East vs. West was rare in the past few seasons, but this season there will be three weeks devoted completely to interdivision play, starting this week. Click here to see all lineups and watch all of the games live at the Internet Chess Club.
The night begins with two always solid teams, San Francisco and Manhattan, doing battle. The Mechanics are coming off a real scare at the hands of Carolina in a match they were expected to dominate but ended up barely escaping with a draw. The Applesauce, on the other hand, had a strong effort in Week 1 in a draw against the powerful New York teae where the chances to win rather than draw were really on their side. This should be a close match, with both teams brining very powerful lineups into it as the Mechanics attempt to erase their subpar Week 1 performance while the Applesauce try to improve on their strong performance.
Second up sees the defending champion New York team taking on Los Angeles in the two teams’ first ever meeting. On paper this may seem like a lopsided match with the Knights possessing a rating edge on every board (due no doubt in part to two of the Vibe’s top players still being away at the Olympiad), but if the Carolina team showed us anything last week is that the odds are not all one can rely on in any USCL match.
Next sees Arizona taking on Philadelphia in another first time ever meeting. The Scorpions started the season with a very solid win and will be looking to continue that trend, bringing a powerful lineup to the table. The Inventors had a somewhat tough draw with Baltimore in Week 1 in a match where they seemed to generally have the better chances to score victory and will look to score their first win of the season in this cross country duel.
Finally we see Seattle taking on New Jersey. The Sluggers had a first week’s match that they surely just want to forget about, and fortunately for them things tend to move quickly in the USCL so they will have another chance to show their mettle soon enough. They battle the Knockouts who, after a couple of tough seasons, got off to a good start in Week 1 and will surely not be looking to stop there.
Tune in on Monday at 8:30 PM EST as the first half of Interdivision Week kicks off!