2010 Board Two All Stars

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: IM Robert Hungaski (NE)






Just as for Board One, despite there being extreme difficulty in choosing the All Stars and their order for the second through fourth spots, for the top spot there was absolutely no debate. IM Hungaski, with a near ninety percent winning percentage, a near 2800 performance rating, and having won all three of his playoff games, each extremely important, was really the only logical candidate for the first position.

Along the way to this amazing result, he managed to come up big for his team time and time again, most notably in the Quarterfinals against eventual second team All Star GM Charbonneau and then in the Semifinals against SM Sammour-Hasbun, both wins without which New England would almost certainly not be USCL Champions.

After such an incredible season by both him and his team, the only regret he might really have in looking back is that it will be very difficult to go anywhere but down next year. But if he can perform even close to the same level that he displayed this season, New England can be expected to defend their title with great vigor.


Record: 7.0 / 8 (88%)

Performance Rating: 2780


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2nd Team: GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY)






As mentioned, the choice for this spot was not very clear as several players had records very similar to GM Charbonneau's five and a half out of seven. In the end, despite his tough playoff loss, the nod was given to him due mostly to his fairly superior performance rating in comparison to those who played a similar number of games, and the fact that his only loss happened to be the top All Star on the same board, IM Hungaski, further highlighting the difficulty of his opposition. Like many others this was a fairly close decision, and would have likely gone to someone else had they scored a half point more anywhere else, but in the end, Charbonneau narrowly took it.

Though, as noted, the last match of the season ended in a disappointing loss, a big reason New York was able to comfortably make the playoffs despite a very rough second half of the season was due to Charbonneau's excellent play. Two of his nice wins included a tricky opening in Week Five against his former team Baltimore in knocking out GM Kaufman as well as a clean win against SM Shmelov in the final week of the regular season which ended up saving a drawn match for New York.

As a now three time All Star and one time MVP, Charbonneau has also cemented his place as one of the League's most accomplished performers, but also having won the Most Improved Player Award, it's also clear that his results can be a bit streaky. However, two of the three times he has caught fire and wound up on the All Star Team, it has been accompanied with his team (Baltimore in 2005 and New York in 2009) winning the USCL Championship. Should that general trend continue, if 2011 winds up being another banner year for him, it may well be New York's chance to retake the Championship.


Record: 5.5 / 7 (79%)

Performance Rating: 2710


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3rd Team: IM Marc Esserman (BOS)







This was another very tough spot to decide upon. With a perfect record, IM Esserman naturally outshone his competitors in both winning percentage and performance rating, but attempting to weigh that versus those who played many more games and may, as a result, have contributed more overall to the team effort was not an easy thing to do. Esserman really, based upon what might have considered most important, could easily have been on the second team or under a different mindset could have been left off the team altogether! Weighing all the small details carefully and taking speical note especially of his two playoff wins (Quarterfinals and Semifinals), third place ended up seeming like the most appropriate place. As usual this was quite close as with another game and win, he almost certainly would have been promoted to the second or even first team, yet with one less game he would not even have been eligible!

This being Esserman's third consecutive season as an All Star (a stat matched only by GM Becerra of Miami), he too has established a place amongst the League's elite players, especially with his lifetime 77% winning percentage over such a large number of games, a nearly unmatched statistic by any other player in the League.

While his amazing play has been instrumental to Boston's extreme success over the past few seasons, the team falling slightly short of their season goal several times in a row has to be a nagging reminder to them on many an occasion. But as long as Esserman can continue on his current torrid pace, whether on Board Two or Three, together with their always solid GMs Christiansen and Perelshteyn, it seems inevitable that Boston's time will come.


Record: 4.0 / 4 (100%)

Performance Rating: 2844


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4th Team: IM Julio Sadorra (DAL)







Another very close decision as IM Sadorra's terrific five out of six record would generally have placed him much higher amongst the All Stars, but having noted the other players' resumes above, it should be clear just how stiff the competition for these spots was for Board Two. Like many choices it would have been easy for him to be higher, though Charbonneau's higher performance rating and Esserman's two playoff wins happened to make them slightly higher in our eyes this time around.

While he may well have been hoping for a better spot, Sadorra was extremely key in keeping the Destiny in real playoff contention until the very end. Amongst his good showings were a strong win against IM Brooks to preserve a tied match in Week 5 and a huge win against former All Star FM Mikhailuk in Week 8, a key win when Dallas really needed it.

Although the overall team result might have been disappointing, Dallas's struggles in 2009 seemed largely attributable in lacking a breakout performer like Sadorra. Having solved that particular issue in 2010, with the huge talent pool of players to choose from, 2011 can only be looking up for the Destiny as the only two time Champions have to be hungering for a return to prominence after two consecutive seasons of missing the Playoffs.


Record: 5.0 / 6 (83%)

Performance Rating: 2662


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Other Candidates:


IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) (6.0 / 8, 2594 Performance) was very unlucky after such a great season to miss out on being an All Star. Just as for Board One, there were five really excellent candidates to be All Stars here, and unfortunately at the end of the day one of them inevitably had to end up on the outside. Despite his great score, having a lower performance rating than his competitors, his team having not performed quite as well as those he was competing with (thus making his wins generally of lesser importance), and losing in the head to head showdown with one of his rivals, IM Esserman, he did seem like the most logical amongst the excellent candidates to finish in fifth. Despite this disappointment, there should be no debate to how important he has been to his team over the years, easily being Manhattan's most consistent player over their four seasons. Once the Applesauce solve their bottom board woes, they will almost certainly be a completely different team, especially with Vovsha available to man either Board Two or Three.

Two other players who had strong seasons but not quite good enough to merit serious All Star consideration against the excellent performers above were IM David Vigorito (NE) (3.5 / 4, 2684 Performance) and IM Jay Bonin (PHI) (3.5 / 5, 2597 Performance). Both, especially had they been a bit more active, might have managed to seriously fight for one of the spots, but as is, given how strong the Board Two players were this year, their performances, while very good, were not quite on the level needed to make it.


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Stay tuned as in the next few days we will be announcing the All Stars for Boards Three and Four!