03/04/2005

  Seattle and Tennessee join the USCL in 2006!
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by IM Greg Shahade                   
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  The USCL announced it's two new teams today, as Seattle and Tennessee were welcomed into the league. Seattle is being managed by Clint Ballard, famous for the tournaments he runs under a new scoring system to encourage fighting chess and decisive games (more info on that can be found here) and also for producing a public access television show dealing with the themes of scantily clad female models/chess/science fiction and a bit of sumo wrestling (Click here for photographs of the cast of this show).

  It's clear that the organizer of this team is interested in unique and exciting ways of bringing excitement to American Chess, and let's hope he leaves his imprint on the new Seattle team. Seattle should be an exciting new team as they have received committments from powerful players such as GM Gregory Serper, IM Giorgi Orlov and IM Eric Tangborn, and with such firepower and experience they should surely compete for the championship in their first season. Seattle has also chosen their nickname and will be known as the "Seattle Sluggers".

 Our other expansion team belongs to the state of Tennessee, which is only fitting as Tennessee is the new home of the United States Chess Federation. FM Todd Andrews will be managing the team and playing on it, along with experienced IM Ron Burnett and FM Peter Bereolos. Tennessee becomes the first Midwestern team in the USCL and hopes to compete with some of the top chessplaying cities in the country. Team manager Todd Andrews is very enthusiastic about the buzz and excitement that this team will bring to the Nashville, Tennessee chess scene.

  The first move of the 2006 USCL is still about 6 months away, but teams are going to start getting their lineups ready and preparing themselves for a new and exciting battle to determine which American city of chessplayers reigns supreme. Stay tuned for tons of new features, the unveiling of both teams new logos, the 2006 Schedules, the team rosters and so on, as updates will be made on a constant basis!
 


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