USCL announces 2006 schedule

Clocks will start for the second season of the United States Chess League on Monday, August 28th at 9:00pm EDT with the two expansion teams -- the Tennessee Tempo and the Seattle Sluggers -- facing off. The rest of the league begins their season two days later on Wednesday, August 30th. All matches will be broadcast at the Internet Chess Club.

Two notable changes in this year's schedule:

1. While most matches will be played on Wednesday evenings, each week a single match is scheduled for Monday Night. Perhaps the commissioner is looking to resurrect Howard Cossell to provide the play by play.

2. With a larger league this year, inter-divisional play will be more limited prior to the playoffs. Each team will play their divisional rivals twice and face-off against only two opponents from the other division. Depending on the relative strength of the teams, this may confer an advantage to some teams in their divisional races.

Highlights of the Boston Blitz season include a Monday Night matchup against the New York Knights in week 3, a season finale against the defending champion Baltimore Kingfishers, and inter-divisional matches against Miami and Tennessee:

2006 Boston Blitz Schedule
(bold indicates team has White on boards 1 and 3; all ET [GMT-5])

Wed. 8/30 7:30pm - Miami Sharks
Wed. 9/06 7:00pm - Philadelphia Masterminds
Mon. 9/11 7:00pm - New York Knights
Wed. 9/20 7:15pm - Philadelphia Masterminds
Wed. 9/27 7:00pm - Carolina Cobras
Wed. 10/04 7:15pm - Baltimore Kingfishers
Wed. 10/11 8:15pm - Tennessee Tempo
Wed. 10/18 7:00pm - New York Knights
Wed. 10/25 7:00pm - Carolina Cobras
Wed. 11/01 7:15pm - Baltimore Kingfishers

Disclaimer: BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.

Note to Bloggers: Let me know if you are planning to provide coverage of the USCL in general or any team in particular. If there is a critical mass of coverage in the blogosphere this year, I'll make some efforts to generate outside publicity for it.