For the criteria that was used to determine these All Stars refer to the first post on the subject.
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1st Team: FM Marcel Martinez (MIA)
Mostly an easy choice as statistically amongst the fairly active Board Three players, FM Martinez outshone all but FM Lee. But considering how active he was, with three playoff games, including a pivotal Semifinal win against FM Adamson and also many critical regular seasons wins such as his Week 9 win against IM Felecan, both of these wins coming with Black.
While the last match of the season ended in disappointment for him and his team, Martinez was the indisputable key to the Sharks' turning around their tough 0 - 3 start with five straight wins in the second half of the season which helped the Sharks snag the third playoff spot in the ultra-competitive Western Division.
Having been one of the Sharks' mainstays throughout the League's existence, yet this being his first really impressive individual season makes the future look ever brighter for Miami despite two disheartening losses in the Championship Match the past two seasons. With the always rock solid six-time All Star Becerra leading them and both Martinez and Rosenthal displaying some great results this season, Miami should be a very strong force for many years to come.
Record: 6.5 / 9 (72%)
Performance Rating: 2572
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2nd Team: FM Michael Lee (SEA)
Although not quite as active as his closest All Star competitors, FM Lee's impressive record and performance rating easily landed him a spot on the second team. Like FM Martinez, Lee has been a staple of the Seattle team since the team's formation, but after an impressive first season mostly has flown below the radar until posting a great record this season.
After a loss in his first game this season, Lee strung together a nice string of victories, many of which were very important including knocking off the much higher rated GM Gonzalez and then scoring a big win in Week 10 against IM Brooks which was pivotal to sending the Sluggers into the postseason.
Having also been a League mainstay on one of the most successful teams yet having no Championships yet to show for it, he too may be wondering if his team's time will ever come. But with the Sluggers' appearing rejuvenated all around this season with the addition of GM Akobian at the top, him in the middle, and Guo at the bottom, the tools seem available for that moment to arrive sooner than most might expect.
Record: 4.5 / 6 (75%)
Performance Rating: 2636
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3rd Team: GM Ben Finegold (STL)
Being a GM and taking a spot on the third board All Star Team certainly classifies GM Finegold as one of the most unique stars in USCL History. While his much higher rating than his All Star competitors naturally somewhat weighed against him, being extremely active in playing every week with a strong record and several important wins such as a win with Black against fellow All Star IM Rensch and a win on the top board against IM Bercys, he still fairly easily made the cut.
Though the season ended in disappointment for the Arch Bishops, Finegold certainly did his utmost to keep them in contention, winning his last three games, but unfortunately for him St. Louis wound up getting shut out of the postseason due to tiebreaks.
What the future holds for the Arch Bishops seems very unclear as there is no telling at this point what strategy their team will decide to undertake to ensure that their next season has a better result. But whatever it might end up entailing, with Finegold likely to be a steady force for them to years to come along with GM Nakamura always in position to hold down the top with extreme success, like many teams, St. Louis is not likely one who will be kept out of the running for long.
Record: 6.5 / 10 (65%)
Performance Rating: 2576
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4th Team: IM Daniel Rensch (ARZ)
This was a fairly close decision between IM Rensch and FM Naroditsky who were extremely similar in nearly all statistics. In the end, the close decision wound up going to Rensch due to the importance of his wins - nearly all of which were extremely important to his team's tremendous regular season success, especially with a Game of the Week winning effort against WFM Abrahamyan in her only loss of the season.
After a tough first couple of seasons, Rensch's tremendous turn around has to be pointed to a key factor in Arizona, despite losing their top player from last year, capturing the Western Division crown. This was evidenced right from the start with a first week win against two time All Star NM Rodriguez, the start to a 4 - 0 to the season for the Scorpions.
As a team with mostly veterans up top, probably little will change for Arizona come 2011, but fortunately having done so well in 2010, that's likely not a bad thing, and with their team drastically improving each year from the previous one, if both Rensch and the team can continue that two year trend, Arizona is likely to be amongst the best teams in the League once again.
Record: 4.0 / 6 (67%)
Performance Rating: 2572
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Other Candidates:
As mentioned FM Daniel Naroditsky (SF) (4.5 / 7, 2559 Performance) was the closest other player to making it and certainly would have been a worthy member with a very strong season including a win with Black over IM Bercys and a draw with GM Shulman, but like several others a close decision happened to go against him. But after a very disappointing season for the Mechanics, should they attempt to turn it around next season, with him being their only real bright spot of the season, he will likely be instrumental to that effort.
Two other players who had very solid seasons but weren't quite active enough to achieve All Star status were WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (LA) (3.0 / 4, 2641 Performance) who scored a big win against Board Two All Star IM Julio Sadorra in his only loss of the season and also FM Braden Bournival (3.0 / 4, 2493 Performance) who, in all of his games, achieved exactly the needed result to give his team a victory - one of many keys to New England's incredible dominance this season.
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Stay tuned as in the next few days we will be announcing the All Stars for Board Four!
interesting...there aren't any more comments?
ReplyDeleteYou want a comment ;0 Here is a comment that will likely result in much discussion in the upcoming months... It seems that the US Chess Championship has changed its format for representation to 16 players being allowed but one caveat was 7 were included by rating. The rating list used was the january one and what transpires has me literally shocked and should be investigated further... It appears the final spot was Shabalov's as of friday morning as he was 2662 which was 3 points higher than Larry Christiansen who was in the 8th spot at 2659. However, it appears that Christiansen played a rated match vs a FM the day before the supplement to determine us champ qualification was to be released. He defeated a FM in his home state to obtain 6 rating points and thus leapfrog Shabalov by 3 points.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201012039551
My question is why would a match occur literally 24 hours before a supplement was to be released to determine who represents our country in the most important event of the year? Are matches like this allowed to determine rating changes on a GM level to determing who gets in? Please comment and hopefully some clarification can occur...
I dont understand what is so controversial, Larry played a rated match, it was legal and it was rated under uscf rules as it supposed to. To answer your question with a question, "what did the guy do wrong?" Shabalov's could have played 10 rated matches if he wanted to, you gain or you can lose depending how well you do, its what happens in chess.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm looking for a 1200 to play a 300 game match with me. If interested please contact me at my website. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSorry Brad, your match would not be allowed under the current USCF rules for matches. http://main.uschess.org/docs/gov/reports/2006newrulesratedmatches.php
ReplyDeleteThat match does look a little "convenient" but is within the rules.
I'd lay odds that the fide master was paid to play this match: not to lose, but to play.
ReplyDeleteShabalov will get in due to the 2010 US Open.
ReplyDeleteI think Larry is not in the top 7 by rating.
1 Nakamura 2822
2 Kamsky 2797
3 Onischuk 2764
4 Shulman 2711
5 Akobian 2704
6 Seirawan 2691
7 Hess 2684
8 Stripunsky 2681
9 Ehlvest 2673
10 Christiansen 2665
Kamsky qualifies by winning the US Champs in 2010. Seirawan does not meet the eligibility requirement. That leaves Larry 8th.
BPF
Very odd-- Larry was essentially KOed from the US Championship after losing at Boylston to NE's Charles Riordan. Then he made up the rating with a match against NE Chris Chase.
ReplyDeleteAlso look at Larry's activity the past two months-- 1 game against 1400 and withdraw. another game against 1400 and withdraw.
Is this what the US Championship has become? Terrible that we force our best players to game the rating system like this.
It appears that Akobian qualified based on US Open result but you may be right Ben with Shabalov having qualified. Hypothetically if Akobian was the person who got in then the rating qualifiers would be Nakamura, Onischuk, Shulman, Hess, Stripunsky, Ehlvest, and lastly Christiansen. Plus why would one play a match at the last minute to obtain a few extra points if they knew they were locked in at 8th and under the Shabalov US Open situation? You would need the reason and if Shabalov was the 7th spot before it makes perfect sense (in a wierd sort of way...)
ReplyDeletebut Krush is not going to play, so Larry in; by the way why that was Shabalov who qualified from US Open? not Naroditskiy? I never saw what kind of tie-breaks were going to be used for US Open, but if the same as for US Girls Open, Naroditskiy in.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, if Krush plays in the Women's, then Larry would be next, you are right.
ReplyDeleteAkobian qualifies by rating, so he will not qualify by US Open (these are the rules), so Shabalov will qualify from US Open... I have been informed his tiebreaks were better than Naroditsky. I do not know what tiebreaks were used, so can't comment on that.
BPF
Tony DiNosse didn't post that; the person who did is making fun of him knowing that he can't defend himself. And with that, this blog has hit a new and reprehensible low. I don't blame the moderator, as he isn't from Boston and doesn't realize what that post signifies, but it would be a service to all if he would remove it and any future false posts attributed to Mr. DiNosse.
ReplyDeleteI Agree with Paul. Btw Does anyone else thinks its weird that one teammate compares another ,who is an FM no less, to a 1200??
ReplyDeleteLets dont change the subject as the thread was about LarryC's match and not bashing the other Boston team who happens to be the real champs....
ReplyDeleteReal champs, you must be joking, they won because of a stupid forfeit and one match was drawn and that's real champions?? i dunno where you from pal, but in this country we call that a "joke".
ReplyDeleteI consider that this is the year, there are no champ in USCL. NO disrespect to NE they did their thing but the final was a total disaster, unlike the previous years when it was always 2-2 and things got decided in blitz.
ReplyDeleteHahaha I laugh in the air with my nose in the wind, you call going a straight year without a loss and dominating a playoffs a worthy championship?!?! Breaking all record books?? Where I come from thats an * buddy, I don't want the other team to even have the flu of sniffles or I'll put an * on it. I'll put an * on anything hahahaha oh yeah I can't change reality can I ;(
ReplyDelete