US Chess League

I can remember sitting at the dining room table with my dad and listening to our area hockey team battle it out over the ice on the radio. An even bigger thrill was when we got to go see them play live!

Who would have ever guessed that in the U.S. we'd actually see the day when top grandmasters would play in a chess league and that you could actually follow the play live via the internet? Well, tomorrow is that day for me! I've discovered the U.S. Chess League. Unfortunately I've discovered this too late to see a nearbly Nashville team play as they have left the league this year. But I will get a chance tomorrow night to follow the debut performance of the St. Louis Archbishops, a new team this year that plays out of the St. Louis Chess Club, a great place that I visited in June.

Playing for the team will be GM Yury Shulman 2715, GM Ben Finegold 2589, IM Michael Brooks 2411, and Spencer Finegold 1974. I've met Ben and Spencer Finegold, so following their games will be a priority. And of course, Yury Shulman is a great player who went to the wire at the 2010 U.S. Championship, so I'll have my eye on him too. GM Hikaru Nakamura, who recently moved to St. Louis, is also on the roster along with NM Charles Lawton, FM Doug Eckert, NM Jim Voelker, Tony Rich, and Margaret Hua, but they won't be playing tomorrow.

Besides the St. Louis players, also playing will be GM Dmitry Gurevich 2481 who I saw play in Chicago many years ago. But the other matchup that really caught my eye will be GM Alex Lenderman 2608 playing against GM Larry Christiansen 2665. Could this yield material for a new book about attacking chess?

So, how do you follow the action too? Just strut on over to the ICC and join up!