Team of Destiny: Dallas Wins USCL Championship

After six hours of play, the United States Chess League's championship match between the Dallas Destiny and the Boston Blitz came down to one final five minute game between the top players on each team. When the dust settled, it was the Destiny's IM Drasko Boskovic who took advantage of a blunder by Boston's GM Larry Christiansen to bring the title home to Dallas.

The Dallas Destiny captured their first USCL title, defeating the Boston Blitz 4-3 in a wild blitz tiebreaker that went late into the night. The tiebreaker was necessary after the regulation match finished in a 2-2 tie. Every game from the match is available for viewing at the USCL website.

While most match observers seemed to feel Dallas had the early advantage, it was Boston who broke through first with a win by SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun over IM Davorin Kuljasevic. Draws on board one and board three left Boston with a 2-1 advantage, with just one game remaining to be decided.

The match came down to the board four contest between WFM Bayaraa Zorigt and Boston's NM Chris Williams. With both players low on time, Zorigt gained the upper hand and won the game, evening the match at 2-2.

This forced the USCL's unique championship tiebreaker to begin. Starting with the bottom boards - a rematch between Zorigt and Williams - players would be eliminated if they failed to win a five-minute game of speed chess (with five seconds added to the clocks after each move). On a draw, both players would be eliminated, until a team was down to their final player; at that point, only wins would eliminate players from either team.

Going into the match, it appeared that Boston had a significant edge in the blitz tiebreaker format. Their top board, GM Larry Christiansen, is widely regarded as one of the top American blitz players of all-time. For Dallas to even get a shot at Christiansen, they first had to defeat SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, the winner of the Internet Chess Club's 2007 Dos Hermanas blitz tournament.

Williams started off the tiebreaker by avenging his earlier loss to Zorigt. However, Dallas made a strong comeback, as their third board IM Jacek Stopa defeated both Williams and NM Denys Shmelov to give Dallas the advantage.

It was now time for Boston's aces to take the stage. However, Stopa delivered a big performance for Dallas, drawing his game with Sammour-Hasbun to eliminate both players. Christiansen would now need to defeat the Destiny's top two players - International Masters Kuljasevic and Boskovic - in order to win the championship.

After drawing with the white pieces, Christiansen scored a win with black against Kuljasevic to force a final showdown against Boskovic. In an even endgame, Christiansen blundered, allowing Boskovic to gain a large enough advantage to secure the win, and the match. The final game of the tiebreaker can be seen here.

Dallas is the third team to win the USCL championship in the three years of the league's existence, following the San Francisco Mechanics and the Baltimore Kingfishers. This was also the first finals appearance for the Destiny. After winning the Western Division title with a 7-3 record, thus earning a bye for the first playoff round, Dallas defeated the Miami Sharks 3.5-0.5 to book their trip to the finals.

Boston earned their second consecutive Eastern Division title this season, also finishing with an 7-3 record. They avenged a 2006 semifinal loss to the New York Knights by defeating their rivals 2.5-1.5, advancing to their first championship final.

This year's final was the second consecutive to end in a tiebreaker; in 2006, San Francisco defeated New York in the same manner.

The USCL is a 12-team chess league with teams competing from chess clubs across the country. Matches are played live on the Internet Chess Club and can be viewed by the public both online and at the playing sites.

Sources:

"VIII Internet Chess Tournament 'Ciudad de Dos Hermanas' 2007," Internet Chess Club
"Games," United States Chess League