2008 USCL Top Board Honors

The Top Board Honors for the 2008 USCL season have been awarded! The season was exciting, and we all look forward to next year. Congrats to the Dallas Destiny on repeating their championship.

Note: this post describes the details on how Top Board Honors are calculated.

Note also, this is not attempting to be a prediction of the USCL All-Star team, but simply a way of ranking seasonal performance and perseverance.


Board 1
Gold - Julio Becerra - Miami (17.19)
Silver - Jaan Ehlvest - Tennessee (12.43)
Bronze - Larry Christiansen - Boston (10.11)
Iron - Sergey Erenburg - Baltimore (9.49)
Tin - Pascal Charbonneau - New York (9.45)

Board 2
Gold - Davorin Kuljasevic - Dallas (24.88)
Silver - Slava Mikhailuk - Seattle (9.67)
Bronze - Oleg Zaikov - Carolina (9.33)
Iron - Dean Ippolito - New Jersey (9.14)
Tin - Thomas Bartell - Philadelphia (9.11)

Board 3
Gold - Marc Esserman - Boston (24.10)
Silver - Alex Lenderman - Queens (19.01)
Bronze - Sam Shankland - San Francisco (16.28)
Iron - Ron Simpson - Carolina (15.34)
Tin - Osmany Perea - Miami (10.43)

Board 4
Gold - Bayaraa Zorigt - Dallas (17.76)
Silver - Eric Rodriguez - Miami (11.20)
Bronze - Ilya Krasik -Boston (9.84)
Iron - Matthew Herman - New York (8.60)
Tin - Craig Jones - Carolina (8.54)

USCL 2008 Final Rating List

Another exciting season of United States Chess League action has ended. The Dallas Destiny repeats as champions of the league, beating the Boston Blitz in a rematch of last year's finals. And, like last year, the finals went to the exciting tiebreak matches, where Davorin Kuljasevic and Bayaraa Zorigt were the heros for Dallas, not only winning their regular match games, but also games in the tiebreak match. For his efforts, Kuljasevic ended the year atop the rating list.

Thanks, of course, to the sponsor of the US Chess League, Pokerstars.com. I tried Pokerstars a couple of days ago, and they have a really nice interface.

Final 2008 USCL Rating List

1	2635	Davorin Kuljasevic
2	2633	Jaan Ehlvest
3	2617	Julio Becerra
4	2611	Marko Zivanic
5	2607	Sergey Erenburg
6	2599	Hikaru Nakamura
7	2579	Larry Christiansen
8	2577	Josh Friedel
9	2565	Vinay Bhat
10	2564	Pascal Charbonneau
11	2557	Patrick Wolff
12	2550	Marc Esserman
13	2547	Lev Milman
14	2545	Joel Benjamin
15	2537	Alex Stripunsky
16	2536	Pawel Blehm
17	2532	Alex Lenderman
18	2526	Levon Altounian
19	2525	Sergey Kudrin
20	2525	Rogelio Barcenilla
21	2523	Dmitry Schneider
22	2519	Dean Ippolito
23	2519	Boris Gulko
24	2516	Eugene Perelshteyn
25	2516	Eli Vovsha
26	2516	Gregory Serper
27	2505	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
28	2500	Bruci Lopez
29	2493	Emory Tate
30	2488	Thomas Bartell
31	2488	Slava Mikhailuk
32	2483	Drasko Boskovic
33	2478	Sam Shankland
34	2478	John Fedorowicz
35	2474	Ron Simpson
36	2458	Irina Krush
37	2456	Marcel Milat
38	2454	Parker Zhao
39	2453	Jan van de Mortel
40	2448	David Vigorito
41	2448	John Donaldson
42	2445	Mehmed Pasalic
43	2440	Florin Felecan
44	2433	Jonathan Schroer
45	2430	Oleg Zaikov
46	2426	John Bartholomew
47	2423	Igor Schneider
48	2422	Nikola Mitkov
49	2421	Mackenzie Molner
50	2420	Marcel Martinez
51	2415	Osmany Perea
52	2413	Denis Shmelov
53	2405	Ron Burnett
54	2402	Charles Galofre
55	2401	Gregory Braylovsky
56	2399	Charles Riordan
57	2396	Bryan Smith
58	2394	Jay Bonin
59	2393	Dmitry Zilberstein
60	2393	Tegshsuren Enkhbat
61	2389	David Pruess
62	2385	Blas Lugo
63	2379	Bayaraa Zorigt
64	2377	Andrei Zaremba
65	2372	Eric Rodriguez
66	2371	Angelo Young
67	2370	Mark Ginsburg
68	2367	Eric Tangborn
69	2363	Daniel Yeager
70	2359	Peter Bereolos
71	2357	Robby Adamson
72	2349	Todd Andrews
73	2347	Richard Costigan
74	2341	Daniel Naroditsky
75	2339	Matthew Herman
76	2338	Udayan Bapat
77	2333	Katerina Rohonyan
78	2328	Matan Prilleltens
79	2320	Irina Zenyuk
80	2319	Michael Thaler
81	2317	Warren Harper
82	2317	Larry Kaufman
83	2314	Ilya Krasik
84	2312	John Readey
85	2309	Danny Rensch
86	2304	Craig Jones
87	2301	Gregory Young
88	2299	Elvin Wilson
89	2298	Ilan Meerovich
90	2285	Victor Shen
91	2282	Ralph Zimmer
92	2280	Gerald Larson
93	2276	John Bick
94	2274	Michael Lee
95	2258	Evan Ju
96	2251	Ray Kaufman
97	2245	Evan Rosenberg
98	2244	Matthew Bengtson
99	2243	Leo Martinez
100	2237	Jayson Lian
101	2228	Andy May
102	2228	Andrew Ng
103	2225	Josh Sinanan
104	2223	Aaron Khan
105	2219	Adam Strunk
106	2211	Benjamin Katz
107	2211	Aleksander Ostrovskiy
108	2204	Jennifer Shahade
109	2199	Jerry Wheeler
110	2194	Michael Shahade
111	2192	Karina Vazirova

USCL 2008 Final Prediction

BOSTON vs. DALLAS

It has all come down to this -- the last week in the USCL.

Dallas and Boston, II. The rematch. Its deja vu all over again.

Boston returns with the same top two boards as last year. Dallas returns with the same boards two and four.

Last year, the two teams tied in the match and went to the crazy USCL tiebreaking matches for the second year in a row. It was extremely exciting, and Dallas pulled off the win in the end.

This year, however, Dallas won't need the tiebreaker. Too bad, as they are great fun to watch.

Prediction: Boston 1.5 - 2.5 Dallas

2008 USCL Post-Semifinal Rating List

After Boston eked out a 2.5-1.5 victory over Carolina, and Dallas cruised to a 3-1 win over Miami, here is the penultimate rating list of the season.

1	2633	Jaan Ehlvest
2	2626	Marko Zivanic
3	2617	Julio Becerra
4	2607	Sergey Erenburg
5	2606	Davorin Kuljasevic
6	2599	Hikaru Nakamura
7	2577	Josh Friedel
8	2575	Larry Christiansen
9	2565	Vinay Bhat
10	2564	Pascal Charbonneau
11	2557	Patrick Wolff
12	2547	Lev Milman
13	2545	Joel Benjamin
14	2540	Marc Esserman
15	2537	Alex Stripunsky
16	2536	Pawel Blehm
17	2532	Alex Lenderman
18	2526	Levon Altounian
19	2525	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
20	2525	Sergey Kudrin
21	2525	Rogelio Barcenilla
22	2523	Dmitry Schneider
23	2519	Dean Ippolito
24	2519	Boris Gulko
25	2516	Eugene Perelshteyn
26	2516	Eli Vovsha
27	2516	Gregory Serper
28	2500	Bruci Lopez
29	2493	Emory Tate
30	2488	Thomas Bartell
31	2488	Slava Mikhailuk
32	2483	Drasko Boskovic
33	2478	Sam Shankland
34	2478	John Fedorowicz
35	2474	Ron Simpson
36	2458	Irina Krush
37	2456	Marcel Milat
38	2454	Parker Zhao
39	2453	Jan van de Mortel
40	2448	David Vigorito
41	2448	John Donaldson
42	2445	Mehmed Pasalic
43	2440	Florin Felecan
44	2433	Jonathan Schroer
45	2430	Oleg Zaikov
46	2426	Igor Schneider
47	2426	John Bartholomew
48	2422	Nikola Mitkov
49	2421	Mackenzie Molner
50	2420	Marcel Martinez
51	2415	Osmany Perea
52	2413	Denis Shmelov
53	2405	Ron Burnett
54	2402	Charles Galofre
55	2401	Gregory Braylovsky
56	2399	Charles Riordan
57	2396	Bryan Smith
58	2394	Jay Bonin
59	2393	Dmitry Zilberstein
60	2393	Tegshsuren Enkhbat
61	2389	David Pruess
62	2385	Blas Lugo
63	2377	Andrei Zaremba
64	2372	Eric Rodriguez
65	2371	Angelo Young
66	2370	Mark Ginsburg
67	2367	Eric Tangborn
68	2363	Daniel Yeager
69	2361	Bayaraa Zorigt
70	2359	Peter Bereolos
71	2357	Robby Adamson
72	2349	Todd Andrews
73	2347	Richard Costigan
74	2341	Daniel Naroditsky
75	2339	Matthew Herman
76	2338	Udayan Bapat
77	2333	Katerina Rohonyan
78	2331	Ilya Krasik
79	2328	Matan Prilleltens
80	2320	Irina Zenyuk
81	2319	Michael Thaler
82	2317	Warren Harper
83	2317	Larry Kaufman
84	2312	John Readey
85	2309	Danny Rensch
86	2304	Craig Jones
87	2301	Gregory Young
88	2299	Elvin Wilson
89	2298	Ilan Meerovich
90	2285	Victor Shen
91	2282	Ralph Zimmer
92	2280	Gerald Larson
93	2276	John Bick
94	2274	Michael Lee
95	2258	Evan Ju
96	2251	Ray Kaufman
97	2245	Evan Rosenberg
98	2244	Matthew Bengtson
99	2243	Leo Martinez
100	2237	Jayson Lian
101	2228	Andy May
102	2228	Andrew Ng
103	2225	Josh Sinanan
104	2223	Aaron Khan
105	2219	Adam Strunk
106	2211	Benjamin Katz
107	2211	Aleksander Ostrovskiy
108	2204	Jennifer Shahade
109	2199	Jerry Wheeler
110	2194	Michael Shahade
111	2192	Karina Vazirova

2008 USCL Semifinal Predictions

They're not going to tell you the results of last week's predictions, but I will. I scored four points, and all the other predictors were a big fat zero. That puts me tied for second.

This week, I fear, will be my undoing!

BOSTON vs CAROLINA

It goes without saying that Carolina is the big surprise of the season. Once again, they will prove their worth by squeaking through to the finals.

Prediction: Boston 2.0 - 2.0 Carolina (Carolina wins match because of draw odds)

MIAMI vs DALLAS

Board 1 is two of the top USCL players battling it out for the chance to become winners. Sadly, someone will be a loser -- even if the match is drawn. Which it will be.

Prediction: Miami 2.0 - 2.0 Dallas (Miami wins match because of draw odds)

2008 USCL Post-Quarterfinal Rating List

Only two more weeks to go in the USCL, as Boston takes on Carolina, and Miami tackle defending champs, Dallas.

Here's this week's rating list!

1	2633	Jaan Ehlvest
2	2629	Julio Becerra
3	2607	Sergey Erenburg
4	2605	Marko Zivanic
5	2603	Davorin Kuljasevic
6	2599	Hikaru Nakamura
7	2577	Josh Friedel
8	2575	Larry Christiansen
9	2565	Vinay Bhat
10	2564	Pascal Charbonneau
11	2557	Patrick Wolff
12	2555	Marc Esserman
13	2547	Lev Milman
14	2545	Joel Benjamin
15	2537	Alex Stripunsky
16	2536	Pawel Blehm
17	2532	Alex Lenderman
18	2526	Levon Altounian
19	2525	Sergey Kudrin
20	2525	Rogelio Barcenilla
21	2523	Dmitry Schneider
22	2520	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
23	2519	Dean Ippolito
24	2519	Boris Gulko
25	2516	Eli Vovsha
26	2516	Gregory Serper
27	2516	Eugene Perelshteyn
28	2503	Bruci Lopez
29	2493	Emory Tate
30	2488	Thomas Bartell
31	2488	Slava Mikhailuk
32	2483	Drasko Boskovic
33	2478	Sam Shankland
34	2478	John Fedorowicz
35	2463	Ron Simpson
36	2458	Irina Krush
37	2456	Marcel Milat
38	2454	Parker Zhao
39	2453	Jan van de Mortel
40	2448	David Vigorito
41	2448	John Donaldson
42	2445	Mehmed Pasalic
43	2440	Florin Felecan
44	2436	Osmany Perea
45	2433	Jonathan Schroer
46	2432	Oleg Zaikov
47	2426	John Bartholomew
48	2422	Nikola Mitkov
49	2421	Mackenzie Molner
50	2420	Marcel Martinez
51	2413	Denis Shmelov
52	2407	Igor Schneider
53	2405	Ron Burnett
54	2402	Charles Galofre
55	2401	Gregory Braylovsky
56	2399	Charles Riordan
57	2396	Bryan Smith
58	2394	Jay Bonin
59	2393	Dmitry Zilberstein
60	2393	Tegshsuren Enkhbat
61	2389	David Pruess
62	2385	Blas Lugo
63	2377	Andrei Zaremba
64	2372	Eric Rodriguez
65	2371	Angelo Young
66	2370	Mark Ginsburg
67	2367	Eric Tangborn
68	2363	Daniel Yeager
69	2359	Peter Bereolos
70	2357	Robby Adamson
71	2355	Bayaraa Zorigt
72	2349	Todd Andrews
73	2347	Richard Costigan
74	2341	Daniel Naroditsky
75	2339	Matthew Herman
76	2338	Udayan Bapat
77	2338	Matan Prilleltens
78	2333	Katerina Rohonyan
79	2333	Craig Jones
80	2320	Irina Zenyuk
81	2319	Michael Thaler
82	2317	Warren Harper
83	2317	Larry Kaufman
84	2312	John Readey
85	2311	Ilya Krasik
86	2309	Danny Rensch
87	2301	Gregory Young
88	2299	Elvin Wilson
89	2298	Ilan Meerovich
90	2285	Victor Shen
91	2282	Ralph Zimmer
92	2280	Gerald Larson
93	2276	John Bick
94	2274	Michael Lee
95	2258	Evan Ju
96	2251	Ray Kaufman
97	2245	Evan Rosenberg
98	2244	Matthew Bengtson
99	2243	Leo Martinez
100	2237	Jayson Lian
101	2228	Andy May
102	2228	Andrew Ng
103	2225	Josh Sinanan
104	2223	Aaron Khan
105	2219	Adam Strunk
106	2211	Benjamin Katz
107	2211	Aleksander Ostrovskiy
108	2204	Jennifer Shahade
109	2199	Jerry Wheeler
110	2194	Michael Shahade
111	2192	Karina Vazirova

2008 USCL Quarterfinals Predictions

Well, the Bionic Lime model is in last place in the prediction contest after the regular season, but places 2, 3, and 4 are all very close. This week is the Lime's week to shine!

The theme of this week is simple... upsets, upsets, upsets!

BOSTON vs QUEENS

Queens (perhaps unintentionally) is shooting itself in the foot again this week, with a Lenderman-free lineup. Well, at least Lenderman will keep his near-perfect record nearly unblemished, as he won't get to play again this year.

Prediction: Boston 3.0 - 1.0 Queens

NEW YORK vs CAROLINA

Well, the Eastern division champion Carolina Cobras have proven that you don't need any GMs in your lineup to do excellently in the league. Come playoff time, though, it is a different story.

Prediction: New York 3.0 - 1.0 Carolina

SAN FRANCISCO vs DALLAS

The big guns are out on the bottom boards in San Francisco, as the "our combined ages are under 30" guys will be fighting it out. In the end, the Destiny meets itself.

Prediction: San Francisco 2.5 - 1.5 Dallas

MIAMI vs SEATTLE

Nakamura is back for Seattle after his big European win. My advice to him is to stop playing those patzers like Ivanchuk and Carlsen, and get back to the real deal, 2007 USCL MVP Julio Becerra. The Sharks are unstoppable again.

Prediction: Miami 3.0 - 1.0 Seattle

2008 USCL Final Power Rankings

Here are the final power rankings for 2008 -- Miami takes the top spot! Some other surprises on the list. Carolina is lower than it might appear that they should be, and being below Queens, although Carolina had a comparatively weaker schedule than Queens. New Jersey is above New York, but remember that New York got blown out a few times.

1 -	Miami (+1)
2 -	San Francisco (+1)
3 -	Queens (-2)
4 -	Dallas (+1)
5 -	Carolina (-1)
6 -	Boston (+1)
7 -	Arizona (+3)
8 -	New Jersey (-2)
9 -	New York (+2)
10 -	Seattle (-2)
11 -	Chicago (-2)
12 -	Tennessee (0)
13 -	Philadelphia (0)
14 -	Baltimore (0)

Until next year!

2008 USCL End of Regular Season Rating List

The end of the regular season is here. The final rating list follows.

As a reminder, only players who have played in 2008 are included, and players must have played at least three lifetime USCL games.

1	2633	Jaan Ehlvest
2	2624	Julio Becerra
3	2607	Sergey Erenburg
4	2606	Hikaru Nakamura
5	2598	Pascal Charbonneau
6	2596	Davorin Kuljasevic
7	2596	Josh Friedel
8	2584	Marko Zivanic
9	2572	Vinay Bhat
10	2568	Marc Esserman
11	2568	Larry Christiansen
12	2557	Patrick Wolff
13	2545	Joel Benjamin
14	2543	Alex Stripunsky
15	2536	Pawel Blehm
16	2532	Alex Lenderman
17	2531	Eugene Perelshteyn
18	2526	Levon Altounian
19	2525	Sergey Kudrin
20	2525	Rogelio Barcenilla
21	2520	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
22	2520	Lev Milman
23	2519	Dean Ippolito
24	2519	Boris Gulko
25	2515	Bruci Lopez
26	2510	Dmitry Schneider
27	2509	Eli Vovsha
28	2507	Gregory Serper
29	2493	Emory Tate
30	2488	Thomas Bartell
31	2488	Slava Mikhailuk
32	2483	Drasko Boskovic
33	2482	John Fedorowicz
34	2474	Sam Shankland
35	2458	Irina Krush
36	2456	Marcel Milat
37	2454	Parker Zhao
38	2453	Jan van de Mortel
39	2450	Osmany Perea
40	2449	Gregory Braylovsky
41	2448	David Vigorito
42	2448	John Donaldson
43	2445	Mehmed Pasalic
44	2440	Florin Felecan
45	2433	Jonathan Schroer
46	2430	Oleg Zaikov
47	2427	Ron Simpson
48	2426	John Bartholomew
49	2422	Nikola Mitkov
50	2421	Mackenzie Molner
51	2420	Marcel Martinez
52	2413	Denis Shmelov
53	2411	Igor Schneider
54	2405	Ron Burnett
55	2402	Charles Galofre
56	2399	Charles Riordan
57	2396	Bryan Smith
58	2394	Jay Bonin
59	2393	Dmitry Zilberstein
60	2393	Tegshsuren Enkhbat
61	2389	David Pruess
62	2385	Blas Lugo
63	2377	Andrei Zaremba
64	2372	Eric Rodriguez
65	2371	Angelo Young
66	2370	Mark Ginsburg
67	2367	Eric Tangborn
68	2363	Daniel Yeager
69	2359	Peter Bereolos
70	2357	Robby Adamson
71	2350	Daniel Naroditsky
72	2349	Todd Andrews
73	2347	Bayaraa Zorigt
74	2347	Richard Costigan
75	2339	Matthew Herman
76	2338	Udayan Bapat
77	2338	Irina Zenyuk
78	2333	Katerina Rohonyan
79	2323	Craig Jones
80	2319	Michael Thaler
81	2317	Warren Harper
82	2317	Larry Kaufman
83	2312	John Readey
84	2309	Danny Rensch
85	2304	Matan Prilleltens
86	2301	Gregory Young
87	2299	Elvin Wilson
88	2298	Ilan Meerovich
89	2295	Ilya Krasik
90	2285	Victor Shen
91	2282	Ralph Zimmer
92	2280	Gerald Larson
93	2279	Andy May
94	2276	John Bick
95	2260	Michael Lee
96	2258	Evan Ju
97	2251	Ray Kaufman
98	2245	Evan Rosenberg
99	2244	Matthew Bengtson
100	2243	Leo Martinez
101	2237	Jayson Lian
102	2228	Andrew Ng
103	2225	Josh Sinanan
104	2223	Aaron Khan
105	2219	Adam Strunk
106	2211	Benjamin Katz
107	2204	Jennifer Shahade
108	2199	Jerry Wheeler
109	2194	Michael Shahade
110	2192	Karina Vazirova