM Mackenzie Molner
FM Pedram Atoufi

We have a strong squad with a mix of veterans and rising stars. I look forward to this year’s season and the possibilities.

The USCL starts next week at 6:00 pm (Arizona time) on Monday, August 26 against the Miami Sharks.

Playing board 4 for the Arizona Scorpions against the Seattle Sluggers was my first game in the USCL. Despite the pressure of playing on the team for the first time, my game against Michael Wang was an exciting experience. Originally I had been preparing to play Alex Guo, but luckily for me Michael Wang also happens to play the English (it would have been disappointing if all my preparation had gone to waste). During the 2 hour drive to Tucson from Mesa I couldn’t help but feel anxious for my first game. Going into the match I knew it would be a hard fight due to the fact that Wang is a strong up and coming player, but I kept my thoughts on playing the best chess I could for the sake of the team. Naturally I was overjoyed when our team won the match, but just getting the opportunity to play with such a supportive and skillful team is a wonderful experience.

Now onto some analysis!

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The Arizona Scorpions (2-0) defeated the Seattle Sluggers (1-1) last night with a score of 3-1 to remain undefeated in the USCL. Arizona was favored going into the Monday night match, but Seattle played well and the outcome was still up in the air late into the evening.

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ARIZONA WINS!!!

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Congrats to the upset winners Philadelphia and of course my own Scorpions for winning Week 1, and a lot of great candidates for Game of the Week – I really thought Becerra – Barcenilla would do a lot better in the voting. The resourcefulness by Becerra to hold and in fact win was quite impressive IMO.

As for Week 1, for the first time in a while, I actually got better than 50% record in picking the matches. In Week 1, I went 5-3 which isnt too bad. Unfortunately, because I am playing this week and it being a Monday match, I will give my picks quickly and without much comment (which to some might be a good thing!).

Monday Matches –

New Jersey Knockouts vs New York Knights

NY Knights Win 2.5-1.5

Carolina Cobras vs New England Nor’easters

NE Noreasters move to 2-0 with a win 3-1 over the snakes.

Miami Sharks vs San Francisco Mechanics

SF wins 2.5-1.5

Arizona Scorpions vs Seattle Sluggers

AZ wins 2.5-1.5

Wednesday Matches -

Boston Blitz vs Philadelphia Inventors

Boston changes strategy and goes with the kid on board 4, but Philly counts with their own youth. A tie is in order.
Baltimore Kingfishers vs Manhattan Applesauce

MA wins 2.5-1.5, though Baltimore has reasonable chances to pull the upset. Its tough competing with a team with a 2500 on board 3, good grief.

Chicago Blaze vs St. Louis Arch Bishops

St Louis rebounds with a 3-1 win.

Los Angeles Vibe vs Dallas Destiny

Vibe moves to 2-0 with a win, despite the Alejandro factor.

So Week 2 of the US Chess League Season is starting tonight! With a really exciting Week 1 win against the Miami Sharks, easily one of the best teams out of the West every year, the Scorpions have to be looking forward to Week 2. Below are the matchups:

Arizona Scorpions (1.0 – 0.0) vs Seattle Sluggers (0.0 – 1.0)

All Time Series Record:  (Tied 2 – 2)

Starts at 9:00 PM ET       Time Control – Game in 75 with 30 second increment

Seattle has always been a tough team for us and is the team that stole our playoff spot two years ago in a tough last match result. This year however they have a lot of new players in Akobian, Cozianu, Guo, and Wang.  All these players are new to the team and also new to the league as well.

Many interesting match-ups with more than a couple of new players to the league in this match. For the Scorpions Nick Thompson is a new player that will play his first game tonight against another newcomer in Michael Wang. Nick has improved a lot recently in strength and in rating. The Scorpions are using the September 2009 rating list for the whole season showing Nick at 2098. At the present moment he is at 2227 and showing no signs of stopping. This game should be interesting because playing the league is much different than playing in real life. It should be interesting to watch how both of these players adapt to the new circumstances (no player sitting by you, being part of a team, etc). I’ll give Nick the nod here and give us a point up in my prediction.   Arizona  1 – 0  Seattle.

Board 1 is between Scorpion veteran Levon Altounian and new player FM Costin Cozianu. I don’t know much about Cozianu but after looking at some of his games he seems like a fairly aggressive player. This game seems like it might be a contrast of styles as Lev is very solid and likes to play positions with small advantages.  Also to note is that Levon has White which he is much better with and could decide the decision in his favor. Let’s call it a draw just in case. Arizona 1.5 – 0.5 Seattle.

Board 2 is between IM Rogelio Barcenilla and FM Slava Mikhailuk. We were able to put Rogelio on board 2 for this match as the rule states that as long as the players are within 50 rating points of each other in the supplement that you chose you can make this switch.  Rogelio is an amazing player and it is something special to have a 2583 rated player on board 2 for a team. Although he lost his game to GM Becerra in the first round no one could really deny his fight in the game. He went from clearly worse to losing to unclear to winning and then again back to losing. Crazy game…with Rogelio having 1-2 minutes for much of the latter part of the game. This round is a little different in that Rogelio will face a weaker, not taking anything away from him of course,  opponent than Becerra in Slava Mikhailuk. Slava has White but Rogelio has a large rating advantage so sometimes those two even out but I’ll take Rogelio for the win.   Arizona 2.5 – 0.5 Seattle.

Board 3 between IM-Elect Robby Adamson and WGM Katerina Rohonyan is a rematch of the 2008 season where these two same opponents played each other twice. Robby got the better of the match within a match by going 1.5/2 in those games even though both games were fairly close. I feel like Robby has a slight edge having White while also having good games in the past but I will go for a draw here. Arizona 3 – Seattle 1.

Overall I am predicting a 3-1 win for my Scorpions! Stay tuned tonight at 6:00pm Tucson time and 9:00pm Eastern for a truly exciting match for both teams. Either Arizona goes 2-0 to start off the season or Seattle rebounds from their first week loss to get back to 0.500. Big match!

The line-ups for the USCL Week 2 have been posted. Arizona will play on Monday against division rival, the Seattle Sluggers. The team will play in Tucson at the Holiday Inn – Palo Verde.

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As always, fans are encouraged to come on down and root on our team. IM Mackenzie Molner (and New Jersey Knockout member) will be on-hand to offer master-level commentary to the games in progress. The match starts at 6:00 PM Tucson time.

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!